What the Stoics did for us
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What the Stoics did for us
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Re: What the Stoics did for us
#2I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a few myself.
It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#3I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a few myself. It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.
Can you share some recommendations here?
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#4I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a few myself. It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.
Maybe I misunderstand stoic philosophy, but the rule to override emotional responses to failure with serenity strikes me as overly broad. Sometimes it is simply easier to get angry and let it out; especially if that sends a valid corrective signal to someone who is at fault. And even if the failure was just bad luck, it seem totally fine to be mad for a couple of minutes or hours. It is simply the way our brains have evolved to work and that's fine as long it is not harmful as long as nobody is harmed. Just be careful to not turn it into a constant state of anger because that will likely worsen your life rather than improve it. All of that can be subsumed under rationality.
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#5I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a few myself. It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.
Can you share some recommendations here?
How to be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci (author of the article)
A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine
I also read The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, which read too much like a self-help/business book to me. It might be to some people's tastes, but I found it lacked the substance of the two above. Ryan Holiday does have Daily Stoic email newsletter which is often interesting, though.
Edit: Also, the 2003 Hays translation of Meditations is a much more accessible version of the text. I wish it was still in print.
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#6I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a few myself. It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.
Maybe I misunderstand stoic philosophy, but the rule to override emotional responses to failure with serenity strikes me as overly broad. Sometimes it is simply easier to get angry and let it out; especially if that sends a valid corrective signal to someone who is at fault. And even if the failure was just bad luck, it seem totally fine to be mad for a couple of minutes or hours. It is simply the way our brains have…
I think you are referencing more of the conversational definition of stoic rather than the philosophy of stoicism.
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#7You 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 Stoic "manual" that's very short and just as good: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-enchiridion/...
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#8On the advice of a friend, I bought https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stoic-Meditations-Wisdom-Persev... a month ago. It's been an enjoyable morning read and a very approachable introduction to the philosophy.
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#9I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a few myself. It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.
Maybe I misunderstand stoic philosophy, but the rule to override emotional responses to failure with serenity strikes me as overly broad. Sometimes it is simply easier to get angry and let it out; especially if that sends a valid corrective signal to someone who is at fault. And even if the failure was just bad luck, it seem totally fine to be mad for a couple of minutes or hours. It is simply the way our brains have…
Aurelius, at least, doesn't rule out or condemn immediate physiological or knee-jerk emotional responses IIRC. The idea is to stop feeling the ones that are, it turns out, something you're choosing to feel past those initial couple seconds, assuming feeling them is unpleasant and/or unproductive (usually they're both).
Re: What the Stoics did for us
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you share some recommendations here?
How to be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci (author of the article) A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine I also read The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, which read too much like a self-help/business book to me. It might be to some people's tastes, but I found it lacked the substance of the two above. Ryan Holiday does have Daily Stoic email newsletter which is often interesting, though. Edit: Also, the 2003 Hay…
I've read The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. I like his writing, but there is a business-y type of vibe to it.
I also recently picked up The Daily Stoic book, which does help me get into a Stoic "mindset" (for lack of a better term) to start my day. Although with the way Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is written, you could almost just open up to a random page each morning, read a passage and reflect. But so far I've enjoyed this book.