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Is it just me or is stoicism been heavily commercialised over the last few years, along with vipassana meditation. There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting employees to live healthier and more resilient lives, but the skeptic in me thinks that there may be other motives.
The short of it is: nothing is good or bad, but things can be too much or too little. Where the line is depends or circumstances and is different every time. And the correct answer is mostly only available in hindsight if it is at all.
Pain is useful. We know physical pain is because there are people who don't feel any and they injure themselves all the time. I find no reason or evidence emotional pain is any different.
I saw perpetually and unconditionally happy people. In a mental asylum. Enough said.
Trying to give up desire? Then what would motivate you do do anything at all? "money, health, sex, or reputation" are good things. You might exaggerate in these desires but that's a "too much of anything" problem, not a desire problem.
Taking examples from the article: getting angry with a service provider can convince him not to try to wrong you in the future and save you unhappiness this way. Getting angry with people on the street giving you dirty looks doesn't work because they are many and different every time. But still, that anger can convince you that you should move. And maybe you should.
I don't understand this: "Much of Epictetus’ advice is about not getting angry at slaves. At first, I thought I could skip those parts. But I soon realized that I had the same self-recriminatory and illogical thoughts in my interactions with small-business owners and service professionals. When a cabdriver lied about a route, or a shopkeeper shortchanged me, I felt that it was my fault, for speaking Turkish with an a…
My dad lived in a small town in India for most of his life. When I come across stoicism and read about it, I realized he has been living like a stoic his whole life. His way of approaching life is so aligned with the concept. And yet he has never read or heard about Epicteus. I have been reading a lot of books about philosophy lately, but I realise the most you can learn is from people around you. The books are often…
The only way to be a "stoic" is to use sunlight that hit a tree millions of years ago, that really belongs to your children.
You are in control, and my tip is don't burn that energy unless you really really need to, even if it feels good.
That and don't respond to criticizm with "what about you".
Responsability and respect, learn to use them, towards everything.
The older I get the less wisdom I find in any philosophy that means to teach how we should live and particularly how to avoid pain and unhappiness. The short of it is: nothing is good or bad, but things can be too much or too little. Where the line is depends or circumstances and is different every time. And the correct answer is mostly only available in hindsight if it is at all. Pain is useful. We know physical pai…
That sounds like a very stoic point of view, reminds me of Marcus Aurelius's meditations. It's worth a read.
Stoicism always reminds me of the Disillusioned Sensible Man from CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: > (2) The Way of the Disillusioned "Sensible Man."—He soon decides that the whole thing was moonshine. "Of course," he says, "one feels like that when one's young. But by the time you get to my age you've given up chasing the rainbow's end." And so he settles down and learns not to expect too much and represses the part of…
It seems that they are focused on taking away desires, just stop wanting things so much, stop trying to avoid pain and seek after pleasure. Which I agree in large part much of the misery we encounter in our daily life seems to stem from failure to adequately control our more reptilian impulses, but it also seems like the whole philosophy is about completely detaching from things, and as a wise man recently said "The only way to take the grief out of death is to take the love out of life."
I get that it can be less painful, but why optimize for avoiding pain instead of maximizing joy?
The older I get the less wisdom I find in any philosophy that means to teach how we should live and particularly how to avoid pain and unhappiness. The short of it is: nothing is good or bad, but things can be too much or too little. Where the line is depends or circumstances and is different every time. And the correct answer is mostly only available in hindsight if it is at all. Pain is useful. We know physical pai…
Now that I think of it, I guess most neuroses nowadays stems from environmental changes we weren't able to adapt to quickly enough (global communication, oversaturation from violent and sexual imagery, etc.) and not from desires that are inherently bad.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not what stoicism is at all.
Be sure to use capital S when talking about the philosophy. The dictionary definition and the philosophy seem to be not actually related, inversely related in many places in fact
I don't understand this: "Much of Epictetus’ advice is about not getting angry at slaves. At first, I thought I could skip those parts. But I soon realized that I had the same self-recriminatory and illogical thoughts in my interactions with small-business owners and service professionals. When a cabdriver lied about a route, or a shopkeeper shortchanged me, I felt that it was my fault, for speaking Turkish with an a…
My dad lived in a small town in India for most of his life. When I come across stoicism and read about it, I realized he has been living like a stoic his whole life. His way of approaching life is so aligned with the concept. And yet he has never read or heard about Epicteus. I have been reading a lot of books about philosophy lately, but I realise the most you can learn is from people around you. The books are often…
Interesting if that study checked the environment in each case. If you vent out at endless taxi drivers, real estate agents, shop salesmen or something like that, wouldn’t it only make you constantly angry?
Psychologists say that we have to express, not exactly vent out. Expressing emotions is telling others how you feel, so they could adjust their behavior or attitude accordingly. In 90% of cases, words about what you feel are enough.
“It confuses me when you leave papers on my table with no comments”
“I feel angry if my cup is not where I left it”
“I’m sad about you trying to fool me”
Saying that without usual “venting out” expression is more constructive. That’s how you feel. They usually don’t know until you tell them.
The key point is what you feel, not some random noun/adjective (it may be hard to detect and verbalize for first 50 times). Angry mode is a force that you use when people refuse to comply. But often they aren’t even aware of your issue (or unable to help you).
(This comment is very fragmentary and tangential, but I leave it at that.)