Diogenes Kynikos, or Diogenes the Dog-Like, which is where the word ‘cynic’ comes from. Originally, then, ‘cynic’ meant someone who has abandoned the false values of civilisation to follow a natural life of poverty, asceticism and moral freedom. Diogenes said: ‘Instead of useless toils men should choose such as nature recommends, whereby they might have lived happily, yet such is their madness that they choose to be miserable.’1 Why do we choose to be miserable? Because we want to be accepted by our civilisation.
