From: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy https://smile.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/B00G6WCGKI …
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Stoicism is a possible answer to Peter Thiel's prompt ("tell me something that's true that nobody agrees with") — that life isn't the linear acquisition of more accomplishments, friends, things & likewise more status, safety, comfort. You may fail. You may *die* in a "fail" state
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On its face, Stoicism seemed to me like a possible complacency-enabler. If you fully grok how ephemeral ALL things are, from your car to your job to your love and right down to your sight... ability to walk... mind... do you keep white-knuckling it through 80-hour work weeks?
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And maybe you *don't*, but if you don't, it's probably because whatever the lived experience + material product of those 80-hour weeks is *isn't actually something that you want for the sum output of your life*. You're trying to buy a new job title + raise or whatever.
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Not trying to dismantle the career ladder here, but after a year or two of this nonsense you're not going to walk away from the promotion when something interesting lands at your feet. Sunk costs are anchors. Any philosophy that frees you of this makes you *broadly more free*
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Replying to @webdevMason
What do you think accounts for the trend that the Stoics fall in and out of fashion every couple of decades? Would be super interesting to look at the data. What is the cultural environment for in and out. Maybe
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Could you say that a potential driver for Stoicism to be in fashion are periods associated with post-traumatic stress/growth? E.g. there seems to be an uptick following both world wars, where people may have turned to such texts to deal with personal grievances. Added Seneca btwpic.twitter.com/DLAmgOe7Sj
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Anna Gát Retweeted Anna Gát
This is awesome -- my take washttps://twitter.com/TheAnnaGat/status/1044971618483818497 …
Anna Gát added,
Anna Gát @TheAnnaGatI would add *potential* fall of empire - danger, uncertainty, crisis. Because there were stoic movements during the World Wars too and not all empires fell. Maybe it's our philosophical way of calming the mind and preparing for the unknown /as opposed to indulging or rebelling https://twitter.com/SimonDeDeo/status/1044958630091591681 …1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @TheAnnaGat @jamesarbarry and
Anna Gát Retweeted Anna Gát
Anna Gát added,
Anna Gát @TheAnnaGatReplying to @corymassimino.@webdevMason@SimonDeDeo Really agree w this. There's a touch of nihilism to all behaviouralist approaches - from Seneca to@JonHaidt. Maybe we all need to be a bit detached to handle it all - vs excavating to the core all the time. That said, the solution might be down there.1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Yeah, I feel when times are good people don't necessarily feel the need to turn to stoicism but in the face of great despair, they are more likely to. Of course one should also try to be stoic during the good times because should they come to an end, the loss is less severe
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My personal intuition is that Stoicism is actually less appealing during genuine *despair*, more appealing during periods of extreme *anxiety.*
3:22 PM - 26 Sep 2018
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