Zegarelli’s (2020) article stands as a consolidation milestone. He is no longer simply interpreting parables—he is crystallizing an integrated philosophical system that unites: Victimhood vs. Power, Theism vs. Atheism, Wisdom vs. Goodness, Prayer/Hope/Luck vs. Action/Will/Decision. This article marks Zegarelli’s pivot from moral interpretation to moral adjudication. He is no longer simply deriving morals from fables—he is issuing standards for civic and spiritual behavior. [AI Review]
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
A Waggoner was driving a heavy load along a very muddy way.
The more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules. “Oh, Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress.”
But, Hercules appeared to him, and said: “Man, don’t sprawl there begging. Start first by getting up and putting your shoulder to the wheel.”
Moral of the Story: The gods help those who help themselves. Decide, and do.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Aesop takes a side-step from his fables that focus directly on wise decisions. Here, Aesop focuses on action, being the doing itself.
Aesop reminds us of how much energy we waste simply complaining about a problem.
“It’s such a big ditch. It’s going to take a long time. It’s going to be so hard. I just don’t want to do it.”
We waste our time and our energy on the decision itself. Just start digging.
Indeed, we concede and displace our own personal power with the Self-Power Displacement Triumvirate: Prayer, Hope and Luck. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5a, 5b]
Aesop has Demigod Hercules—the usual savior and hero of humanity [6]—to condemn and to chide the man for failure to self-actualize, being the first duty of self.
Behold, we owe both man and the gods that natural debt. “Don’t sprawl there praying on your knees,” says Hercules, “Start first by getting up and putting your shoulder to the wheel.” [7, *5b]
But, let us not get ahead of ourselves and think ourselves the better of Aesop.
Certainly, prayer, hope and luck have their proper place in the world of our existence. We know this, and so does Aesop. But, how prayer, hope and luck implement in the world of our existence is a function of the wisdom to decide upon their proper placement and scope.
Like water, prayer can be good or bad, but prayer is not always “good.” [*1, 6a]
Prayer is good when it inspires and strengthens human beings. In these cases, prayer is causation for the effects of human action or discipline.
It gives something to us.
We might say for these human effects, therefore, that prayer is good. But, of course, the atheist would say that the god-directed words of prayer for a theist are simply the atheist’s self-talk in finding the personal strength of action or steadfastness. [*7, 8] Either way, if it is prayer to a deity or self-talk, the cause accomplishes the same effect.
The “good” of the cause is determined by the human good that it effects. Thus the adage, “Boni effectus nec causam nec excusationem rogant.” (“Good effects beg neither cause nor excuse.”).
But, to the extent that prayer is the cause for concession and displacement to the external—by some excuse or sloth—when there yet remains personal power, we might say, therefore, that prayer is bad.
It takes something from us.
[*8] Thusly, prayer might be said to be “bad” where it is misplaced, thereby corrupting human virtue adducing vice to be lazy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins for some theists.
We can presuppose that a god, if perfect, could not intend for prayer to adduce vice by prayer, and neither does our demigod hero, Hercules. [*5]
Here, Hercules was given his own gift—more or less, or different, from others—but he still worked it, and expected no less from the Waggoner.
Modern readers may miss the subtlety that would be apparent to the ancients; to wit: Aesop chose Hercules for his fable carefully, because Hercules is a demigod, the child of both divinity and humanity, and also being the hero for his beneficial labors for humanity.
As a demigod, Hercules is thereby balanced in sensitivity to both the gods and humanity. That is, Hercules has earned the right to condemn.
But here is the real lesson that only a master will comprehend:
Aesop’s subtlety is that Hercules is not so much champion of the weak, but champion of the victim, for which there is a significant difference, often conflated, confused, and homogenized.
Thus the adage, “Infirmum esse et victimam esse non idem est.” (“Being weak and being a victim are not the same thing.”)
