Stoicism. Your opinion and your usage.

[ChouMasamori]

As the title said, What do you think about Stoicism and did you use this philosophy ? Did it affect your life the bad way as in intrapersonal relationship maybe ? Just tell me all of your experience and opinion.
As for me, i'm about to adopting this philosophy and in progress.

 

[Pyropyro]

As the title said, What do you think about Stoicism and did you use this philosophy ? Did it affect your life the bad way as in intrapersonal relationship maybe ? Just tell me all of your experience and opinion.
As for me, i'm about to adopting this philosophy and in progress.

Unfortunately I'm not that familiar with the philosophy and it reminds me more of Stoick the Vast more than anything.

According to the Wiki:

Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason (logos).

So I guess it's more about self-restraint rather than being unfeeling. Looks interesting.

 

[redbaron]

I enjoyed reading Epictetus' discourses. At the time I never really attributed it to stoicism specifically, it was just how I happened to already live my life. Identifying oneself as a stoicist in the first place seems impractical and (therefore) contradictory to the idea of stoicism in the first place.

Referring mostly to the brand of stoicism purported by Epictetus than stoicism generally, which I find the most personally applicable.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

I don't think it's the kind of thing one adapts as in "I will be x", rather it's something that one finds out similar to "Oh! I am already like this, so that's what it's called". Or rather, because you find it as something interesting to adapt already means that you more or less are stoical.

I find it similar to buddhist thought and I used to read about it in high school and even before that. I really appreciate disciplined and reasonable life philosophies.

 

[ChouMasamori]

I find myself already kinda like this and decided to go further in it. Because as stoic as i already am, i still find myself sometimes emotional.

 

[Absurdity]

Everybody wants to be a Stoic when their life sucks because it promises to ease pain. As Nassim Taleb aphoristically tweeted not so long ago, the real challenge is to be a Stoic in the face of happiness. In other words, you have to deny yourself happiness or else you're a poser. And since the last Stoic sage died out millennia ago it's really obnoxious to try and self-identify as one.

Oh and this is coming from the guy that had a huge hard-on for Seneca for a long time. His writings are still fantastic, but I'm not actually trying to become a sage.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

I wouldn't say it's about denying happiness as much as it is about not allowing to lose reason.

One must therefore strive to be free of the passions, bearing in mind that the ancient meaning of 'passion' was "anguish" or "suffering", that is, "passively" reacting to external events—somewhat different from the modern use of the word. A distinction was made between pathos (plural pathe) which is normally translated as passion, propathos or instinctive reaction (e.g., turning pale and trembling when confronted by physical danger) and eupathos, which is the mark of the Stoic sage (sophos). The eupatheia are feelings that result from correct judgment in the same way as passions result from incorrect judgment.

So one of the components was the so-called equanimity, or psychological composure.

Complete stoicism with all of its outdated and idealistic assumptions appears unachievable, while the basic points can manifest in individuals that we can attribute to this philosophy.

Becoming stoical, or adopting it fully is comparable to adhering to any other set of beliefs and ideals, quite improbable and unrealistic to perform. While people can be rational or logical, people will manifest other, sometimes opposite qualities, despite their path being more convergent to this or that set of values when viewed as the entirety of lifetime.

 

[Red myst]

You might want to look into stoic pragmatism. I have lived most of my life this way and this book Stoic Pragmatism (American Philosophy): John Lachs: 9780253223760: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31b00MYBvOL.@@AMEPARAM@@31b00MYBvOL helped me understand better and define how I tick. More so than MBTI or Jung. I had trouble identifying completely with stoicism or pragmatism separately, but combined it made perfect sense.

 

[Analyzer]

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is one of the best "self-help" books. It's the OG one at least.

Everybody wants to be a Stoic when their life sucks because it promises to ease pain. As Nassim Taleb aphoristically tweeted not so long ago, the real challenge is to be a Stoic in the face of happiness. In other words, you have to deny yourself happiness or else you're a poser.

Right, the most consistent or practical way is to combine elements from Epicureanism. Basically focus on own pleasure(eschew away duty, have minimal happiness) while controlling your pride, ambitions, and overall desires.

A lot these ideas come natural to me but it's good to understand it's development from previous minds.