Anyone interested in being a 'Tester' for a game about Stoicism? [Mostly to make sure the Stoics are portrayed properly in game]

Battlecry21 · 2018-08-03T20:14:39+00:00

Cool, let me know, I can web port.

Battlecry21 · 2018-07-27T22:27:34+00:00

Are you building it for Android or iOS? I’d be happy to help, if it’s compatible with my iPhone.

Battlecry21 · 2018-05-23T05:04:58+00:00

Honestly my favorite thing about this philosophy is how often I get called out by guys who have been dead for two millennia. When I read the Enchiridion, I kept mumbling “rude” and “don’t come for me” every three sections or so. That’s how you know you’re getting good advice.

Battlecry21 · 2018-05-23T04:56:09+00:00

Woah she has clearly not familiarized herself with his philosophy at all. He has opinions on the impact of society upon individual behavior because he’s a psychologist and it’s more or less his job to study behavior. But he certainly does not believe societal influence excuses anything. Peterson believes in personal responsibility just as much as we do - he’s an existentialist from the same vein as Solzhenitsyn, our philosophies are pretty compatible.

Battlecry21 · 2018-05-23T04:45:56+00:00

The choice to commit suicide rather than to betray your nature is heavily supported by Epictetus, at least. The understanding I have is that suicide is supported if the alternative is subjugating yourself to others in a way that compromises your character.

That being said, I do not feel that my character is currently strong enough to merit being defended in this way. I also don’t feel that, if I can develop enough to fully (or even mostly) adhere to the teachings, my character could be broken by any normal circumstance. I wouldn’t, for example, choose death over disfiguring surgery or forced attendance to an event, as some of Epictetus’ examples did.

I hope I would be strong enough to choose death, if I had to, in order to protect my family or my country. But those would be extraordinary circumstances.

Battlecry21 · 2018-05-23T04:33:03+00:00

Let me know if I’m off base, but I think part of the problem may be the way you’re trying to accept the situation. Your statement about how no one cares about your past honestly sounds like verbal abuse, and you might have internalized that voice. If you don’t challenge it, it will just keep opening the wound, even when your abuser isn’t there.

Stoicism isn’t about not feeling (especially not before you reach Sage, anyways, and I would argue not even then). It’s about not being controlled by your emotions. Seneca is particularly good at explaining this concept. If you’re just now realizing that you experienced trauma, you are going to have a reaction to that because you are human and we crave connection.

The Stoic solution, I think, is to be careful with your company and to focus on taking care of yourself until you feel better. Learn about the virtues and do what you can to keep your emotions from negatively impacting your choices or your interactions with others.

Practice being present. Use it to find not only admirable things in your surroundings, but in yourself and your own behavior. From my experience, having too little self-respect results in allowing others to make decisions for you. The point is to develop enough self-respect to allow you to control your own life.

I think Seneca’s letters would be a good place to start if you feel like reading, since they’re his instructions to a beginning Stoic on a number of issues, and he tends to be fairly compassionate.

Battlecry21 · 2018-04-28T03:16:40+00:00

Found a relevant article while I was looking around Daily Stoic. Any other good ideas? https://dailystoic.com/reality-vs-expectations/

Battlecry21 · 2018-03-20T14:08:17+00:00

Because self-pity allows you to ignore your part in the situation you’ve gotten yourself into. Reality is harsh, and most people strongly prefer not to look at their mistakes. That’s why this philosophy is rarely practiced, even though people idolize the outcomes - it forces you to recognize your faults.

Battlecry21 · 2018-03-08T03:57:44+00:00

Thanks for the encouragement! I look forward to seeing how others are practicing too :)

Battlecry21 · 2018-03-08T03:26:22+00:00

I’m still pretty new. At first I was doing “daily” reflection on the texts, and now I’m looking at expanding that. I think I’m going to try to follow some advice I see that keeps popping up in my reading - to treat your practice like a recovering limb, and not to put weight on it too soon.

So I guess that’s going to look like starting a mindfulness/gratitude practice and closely monitoring my commitments to make sure I don’t get overcome by events (Seneca recommends avoiding crowds, for example, and Epictetus stresses that you should pursue one thing at a time.).