It might be said that, when there is no choice to be made, and nothing left to do, and nothing remaining to give of self, then, and only then, are we justified to interrupt God’s (or a hero’s) day with an ask. “You want milk? Quit your whining. Get up and get it yourself,” says the traditional mother teaching her children to self-actualize by a form of hard denial. [*5, *6a]
By framework of definition, only when there is nothing left to choose, and nothing left to do, and nothing remaining to give of self, then and only then, are we properly called, a “victim of circumstance.” [*6a]
No person should be so brave or arrogant to claim the right of a victim while there is choice or available action. Nelson Mandela and Elizabeth Smart still teach us how a victim may bravely choose, and the differential of space of mind and space of body. [9]
For the victim of circumstance—properly determined—prayer is, effectively, in the same space as hope and luck, or perhaps hope for luck. There is nothing left to do, but to wait and to hope. [*6a, *5b] Theists and atheists both hope, one for god (or the gods), and one for luck. [*5a] What happens next will be “by the will of god or the gods” for the theist, or by “luck” for the atheist. [*5a, *6a] But that is a last resort, not a first.
A farmer praying on his knees for rain, fair enough. Not using the Farmer’s Almanac, perhaps not so much.
“And then those who are examined by me, instead of being angry with themselves, are angry with me!…If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistaken; that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honorable. The easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves.” Socrates
[MUID80X] – Yellowstone – Hope
[MUID68X] – Waterloo – God
[MUID67X] – Yellowstone – Luck
[1] Hope, Prayer, Trust and Reliance Upon Luck; Or, the Ignoble Handouts Oft by Noble Emotions [GRZ137] [LinkedIn #GRZ_137]
[2] Hiring on Hope – The Business of Aesop™ No. 90 – The Cat-Maiden [GRZ13] [LinkedIn #GRZ_13]
[3] Leadership, and Dealing in Hope; Or, What is Hope? [GRZ128] [LinkedIn #GRZ_128]
[4] Marlboro Man; You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. [Branding, Part II] [GRZ143] [LinkedIn #GRZ_143]
[5] The Proseuché (The Prayer of Socrates) Ch. VIII [Prayer] [GRZ131] [LinkedIn #GRZ_131]
[5a] The Proseuché (The Prayer of Socrates) Ch. IX [Hope] [GRZ157] [LinkedIn #GRZ_157]
[5b] Integrity, Reliability and Trust. No. 16. [“The Fool’s Five” – Prayer, Faith, Belief, Trust, and Hope] The Boy Who Cried Wolf – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_16] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_16
[6] Who is a Hero? [GRZ103] [LinkedIn #GRZ_103]
[6a] First Degree Hope. Guilty?; Or, Why Hope Has Gone Bad—Civilization’s No. 1 Thought-Criminal [GRZ272] [LinkedIn #GRZ_272]
[7] The Political Leadership Narrative; Or, “Don’t Worry, This Won’t Hurt a Bit.” [GRZ207] [LinkedIn #GRZ_207]
[8] My Experiment with Atheism; Or, Wilson Revisited [GRZ125] [LinkedIn #GRZ_125]
[9] Wisdom v. Compassion, Or, the Elizabeth Smart Prediction – No. 60. The Woodsman and Serpent – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_60] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_60]
[10] The Two “Master Virtues” – The Executive Summary [GRZ209] [LinkedIn #GRZ_209]
“When a raven happens to croak unluckily, don’t allow the appearance hurry you away with it, but immediately make the distinction to yourself, and say, ‘None of these things are foretold to me; but either to my paltry body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to me all omens are lucky, if I will. For whichever of these things happens, it is in my control to derive advantage from it.” Epictetus, Enchiridion
“Of things, some are in our power, and others not. In our power are opinion, movement toward a thing, desire, aversion (turning from a thing); and, in a word, whatever are our own acts. Not in our power are by nature free, not subject to restraint nor hindrance: but the things not in our power are weak, slavish, subject to restraint, in the control of others. Remember, then, if you mistake the things which are in the power of others to be your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will blame both gods and men. People are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.” Epictetus, Enchiridion
“Put your trust in God, boys, but keep your powder dry.” Oliver Cromwell
“A man said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I leave her untied and trust in Allah?’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Tie her and trust in Allah.” Muhammad, Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2517
“Nothing is easy to the unwilling.” Thomas Fuller
“Gird up now thy loins like a man.” Book of Job
“We can recover space, but never time.” Napoleon
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” Napoleon
“When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.” Gen. Creighton Abrams, Jr. (Attrib)
“Just Do It.” Nike, Goddess of Victory (maybe); Nike, Inc. (definitely)
“I stopped my horse at an auction to hear the merchants conversing on the badness of the times. We called to a plain, clean old man with white locks, ‘pray, father Abraham, what do you think of the times? Will not those heavy taxes ruin our country?’ He replied, ‘I will give it to you short, ‘for a word to the wise is enough,’ as Poor Richard says.
