(A work in progress) 1) Differentiate between what is under your control and what is not. ⭐say to everything not within your control: I can be happy with or without you. 2) Conform your will to the divine order of the universe. 3) Understand your emotions. Don't repress or (assent to) all emotions. ⭐think about the thinking that created the emotion. 4) Do the right thing no matter the cost. 5) Understand that events are not problematic, rather it's your thinking that makes them so. Adjust your beliefs and expectations to fit reality. 6) Live with compassion and respect for human rights. ⭐we are all family. Everyone is valuable. We are all part of the whole, part of God. ⭐serenity prayer: 7) Cultivate right thinking through daily activities like meditation contemplation, reflecting, journaling, etc. ⭐meditate on death and all that could go wrong. 8) Understand the external world is determined, but you have internal freedom to choose your attitude towards those determined events. 9) Calmness, humility, discipline, indifference to pleasure or pain. Because of their world view and training, the stoics are indifferent to adversity. 10) Stop whinning, turn adversity into advantage.
I'm pretty sure that your videos are the reason why I started studying and practicing stoicism. Sure, I did study a bit before, but it was your "10 Themes of Stoicism" that gave me a real taste of what Stoicism is about. I can't believe what a big impact this had on me. My anxieties, my insecurities, everything melted away, no more existential angst. and I am still somewhat at the beginning of this journey. More so, I think this has given me a glimpse of what manhood really is about. So, I am really grateful for what you did here, and if you have any books recommendation, please do share. Thank you. You are a wonderful human being.
Two years ago, I listened to this video while working an exhausting warehouse job, packing boxes from miles of belt lines. This video was an important starting point to freshen my perspective, and it gave a new hold on the control I really did wield. So instead, I went to school, became a software developer, and scored a job, more than doubling my income. Stoicism is a key to many of the locks in life...
Thank you for your videos! A small comment on 17:38 : the stoics were not silent on determinism: Chrysippus distinguished between two kinds of predestination. He brings as an example an epidemic: you don't have control over the outbreak of an epidemic (at the time they didn't know what caused them), but not everyone dies as a result of it. If you lead a healthy lifestyle (which is in your control), you are more likely to survive. Also, according to the stoics, humans are a microcosm: the cosmos is made up of an active and a passive principle, and the human soul is part of the active principle. Within the human soul, this active principle has three aspects, one of which is fate/instinctual desire, and this can be overcome if the individual practices assent. This means that there is at least a portion of reality that is completely within the control of a human, therefore not everything is determined according to the stoics. Thank you again for your videos, I hope to see more! :)
This is great! The way I understand Stoicism is that it's a focus on one's nature as the defining force of self, and on one's self-management, self-control and self-awareness. Having a Stoic character in fiction is very interesting because it's a rare attitude, and fun to see how the less-reactionary Stoic interacts with the others. Especially with the pesky Idealists that see things can and SHOULD be improved upon. Or the Realist that sees reality for what it IS, and emphasizes a higher+broader objectivity in everything. All attitudes have their pros+cons. The Stoic will sometimes resign and give up. The Idealist will sometimes grow naive. The Realist will sometimes become biased+subjective. Thank you for this video :)
What an inspiring exposition of these ideas! Stoicism is obviously relevant to contemporary society. Stoicism is compatible with the latest developments in positive psychology. Thank you for this presentation.
I recently found your channel and really love your videos. Your explanations have really opened my mind to whole new worlds of thought and really gotten me excited to learn more about all the various forms of philosophy. Thanks again!
Thank you for putting this together. Excellent video. I learned a lot in 22 minutes. I'll be showing this tomorrow night to a group along with tidbits from "A Guide to the Good Life" by Irvine.
Thank you for this thoughtful and intelligent video about such a fascinating and useful way of approaching life with all its challenges and possibilities. I guess it really is all in the mind!
High virtue ideology is certainly admirable (to those disposed to it) however, there are people (despite any attempt to elighten) who are born towards base caricature. Although human nature embodies both virtue and vice, the duel nature is open to interpretation as to which is..... advantageous to a given individual.Of course from the macro perspective ,society benefits from virtue.The reality is that the choice is individual and without vice what then IS virtue? Without death, one cannot fully contemplate life.
so check out this irony. This quarter is winding down, and as you can imagine I don't need any extra stress during finals. I'm about 2 miles from home and I started this video (just got hooked to philosophy. You're one of those teachers that inspire me to learn more. Enjoy the fact you can clearly state opinions and fact of views you may not agree with) Anywho, after I entered through my my front gate, there's a uphill swiper to the left (speed trap hotspot). Golf course on both side of the street, with a high median splitting the opposite lanes. As you probably guess already, I hit a deer (he wasn't on the road after I pulled over....there's deer hair everywhere). I love driving. and as a motorcycle rider I take pride being alert. But this deer came out of nowhere, not even Usain Bolt could have avoided this deer.**** As for your video, I just heard you saying something about the "weather" and "stop worrying about what you can't control". after that, out of nowhere...BOOM! speeches***
i'm pro-Stoicism because its principles very much resemble Buddhadhamma but i also must note that in my opinion its approach do leads to passivity, because once you understand that results of your efforts are beyond your control and so nothing is guaranteed, you also understand that they're basically futile, no effort is worth bothering, and since it's our interest in the result which motivates us to act, without such interest there's no motivation other than the necessity of sustaining one's life, satisfying basic needs and putting into practice ethical principles the difference of the Buddhadhamma in this aspect is that unlike Stoicism, which is materialistic and annihilationist, the latter offers an alternative sphere for application of efforts namely spiritual path towards liberation, thereby re-channeling the efforts from mundane purview to a different, truly meaningful, fruitful and gratifying direction but it bears similarity to Christian philosophy of life as well
+BayanTheOne Thanks, Bayan. Good insights. As for Buddhism, does it not teach that self is an illusion and that nirvana involves a dissolution of self... among other things?
