plants

5y

Epictetus, a seminal figure in stoic philosophy, was literally a slave.

stingray

5y

Uncle Rukus too

Smoofer

5y

Nah the real “brutal” truth is that sometimes you’re gonna have moments of fear, moments of laziness, moments of doubt, anxiety, whatever that you can’t do f*** all about. Trying to control those moments into something more productive (in the eyes of society) is gonna make you have a heart attack at age 40

plants

5y

Ahh I see you are a fool and a clown. Carry on.

stingray

5y

Even if he was a slave, what wisdom is there to say that you must be complicit with the cosmos however it ordains you? They denied human beings any agency of change because nature flows and we flow with it. Friedrich Engels once said that Marcus Aurelius was the philosopher for the ruling class, and I couldn’t agree more. How do you explain poverty? Racism? Acts of war?

Foucault was critical of stoicism because of this very emphasis on the personal. There’s no ‘personal’ in philosophy, because philosophy is supposed to overcome the soul, the personal, the thinking subject. Man is a thinking animal, but he also needs to get off his horses and see that he amounts to nothing and that nature is nothing but a projection of his imperfections.

plants

5y

P*** a hard one to break. For me it came down to changing my identity rather than my process or outcome. There are three layers of behavior change. The first is your outcomes, which is concerned with changing your results: losing weight, publishing a book, winning a championship.

The second is changing your process. It deals with changing habits and systems: implementing a new routine at the gym, decluttering your desk for better workflow, developing a meditation practice.

The third and deepest layer is changing your identity. Concerned with changing your beliefs: your worldview, your self-image, your judgments about yourself or others.

So imagine two people resisting a cigarette. One says "no thanks I'm trying to quit" and the other says "no thanks I'm not a smoker". This is a small but powerful difference.

For the last month I've been thinking about why it was so easy for me to go vegan at the flip of a switch and never go back, but so difficult for me to quit masturbating to p***. When I learned how unethical the factory farm industry was and how damaging it is to the environment it was a no brainer. I was suddenly a vegan and it meant a great deal to me. So why then was/am I struggling so hard to quit p*** when I know that the industry is just as unethical?

It's because I hadn't yet changed my identity, and I'm still in that process. But I've been telling myself that I am not a person who watches p*** for the past week and it's really been helping. I also have systems in place for when I feel the urge and I have unsaved/unsubscribed from dozens of subreddits.

ragedsycokiller

5y

Wow this is a game changer

ragedsycokiller

5y

Oh wait I've read about this in intro philosophy before. Isn't this what someone did in prison in order to get through a war? They let the universe take course and he just flicks it off his shoulder on bettering himself mentally?

plants

5y

Might be thinking of Viktor Frankl?

ragedsycokiller

5y

Might be, most of that class is locked away since it cause a nasty extostential dread compounded with the stress of graduating with not knowing what I want to do

Very Based

5y

This is somewhat of a misunderstanding of Stoicism. Stoicism shares some commonalities with CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and ERP (Exposure Response Prevention) which is sort of the opposite of what you're describing here. It's not about trying to 'control' your emotions, it's about understanding how to respond to them and therefore how to deal with them. The vicissitudes of life can't be outrun but one can learn to face them in way that they aren't focusing on the negative aspects.

plants

5y

The Discourses/Fragments/Enchiridion from Epictetus are excellent. I try and ready the Enchiridion every month as a reminder.

stingray

5y

Marcus Aurelius said all that s*** cause he’s an emperor. It’s all fun and game until you apply it to disadvantaged people. Imagine telling a poor person that their poverty is outside of their control and that they could nothing to change it, except going with the flow.

F*** the stoics. It’s all about Diogenes and Epicurus

shad

5y

is this something an already super nonchalant, “shit happens” type of person should look into 👀

like to the point where it’s almost toxic

plants

5y

Big bump.

Smoofer lost in the leftist sauce. Stoic philisophy is about feeling your emotions, recognizing how they make you feel, and moving forward in a logical way to continue on your personal path towards greatness.

CRACKASTEPPAVEGAN

5y

Sooo basically self control?

MARIA IM DRUNK

5y

acceptance.

Scratchin Mamba

5y

"Stoicism doesn’t concern itself with complicated theories about the world, but with helping us overcome destructive emotions and act on what can be acted upon. It’s built for action, not endless debate."

So just accept the world as it is and don't question anything? I'm not with that.