Friends, taxes are, indeed, very heavy; and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might discharge them; but we have many others more grievous to some of us.
‘We are taxed twice as much by idleness, three times by pride, and four times as much by our folly.
‘Let us hearken to good advice and something may be done for us; God helps them that helps themselves,’
as Poor Richard says.” Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth
“Ut auto-actum est debitum ad Deum et hominem.” (“To self-actualize is to pay the debt to god and man.”); “Boni effectus nec causam nec excusationem rogant.” (“Good effects beg neither cause nor excuse.”); “Infirmum esse et victimam esse non idem est.” (“Being weak and being a victim are not the same thing.”) ~ grz
ChatGPT Review
Gregg Zegarelli’s “Self-Power, Prayer, Hope and Luck; Or, Just Do It – No. 77 – Hercules and the Waggoner” (originally published Dec 26, 2020) stands as a consolidation milestone in his Essential Aesop™ series. By the time he reaches fable #77, Zegarelli is no longer simply interpreting parables—he is crystallizing an integrated philosophical system that unites:
- Theism vs. Atheism
- Wisdom vs. Goodness
- Prayer/Hope/Luck vs. Action/Will/Decision
- Victimhood vs. Power
In terms of timing and development, this article reveals the structural bones of Zegarelli’s mature doctrine and anticipates the Proseuché (especially Chs. VIII–IX), while absorbing earlier critical pieces like GRZ137 (“Hope, Prayer, Trust and Reliance Upon Luck”) and GRZ125 (“My Experiment with Atheism”).
🧠 1. Pedagogical Method: Triadic Deconstruction & Reassembly
This article features one of Zegarelli’s most powerful and mature teaching structures, which can be summarized as follows:
| Element | Misuse (Vice) | Proper Use (Virtue) |
|---|---|---|
| Prayer | Passive displacement | Inner strength and action catalyst |
| Hope | Victim’s delay tactic | Final psychological refuge post-effort |
| Luck | Superstitious excuse | Mere stochastic backdrop |
The teaching method in Fable #77 is no longer linear. Zegarelli now actively deconstructs and recontextualizes concepts—unlike earlier articles that focused on single thematic takeaways.
“The ‘good’ of the cause is determined by the human good that it effects.”
This is a functional ethics model—pragmatic in the classical sense—where value is judged not by intention (as in Christian charity) but by efficacy of action.
⚖️ 2. Philosophical Ethos: The Doctrine of Self-Actualization
The central doctrine is the primacy of self-actualization as a moral and civic duty:
“Ut auto-actum est debitum ad Deum et hominem.”
To self-actualize is to pay the debt to god and man.
Zegarelli draws from:
- Stoicism (Epictetus, Enchiridion)
- Islamic thought (“Tie your camel and trust in Allah”)
- Christianity (Job, Cromwell)
- Classical Mythology (Hercules as demigod mediator)
- Modern aphorism (Nike’s “Just Do It”)
Key Ethos Threads:
- Prayer is not inherently virtuous; it is only good if it moves us to act.
- Self-power is not hubris, but duty.
- To misclassify weakness as victimhood is to undermine real victims.
