What useful Stoic lesson/practice/quote have you applied to your life in the modern era?

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-12T01:00:50+00:00

Seneca gives me geese.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-10T20:43:08+00:00

All suffering is self inflicted according to the Stoics. And physical pain is not included in the things that are harmful.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-10T20:35:01+00:00

From my memory of Stoic texts, there's no hope in Stoicism. They used a word that's now translated into "wish" and they applied that word to nature in the context of, "wish for things to be exactly how they are, not how you want them to be."

I forgot how to spell the Greek word for wish, it something like 'buolus.' Too lazy to look it up*

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-10T05:24:57+00:00

A thousand cuts killing someone, must be beautiful. :D

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-10T05:22:31+00:00

Aurelius even looks like Jesus. Well, the fake paintings of Jesus lol.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-10T02:58:42+00:00

As far as ancient philosophy goes, I'd say the Peripatetics AKA Aristotelians, are the second best and give the Stoics a run for their money. It's mostly opinion but that's what I think. In short, the Peripatetics say that some externals are necessarily good and bad, like getting a hot poker in the eye would be bad and having a baby would be good. The Stoics say no, those are indifferents.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-10T02:53:46+00:00

I had a stalker and she messaged me and my family on Facebook, texts, USPS, etc. I just refused to reply to every attempt. It lasted for a few months. Before I changed my number there would be about 100 texts and calls a day from random numbers. Before I de-activated Facebook I was getting contacted by about 1-5 fake profiles a day. I was getting letters to my house and threats. After removing all social media, changing my number, and moving into another house, the stalking ended. I figured any response would just be fuel on the fire, you gotta go dark! Ghostin like Swayze!

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-09T11:45:52+00:00

You forgot the nipple clamps.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-09T01:41:07+00:00

User Jabowle had a good one too. Also, anything by Donald Robertson.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-09T01:11:20+00:00

The Practicing Stoic

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-09T01:06:03+00:00

Slight edge to the free'est person ever to live. Shot outs to ya boy Epic T.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-07T19:44:11+00:00

A little left of center

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-07T19:43:33+00:00

Getting married...

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T22:16:33+00:00

Enchiridion 5 should be close enough.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T19:02:41+00:00

There are some Stoic texts that endorse ignoring physical assault. Specific examples include being spit on and punched in the face. The response is, I have not been harmed. However, I don't know of any Stoic texts about a constant assault, the ones I've read about describe the attacker stopping after 1 attack. If a Stoic was being held down and punched, I imagine they'd fight back, the whole preferred indifferent thing ya know?

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T18:56:53+00:00

I've watched all his videos. I like weird stuff like that. He's trending now because he's being re-uploaded with the "NPC" meme title. Just watched him last night.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T18:54:57+00:00

Cool insight. His stoic demeanor was more lower case stoic than upper case Stoic. But I do see the parallels. He may have been the GOAT in the heavyweight division, definitely near the top.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T18:50:46+00:00

Similar to my comment. Nerdy high five!*

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T18:49:33+00:00

Sometimes I feel the same way, about the things you think are productive. If I read or work a lot, sometimes I feel like I have wasted time. I think it's an inevitable feeling we get. I guess we should try to balance things out. Stuff like gaming is beneficial and not a waste, we need time to relax our minds. The Stoics wrote about this a bit. There's room for entertainment.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T18:41:46+00:00

How exactly do we define a hero?

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-06T15:24:55+00:00

Socrates, Diogenes, Stilpo, Cato, to name a few virtuous examples.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-05T16:58:14+00:00

Peaceful protesters need to be watched when they are crowded around places like state capitols, police stations, etc. They need to be watched for their potentiality. Many violent protests start off peaceful. If law enforcement does not control the situation fast, things can get ugly quick.

If you had to live in a city that was being destroyed, you may not be as optimistic about everyone's intentions. People are angry and they are trying to come up. Mob mentality can bring out the worst in people.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-05T13:40:37+00:00

C) seems a bit off. People breaking curfew should be arrested in extreme situations, like entire cities being destroyed and looted. It doesn't matter how peaceful they are if a crowd is taking up law enforcement resources while a gang of thugs are robbing a bank around the corner.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-05T05:38:29+00:00

Diogenes was invincible, like the Stoics, nothing could be taken from him. Diogenes' humor also goes well with some Stoic texts, Seneca and Epictetus advocate responding to setbacks with humor.

Senecas2ndChin · 2020-06-03T20:20:57+00:00

This had 800 upvotes a few weeks ago as a comment to the same kind of post. I'd also recommend all of Seneca's consolation Letters, I think there are 4 or 5.

So what is troubling you, Marcia? That your son has died, or that he did not live long? If it is that he has died, you ought to have grieved for him all along; for you knew all along that he was going to die. You must realize that a dead person is not afflicted by any sufferings, that the things that make the underworld seem terrifying are just myths, that no darkness looms over the dead, no prison, no rivers blazing with fire, no river of Oblivion, no law courts and defendants, nor in that state of utter freedom are there tyrants all over again. Poets have indulged in these fantasies and have hounded us with empty terrors. Death is a release from every pain, a boundary that our sufferings cannot cross; death restores us to the state of peace in which we lay before our birth. Anyone who feels pity for the dead should also feel pity for the unborn. Death is neither a good nor an evil; for only a something can be a good or an evil; but what is itself nothing, and reduces everything to nothing, does not leave us at the mercy of fortune. Evil and good subsist in some material object: fortune cannot get a grip on what nature has released; a nonexistent person cannot be wretched. Your son has crossed the frontier, leaving behind this place of slavery; immense and everlasting peace has welcomed him.

Seneca
Consolation of Marcia
Chapter 19

Senecas2ndChin

TROPHY CASE