MetaChat - help me understand Stoicism

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24 September 2012

help me understand Stoicism I always thought I kinda knew what it meant but I've been reading Marcus Aurelius lately (some quotes as an example) and his super chill approach, although appealing to a vexed mind, also seems a recipe for disaster. Furthermore I don't believe even he as warring-ass roman emperor actually lived like that. What am I missing? Were one to try adopting this, how can you be effective but think nothing 'really' matters at the same time?→[More:]

my initial reconciliation idea is this. I think what they're saying is, don't be emotional about what happens, even though you have to be actually engaged with it

post by: Firas at: 08:50 | 6 comments

A disaster from one standpoint is a breakthrough from another. These are people who are trying to fix things from the standpoint of the perceiver, not the perceived. And you can argue that back then, people had less control over the outside world so within was the natural place to look for solutions. But I would say that we've become so externally/materially oriented that we, culturally, have almost forgotten that objectivity has some built-in problems when you're looking for a non-statistical answer.

posted by Obscure Reference 24 September | 11:23

Hey OR. I'm afraid your last sentence flew over my head :) But the rest, true enough. My question about it is a touch more related to practicing the philosophy, like this. So I'm worried about some financial issue and maybe I just need to wait for a resolution. I find myself getting really anxious for no reason and maybe I just need a stoic approach to it. Good? Good. I'm just going to chill and see what happens. But the thing is. Anxiety can also be a motivator. It motivates me to ring up the bank and be like, yo, what happened with that? Are you guys on that yet? So I can't be completely calm and zoned out of the issue if taking concrete steps about it is useful!

And I'm thinking that of course, if my head is being wracked by this problem, the homie Marcus, being not just intellectual but an actual Caesar, was concerned by hundreds more, life and death, military and economic, large scale and individual. So when someone came to him and said Rome just got flooded he wasn't like "time is fleeting, this too shall pass", etc. He fixed it right. So it's not about being completely ascetic or fatalistic or uninterested (like Diogenes telling Alexander the only favor he wants is for Alexander to stop blocking his sunlight). There's something "else" Stoicism is about, like being detached but active at the same time.

posted by Firas 24 September | 12:40

Posted to mefi about it a while ago. The Irvine articles are worth reading.

posted by TheophileEscargot 24 September | 13:20

It's not that nothing matters, but that nothing outside your control matters. The only thing that is truly good is ARETE, your own virtue/excellence. You should always be striving to excel in everything you do.

posted by TheophileEscargot 24 September | 13:25

Here's a podcast on it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9fs

posted by heatherann 24 September | 13:33

interesting. good links, thanks

posted by Firas 24 September | 22:02

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