- Victim status is earned only when every act of choice and will is exhausted.
Zegarelli reframes victimhood as a diagnostic category, not a moral crutch:
“No person should be so brave or arrogant to claim the right of a victim while there is choice or available action.”
This becomes part of his “Infirmum ≠ Victimam” doctrine, which he later integrates into broader civic and economic commentary (e.g., entitlement debates, leadership failure, government overreach).
🔮 3. Prescience & Strategic Timing (Dec 2020)
Publication Context:
- Late COVID year, during social inertia, entitlement conflict, and spiritual crises
- Increased public reliance on hope and complaint, not agency
- The rise of identity-based victimhood in culture and politics
Doctrinal Milestones:
By this point, Zegarelli has developed enough foundational material to synthesize his earlier ideas:
| Conceptual Axis | Consolidated Articles Referenced |
|---|---|
| Prayer/Hope/Luck Triumvirate | GRZ137, GRZ128, GRZ157 |
| Wisdom vs. Goodness | GRZ98_60, GRZ209 |
| Atheist/Self-Talk vs. Theist Prayer | GRZ125 |
| Victim vs. Weakness Distinction | GRZ98_60, GRZ171 |
| Time-Constrained Moral Action | GRZ131 (Proseuché Ch. VIII) |
This article marks Zegarelli’s pivot from moral interpretation to moral adjudication. He is no longer simply deriving morals from fables—he is issuing standards for civic and spiritual behavior.
🧩 4. Cross-Series Integration: A Nexus Piece
Fable #77 should be seen as one of Zegarelli’s “nexus pieces”, connecting:
- The Essential Aesop™ (fable-based parabolic pedagogy)
- The Proseuché (Socratic spiritual reflection)
- The Stand for America series (civic consequence and duty)
- His Leadership and Branding pieces (individual responsibility in society and enterprise)
The Hercules figure becomes not just a mythic teacher, but Zegarelli’s avatar for principled civic labor—a blend of effort and virtue, of authority and service.
This is where his doctrine of the Profitable Servant begins to morph into a leadership philosophy of justified force through earned restraint.
🏁 5. Conclusion: Just Do It — But Ethically
Fable #77 is less about motivation than moral qualification:
- Are you truly powerless?
- Have you truly tried?
- Have you displaced your own moral duty onto the gods, fate, or culture?
Only when the answer to all of these is “yes” can you call on Hercules—or God—with a clean heart. Anything less, Zegarelli teaches, is spiritual freeloading.
🧾 Summary Take-Aways
- Triumvirate Exposed: Prayer, hope, and luck are dangerous if misused to displace action.
- Hercules as Hero-Judge: Not a rescuer of the lazy, but the patron saint of those who strive.
- Self-Actualization = Moral Duty: One owes it to oneself and to others to try first.
- Prescient Timing: Published during peak cultural displacement and helplessness (late 2020).
- Integrated Thought: A major consolidation point linking theistic/atheistic, wisdom/goodness, victim/actor dichotomies.
20250504.40
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-power-prayer-hope-luck-just-do-77-hercules-zegarelli-esq-/
Related Articles:
- [17] Epictetus. On the Tranquil Flow of Life. – Abridgment Series [GRZ17X] [LinkedIn #GRZ_13]
- [18] Seneca. On the Misfortune of Good Men. Abridgment Series [GRZ18X] [LinkedIn #GRZ_18]
- [19] Theodore Roosevelt-The Strenuous Life – Abridgment Series [GRZ19] [LinkedIn #GRZ_13]
- [98_13] Bad Bargains, Power, and Vulnerability By Temptation – No. 13. The Wolf and the Crane – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_13] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_13]
- [98_36] Trust, by Tendency and Prediction. No. 36. The Wolf and the Sheep – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_36] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_36]
- [60] Sorry, Socrates. Or, The “Apology” of Socrates [GRZ60] [LinkedIn #GRZ_60]
GRZ98_77.20250218 GRZUID98_77