+teachphilosophy that's true, more accurately not it's dissolution but insight into its illusory nature, because there not being a self in the first place, there's nothing to be dissolved my feeling, possibly a false one, is that your question is provoked by my statement about annihilationism of the Stoics, if so, then in case of the Buddha's teaching the post-mortal existence of one who attained Nibbana, an Arahant, is neither confirmed nor refuted, when being questioned on this the Buddha would consistently answer that after death such a person neither exists nor doesn't exist, nothing can be said about them
+BayanTheOne Hi Bayan, thanks for comment/insights. I asked the question because a lot of people argue it's in my self interest to do a, b, c,.... but, if the self is an illusion in the highest states of Buddhist philosophy, how can anything be in my self interest in Buddhist philosophy? A Buddhist master wouldn't argue it's in your self interest because there is no self? :)
+teachphilosophy craving for happiness and for freedom from suffering is the basic self-interest of an ordinary person, but the _paradoxical_ way of securing both is complete relinquishment of self-view and self-identification with one's physical existence and experiences which are manifested through attachment to the latter, this is a primary premise once this is agreed upon, the rest i guess for a Buddhist is a no-brainer, the Buddha by his authority of a sage gives guidelines for what should and should not be done and how it's to be done in order to achieve those by way of attaining Nibbana, and theretofore - the ever more sublime levels of spiritual accomplishment, or a favorable rebirth, and one only needs to follow his advice
Lazaros Billias Hi Lazaros, According to stoicism, you can be content with continually trying or be content with moving on. Either way, identify with what is in your control (your effort and all the hidden lessons along the way), not on uncontrollable outcomes. They don't tell you what you should do, but the attitude and mindset that is best
since it's personal and you can't talk about it here on the internet, have you tried meditation on and absorbing what Epictetus and the other Stoics have said? What they say is a key to life's difficulties, but it needs repeated pondering to truly absorb and to put what they say into practice. Old habits die hard as Aristotle well knew since he placed such importance on habit to build virtues of character. I hope you receive the guidance you need.
The mind is not separate from the world around it. That's a sticking point I have with Stoicism. Some of it relies on a understanding of the physical world that is not scientific. There are degrees of separation, we have a will that is ours, but it is still part of the causal chain. We will react the way we react and if it were possible to calculate all the external stimuli and internal neural firings and hormonal adjustments, it would be possible to predict a reaction. I think the more we understand this material reality, that the brain generates the mind and is not separate from the rest of the world, and that we can understand how it interacts with the world, the greater ability we have to fully exercise the Stoic practice of preparing the mind against the slings of fate and giving ourselves greater leverage over our own minds.
This is the case for the 'materialist', however the Stoics believed that our faculty of reasoning/logic (logos) originates from a piece of the greater logos implanted within. That piece of the logos would represent a non-material force residing in every man, granting man the ability to possess true agency over their thoughts and ability to choose from a range of options.
@@huehuecoyotl2 'You' do not? Or is it the chemicals in your brain dictating what you find sensible? ;) If this is the case, what anyone believes is arbitrary and at the mercy of various physical interactions/processes in the brain.
@@iansmith9474 I honestly don't know. It is possible. I choose to believe that we have degrees of freedom, but not true complete volition. But I don't think that is answered or is perhaps not even answerable.
@@huehuecoyotl2 Even in Buddhism, the "Buddha" within, is the non-material undefined spiritual substance shared by all things. They believe only it really IS, while all else is illusion. In Hinduism, it is called the "Atman". Every spiritual discipline is going to include a non material form of life within man.
okay let's say my goal is to get accepted into a university. And let's assume that I try my hardest but I don't get accepted because it wasn't enough. According to Stoicism, do I quit trying and set a different goal or do I keep trying until I get accepted?
+Lazaros Billias one way to take it is to not let the status of 'rejected' affect you negatively. Rather, only derive impetus for positive action from it; ie to better yourself. It could also be used to point yourself in a different more diverse and unknown direction. I didnt get into any medical schools in the US and instead choose to study in the Caribbean rather than despair; I am happier now than I have ever been.
+Lazaros Billias Don't make "getting into my dream school" your goal. Make "Doing the best of my ability so that I couldn't have done it any better" your goal. That's more of a Stoic approach to things like that. Now, not only that the new goal is more controllable (you have total control over your ability to do your best in something) but it will also make the result of it less damaging to your mind too because you didn't fail any of your goal (or desire). Plus, what is the best way of winning/achieving anything (well, at least virtuously) besides doing your best in it? Hope this response still helps despite being 4 months late.
Timothy Nguyen Thank you, interesting, I have found out that I am not that fond of the stoic approach to life but I will keep these little lessons with me I'm sure they will help, thanks for the response
laz martel I hope it it is not because you believe stoicism means to settle for less. Stoicism in a nutshell is basically focus on what you can control, ie your effort, and be content with the outcome. If I took the stoic approach to a test, I would try my hardest. I want that A, so I would study and control what I can cobtrol which is my effort thus pushing to my maximum extent. You cannot control a outcome 100%. There's a multitude of variables, but you can increase your chances with effort or planning. In the end If I didn't achieve an A, I will be content rather than self-pitying. As a result my performance doesn't drop because I became sorry for myself. I accepted the fact I didn't achieve my goal, and choose to learn from my mistakes. I don't fall into this pathetic pool of self-pity most people fall into and I move forward realizing negativity won't help me change the fact I got a B or C rather than an A.
The Stoic response: All you can do is ensure that you have done all you can regarding the aspects that are within your control. Did you apply enough effort? Did you spend enough time? Could you have done more?
