Stoicism, properly understood, is in my opinion the only possibility humanity has for survival.
Unfortunately, stoicism is rarely properly understood.
Virtually every institutionalized societal evil exists at base because some number of people are stubbornly clinging to the delusion of control over others.
As but one example, while the wave of trans bigotry exists because some number pf people believe that they should have the authority to control other people’s gender identifications, at heart it exists because those people believe that they can do so. That’s the foundation upon which their ever-more aggressive attempts are built. It’s really not a matter of whether they should or not - they literally can’t.
Stoicism would’ve already informed them of that fact, and would’ve informed them of the harm that’s done - not merely to others but to themselves - by ignoring that fact.
I went down a stoicism rabbit hole for a while, but got a little disillusioned with it because it doesn’t really leave room for joy, excitement, passion, because these can all be taken from you. While this is true, I think it is harmful to focus too much on that, and it is better for mental health to leave room for joy and hope. Stoicism is a little bit too cynical for me. My theory is that this is why it died out. People are meant to be hopeful, even more hopeful than they should be.
There’s also stoic bros now. Their brains have managed to connect alpha masculinity to stoicism. They’re like the viking bros where they gain security from people seeing them as enduring, dependable, and tough. They obviously have no idea of the philosophy in detail.
I was just pondering something similar – a lot of the current weirdness seems to come from a refusal to face mortality head on. They start reaching for straws, hoping that there is some magic elixir that will save them, then getting angry when there isn’t one.
Even on a very simple level, that’s harmful to oneself, because all time and energy spent vainly trying to control things one cannot control is necessarily time and energy not spent on the things one can control.
Stoicism, properly understood, is in my opinion the only possibility humanity has for survival.
Unfortunately, stoicism is rarely properly understood.
Virtually every institutionalized societal evil exists at base because some number of people are stubbornly clinging to the delusion of control over others.
As but one example, while the wave of trans bigotry exists because some number pf people believe that they should have the authority to control other people’s gender identifications, at heart it exists because those people believe that they can do so. That’s the foundation upon which their ever-more aggressive attempts are built. It’s really not a matter of whether they should or not - they literally can’t.
Stoicism would’ve already informed them of that fact, and would’ve informed them of the harm that’s done - not merely to others but to themselves - by ignoring that fact.
I went down a stoicism rabbit hole for a while, but got a little disillusioned with it because it doesn’t really leave room for joy, excitement, passion, because these can all be taken from you. While this is true, I think it is harmful to focus too much on that, and it is better for mental health to leave room for joy and hope. Stoicism is a little bit too cynical for me. My theory is that this is why it died out. People are meant to be hopeful, even more hopeful than they should be.
There’s also stoic bros now. Their brains have managed to connect alpha masculinity to stoicism. They’re like the viking bros where they gain security from people seeing them as enduring, dependable, and tough. They obviously have no idea of the philosophy in detail.
I was just pondering something similar – a lot of the current weirdness seems to come from a refusal to face mortality head on. They start reaching for straws, hoping that there is some magic elixir that will save them, then getting angry when there isn’t one.
Yes - that’s another good example.
Even on a very simple level, that’s harmful to oneself, because all time and energy spent vainly trying to control things one cannot control is necessarily time and energy not spent on the things one can control.