[Shameless plug] You can read Marcus Aurelius "Meditations" at http://directingmind.com
Is there a way to convert this to epub? It would be a lot easier to read on my phone then.
How to Be a Stoic
181–190 of 241 posts
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#182What's up with all those submissions about stoicism on HN, is that some new SV fad?
Stoicism gives you the mental ability to deal with evil, futility and failure, since it makes you believe you are a non-entity in an inflexible, vast and nasty social structure. It's a philosophy of inaction and accommodation to injustice and oppression. There is a reason it became popular for Roman soldiers under the Empire. Well, at least stoicism does not claim that you are changing the world for the better by cre…
Ha, SV is the last place I'd expect to find a cynic.
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
My beliefs here, take with grain of salt... If something bad happens to you it is not because God wants you to suffer but because God has given evil dominion over this place in order to facilitate free will and choice. God wants to be reconciled with every person but also wants that reconciliation to be chosen and not coerced. The suffering of innocents is just an extension of this idea.
Yes and that line of reasoning works as long as you don't think to deeply about the logic of it. But you cant really escape the fundamental paradox of a God which is both almighty and benevolent. All monotheistic religions have to struggle with this. The Book of Job in the Bible for example posits that God is almighty but not at all fair. He basically causes Job to suffer on a whim. Not out of some kind of theologica…
> He basically causes Job to suffer on a whim. Not out of some kind of theological necessity, but simply as a cruel experiment.
This isn't technically true. What God does is choose to not prevent Satan from testing Job. I'm not making a judgement about whether this would be considered cruel or not, I just want the facts stated clearly.
And, Job himself said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15).
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#184Here some great contemporary introductions to Stoicism: 1. William B. Irvine, "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy", https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/0195... This is an introduction to Stoic thought as it applies today by a professor in philosophy, very clearly written. Great for first exposure. It (sensibly) skips some of the more arcane stuff, such as Stoic metaphysics (his…
> (which cannot be said of, for example, Abrahamic religions)
Interesting thought! I'd say that "love thy neighbour" is a pretty substantial idea, albeit a "bit" less deep than the average stoic philosophy.
Did anyone try this? Take a religion like Christianity (or one interpretation of it) and remove all the deities and miracles? As an avid Christian who dislikes dogma even more than militant atheists, I'd love to dive into an attempt at this.
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
So God inflicted leprocy on humanity because otherwise we wouldn't be able to feel genuine love? And not buying this makes you "naive"?
I perhaps haven't expressed the position well however, "naive" isn't a slur, read "simplistic" if it helps, it's philosophy on the level of someone who has not demonstrated cognisance of the basic sources and hasn't addressed the obvious counter-arguments. The mainstream Christian theology is that leprosy, and such diseases came in to the world after, and as a consequence of, The Fall. That if we'd chosen God's way w…
Then I sure you are also well aware of the counterarguments against this form of theodicy.
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#186I had read a book by Epictetus some years ago. Liked it. Forget the book name now. It was about living simply, not getting overly affected (mentally or emotionally) by circumstances or things that happen to you, and a lot more stuff along those lines, and other things too. Basically Stoicism, I suppose, though I've not looked up the term in detail. I also like this quote by him which I read long ago: "Practice yourse…
Not about stoicism, but you might also enjoy "The Tao is Silent" by Raymond Smullyan
Thanks, will check that out.
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is pure speculation though, without any evidence whatsoever.
Human consciousness isn't human, in fact it isn't even brain consciousness (since we aren't conscious of everything that goes on in our brains) but rather the property of some (comparatively) small number of neurons. Ultimately, this is just a system of coupled biochemical reactions. There isn't really a meaningful difference between a single cell and a small network of neurons in terms of specific biochemical reacti…
If we achieve consciousness in machines, would that affect your opinion?
I feel it is consistent with my stance, that awareness is indeed a property of a configuration of (entirely unconscious) matter.
The configuration is extremely specific in the sense that almost all possible configurations have no consciousness, but somewhat general in that there are still infinitely many configurations that do.
I still stick to option #1. Similarly, it is the specific configuration of the sand/silicon in my computer that allows it to process information, not individual sand particles or silicon atoms (even though their specific properties make it possible).
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#188I have embraced certain aspects of stoic philosophy in my life. In particular I've found The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius to be helpful and practical. I struggle with my temper and in the last few years my temper has affected my career growth. These stoic works have helped my get a better grip on things when dealing with especially difficult people. I'm not a person who reads self help books nor am I into cheesy or…
Have you tried mindfulness? There's at least two books "Search Inside Yourself" and "The Mindfull Geek" that both approach it with science and no spritualism. They claim practice will make it easier to control things like anger
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
>turns out I've been a stoic all this time, I'm finding out. It seems to come naturally to some, especially those that tend to adopt a somewhat cold analytical view of the world
You might have dropped the word "cold" and been a bit more inclusive.
What?
Re: How to Be a Stoic
#190I have embraced certain aspects of stoic philosophy in my life. In particular I've found The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius to be helpful and practical. I struggle with my temper and in the last few years my temper has affected my career growth. These stoic works have helped my get a better grip on things when dealing with especially difficult people. I'm not a person who reads self help books nor am I into cheesy or…
I will download Meditations right away. It's a pending book to read.