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A good summary of my go-to Stoicism book: http://becomingeden.com/summary-of-a-guide-to-the-good-life/ The book they are summarizing: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195374614/ref=as_li_ss_tl...
https://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Meditations-Audiobook/B0...
...which also illustrates some of the problems of stoicism, IMHO.
You can download Marcus Aurelius' Meditations for free at my project, Standard Ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/marcus-aurelius/meditation... The translation is good and Meditations is one of my favorite books. Super interesting to get an inside look at how the most powerful man in the world used Stoicism to deal with both the weight of an empire, and with day-to-day trivialities. The Enchiridion is another…
So if I'm getting this right, Stoicism mostly just encourages pragmatic action and acknowledges the dichotomy of control? So it's basically Taoism?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you are referencing more of the conversational definition of stoic rather than the philosophy of stoicism.
Agreed. The Stoics allowed themselves to have emotions. It is a common misconception that stoicism is about deadening feelings and reactions to the world. Stoics acknowledge and even embrace our emotions, but what stoics aim for after experiencing emotions and gut reactions is some of the most interesting parts of stoicism for modern readers. I always direct people to http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.html fo…
In terms of modern Stoic writing, I find Ryan Holiday's "The Ego is The Enemy" and "The Obstacle is the Way" (as well as his "Daily Stoic", although that's more of a daily devotional) to be very enjoyable and help to reframe the often hard-to-read writings of Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus into actionable advice.
Stoicism was the only philosophy that I felt was practicable in he real world today. It reminds you that you have control over your own thoughts and you can choose how to respond to outside events. You can appreciate what you have now by negative visualization and remembering there was a time when you wanted it more than anything. That your hard work is good for your own soul even if no one else appreciates it. That…
Stoicism was the only philosophy that I felt was practicable in he real world today. It reminds you that you have control over your own thoughts and you can choose how to respond to outside events. You can appreciate what you have now by negative visualization and remembering there was a time when you wanted it more than anything. That your hard work is good for your own soul even if no one else appreciates it. That…
i dont mean to sound snarky, but i thought this was just 'growing up'.
Everyone comes from a different background and sometimes the people around you don't "Grow up", so you never learn it yourself without discovering a new book that gives you this insight. I guess that was the case for me, and just wanted to share my thoughts with others.