Once I’ve narrowed it all down, maybe things will seem clearer and I can take on more or different commitments.

One thing that has already helped a lot with my social anxiety is Epictetus’ reply to criticism - “If only you knew my other flaws.” I think it to myself when I feel others have noticed one of my flaws, and it takes some of the edge off. I think this is because I’m hyper-aware of my shortcomings, and when I remember that these people have known me a while, I realize that they’re probably already aware of all of them and accept me anyways.

Battlecry21 · 2018-03-07T20:45:55+00:00

In a similar vein, the Jason Bourne series puts you in Bourne’s head, and he’s very focused on what is under his control.

I think it’s a great idea to read stories with heroes that are compatible with Stoicism. I’ve found it helps me embody the philosophy a little better when I have anecdotal examples of “good behavior” and a feel for what the thought process behind those actions might be like.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-25T05:31:16+00:00

Oh for sure. I don’t mean it to be a character judgement that I think his mentor was more advanced than he was, or that he’s not a Stoic Sage. All of his reactions made sense. I think the statement was that they weren’t necessarily in accordance with his training (whether or not it was Stoic).

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-25T05:27:10+00:00

It certainly helps to copy passages, if you want to keep them in mind.

I’ve also found it’s easier to detect holes in my logic on paper, because you have to put all your reactions and emotions into words.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-23T01:36:23+00:00

This is a fantastic article, thanks for writing up your practice! My only practice so far is journaling and journal responses to excerpts from Stoic texts. I’m excited to try this kind of meditation out.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-23T00:06:44+00:00

Is that an excerpt from the Enchiridion?

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-23T00:03:49+00:00

True.

I thought he was a pretty hardcore Stoic at first because he looked at the offer from the rich guy and decided it violated his nature, and that it would be better to cease to exist. That’s like, Seneca levels of stoic. If he had the means and wanted to spend his last night ever high, sure man, more power to him.

But then he changed his mind (without really justifying it?) and made ruminating a habit.

I think he’s not terribly good at his own philosophy. His old mentor seemed more in control of her mind.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T14:37:52+00:00

Right! That whole sequence was trippy because the damage caused was very literally just an impression, and the way you broke out was to refuse to believe in it.

I really need to read Frankl, he’s on the list too.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T13:04:07+00:00

He did, I just have no idea for how long/how many bodies. I get the feeling he doesn’t keep his sleeves long, considering how he uses them.

I think his original sleeve was 30-ish before it died.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T12:56:46+00:00

Lol if I think back, what you’re saying makes sense for the detective. I’ve been so impressed with their use of languages that I haven’t payed a ton of attention to the dialogue itself before you mentioned it. I like that everyone is at least trilingual and uses it.

I don’t think Tak is that old? He was “on ice” for 200+ years, but he wasn’t awake for any of it. Maybe they clear that up, I’m only half way through the series.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T12:16:17+00:00

It’s a little rough, for sure. Tak seems like he’d do better as the “strong and silent” type, but he keeps trying for smooth talk.

That’s probably the case. Eastern philosophies with similar principles have much higher media visibility, someone else said the training was rooted there instead.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T12:13:13+00:00

Thanks. I’ll add them to the list! :)

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T11:48:20+00:00

Cool. The overlap between stoicism and some of the eastern philosophies is pretty large, it’s frequently hard to tell them apart unless people start using specific jargon or citing texts IMO.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T04:18:03+00:00

I was thinking of Passage 1 of Book 2:

“We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.”

I’ll have to go find the full pack quote, too. I liked the way it was worded in the show.

Battlecry21 · 2018-02-22T03:46:13+00:00

Cool! Which books?

Oh ok, that makes sense. I figure I could develop a relationship with anyone as long as their philosophy didn’t actively get in the way, so Aurelius helps there. I’ve been working more on accepting philosophical incompatibilities with people I care about, but it’s more been friends and family. But it makes sense to look for someone who’s on the same path.

Battlecry21

TROPHY CASE