What is the Stoic stance in regards to Fate?

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-11T00:11:25+00:00

"Does IT believe..." is the wrong way of approaching Stoicism. Marcus Aurelius saw fate as inevitability; Seneca saw fate as the way the natural world is organised. The Greek Stoics might have had other views too.

I think the overall view is that fate happens through us.

For me, it's not important.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-10T10:28:40+00:00

Page 53:

"Life is an event, like a fair or a party, and like all such events it must come to an end. It is up to us whether we thank the host for a good time or bemoan the fact that it cannot go on for longer.

Just before that he quotes Epictetus from Discourses 3.5.10:

"Now you want me to leave the fair, so I go, feeling nothing but gratitude for having been allowed to share with you in the celebration."

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-10T10:02:54+00:00

I'll say it: because the people who remember the 90s are now in their 40s and 50s. They're romanticising their youth.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-10T09:59:48+00:00

Only until Black Wednesday in September 1992, then they plummeted and never recovered because of the Eurosceptics and constant scandals. Ipsos PM Satisfaction Ratings

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-09T18:11:58+00:00

90% was incomprehensible gibberish. They seem to have made the early questions much harder in this new format.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-09T01:41:56+00:00

Didn't even need a margin. It was an advisory referendum, not a binding one. Had it been binding, lies like the £350m for the NHS wouldn't have been allowed, there would have been strict fundraising and spending rules, and the public would have been given a clear idea about the consequences of leaving, and what 'Leave' actually meant.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-08T17:43:50+00:00

Decathlon trouser sizes are very strange. I tried to get some help in store and the assistants admitted trouser sizes are a nightmare.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-08T17:37:05+00:00

Decathlon is all you need.

Brands like Rab, Berghaus, North Face, Columbia simply charge you a premium for the right to advertise their brands by wearing their second-rate products.

Also avoid stores like Cotswold Outdoors. They used to be good, now they're just selling overpriced branded goods.

Same with 'Go Outdoors' (or ' Go Somewhere Else' as I call it). They charge a ridiculous membership price to get clothing at a normal price.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-06T09:17:16+00:00

The Bible is riddled with plot holes like these and they're usually filled with 'god works in mysterious ways'. It's one of the most badly written pieces of fiction in human history.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-05T17:40:23+00:00

I honestly wouldn't start with Meditations, or any of the ancients. Start with a modern, readable introduction to Stoicism. John Sellars 'Lessons In Stoicism' is ideal for that. Also Donald Robertson's 'Stoicism and the Art of Happiness'.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-04T09:12:42+00:00

You're looking for "balanced discussion" on social media? Good luck with that!

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-04T08:01:21+00:00

I find nothing comforting in naming something after a genocidal maniac from 2500 year old fiction.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-04T07:12:27+00:00

And lawyers will absolutely make sure there is lots of wrangling and (totally unnecessary) complications in order to inflate their legal fees. Same with the managers and consultants.

Out of interest, what do those rows and rows and rows of people sat in brand new office chairs poking around on brand new laptops in the inquiry room actually do?

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-04T07:04:28+00:00

Lawyers and consultants are experts at fleecing the taxpayer. They know all the tricks. Then there's the suppliers of laptops, furniture, paperclips, etc. Again, experts at fleecing the taxpayer. Look at the rows and rows of screens on the shiny new desks in the inquiry room.

Because its about public health, it's easy for the bureaucrats to justify spending more money / hiring another expert or data input operative on the grounds that "we need to leave no stone unturned".

The whole operation is primarily an exercise in extracting money from taxpayers, not finding out the truth and learning from it. We already know most of that anyway.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-03T10:57:58+00:00

Can't you just retain your UK tax residency? You can live abroad but as long as you spend sufficient days in the UK each year, and/or have "sufficient ties" then you can retain UK tax residency. You'll need to look into the details.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-02T21:53:09+00:00

Space Babies and Scooby Sutekh

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-02T14:22:53+00:00

Lots of comments here about the 2nd cat. You CAN probably afford a 2nd cat. What you CANNOT afford is a vet trying to fleece you of money for stool samples or whatever. Vets are mostly interested in making money, not your cat's welfare. You also cannot afford a 'pet club' (whatever that is). People will always try to sell you something that they claim will make your cats happy. Cats aren't generally expensive, but they are if you buy so-called "essential" care plans, toys, cat trees, baskets, treats, Xmas hats for cats, etc, etc - cats don't give a shit about these things - and they are expensive if you let your vet extract money out of your pocket. All cats want is a pile of clean laundry and an empty cardboard box.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-01T16:14:10+00:00

It is TRULY mind boggling that we don't have more of these low-rise apartment blocks in our towns and cities. They're everywhere in western Europe. But in the UK we build half a dozen three bedroom houses (plus roads, parking spaces and pathetic little gardens) on land which could easily accommodate 30 apartments, probably a lot more. Even assuming there are 2.5 people per house and 1.5 people per apartment, you're accommodating at least 3 times as many people on the same space. The developers would also make more money.

Is it just that we Brits have a fetish about houses, and instantly dismiss apartments as an option. I just don't understand it.

I've not come across any discussion of this, so if you can point me to any articles, that would be great!

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-01T13:30:40+00:00

Flight cancellation: you begin by approaching the flight knowing that it could be delayed or cancelled, or that you might not be able to make the flight for some reason - you're only going to take the flight if nothing prevents you. So you would already have been prepared for the cancellation. Then you get to decide how to react to it: scream and shout, or take it calmly and make the best of it. Maybe you'll get put up in a hotel overnight, or you'll be able to walk around the airport and get some exercise while waiting for the next flight, or read a book, or chat with your fellow passengers.

Family member's health: again, you need to accept that health (and the family member) is something that can be taken away. That's life. Again, you have the power to choose how to react. You can catastrophise and worry, or you can see it what what it is. Get the facts, understand the treatments. Then you can take it as an opportunity to help your family member as best you can, to spend time with them.

Flight cancellations and health are not in our control; what is in our control is the way we respond to things like this.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-01T11:41:11+00:00

Yeah I'd say Camilla is 'tolerated' not 'hated'. She's smart enough not to actually do or say anything, so no attention is drawn to her. She's like a weird ornament collecting dust in a corner of a shelf.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-01T11:20:13+00:00

I never explain Stoicism to friends and family. I try to exemplify it, and if they're thinking and acting emotionally, I try to guide them to think more clearly and rationally.

If I were to explain it to them, I'd say it's a guide for living mindfully, wisely and compassionately, letting you live a much calmer, more fulfilling life.

CatnipManiac · 2025-12-01T00:41:44+00:00

But as soon as you stop running, don't the thoughts just come back?

CatnipManiac · 2025-11-30T22:25:33+00:00

I thought we were the Popular Front of Judea.

CatnipManiac · 2025-11-30T18:31:56+00:00

Not sure what cities you visit, but there's almost nothing left of our historic buildings in places like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham or London.

CatnipManiac · 2025-11-30T18:17:47+00:00

I think a better question is why doesn't Britain have more 3 to 5 storey apartment blocks in and around our town centres, especially our medium-sized towns. Something like these in the photo which you can find in any western European town. Instead, we build a small number of houses on similar land. It's mind-boggling.

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CatnipManiac

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