4 ms·

(2014) Interesting: The Stoics were giving salvation for tough times. It’s a great philosophy for tough times, I’m not sure it’s a great philosophy for everyd

(2014) Interesting: The Stoics were giving salvation for tough times. It’s a great philosophy for tough times, I’m not sure it’s a great philosophy for everyday living. It’s always good to feel more in control, but it’s not good to think that luck and the vicissitudes of the world can’t touch you or that you can’t show moral outrage, love, grief, and so on.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mturmon 2y ago
Full agree. The preceding paragraphs are terse and add further insight about the limits of Stoicism (or perhaps the little-s version that one might commonly adopt if under stress) and its effects on curtailing emotions.
- pjlegato 2y ago
  Common misconception; Stoicism is not about curtailing or repressing emotions. Stoicism is about not allowing your emotions to govern you. Subtle but profound difference.
  - jajko 2y ago
    Hmm, I may be a stoic by accident then (or more like coming there on my own). Emotions are great, I've fallen madly in love few times, I've cried from happiness when summiting Matterhorn, proposing to my girlfriend on top of Mont Blanc or checking some other higher peaks, I've had tears of joy when cutting umbilical cords of my kids and so on. But I never let them run my life, and I remove them from any bigger decisions. Cold hard facts don't change, and so doesn't your perspective and decisions based on them. Any new fact just adds to the mix with at most mild alteration of the result. Yet many folks I know have fucked up something bad in their life, by giving up to emotions in crucial moments. Lifelong regrets often afterwards, either hiding the fact in shame or living with consequences, in both cases visibly permanently less happy (not just cheating to be clear although that's of course one of main ones).
    - gljiva 2y ago
      Ditto the first sentence. One imperfect, but applicable analogy: "emotions are a fuel, and reasoning should be the steering system" I think it would be useful to emphasize that not letting the emotions govern applies to regret as well: Yeah, I did what I shouldn't have (or missed an opportunity), but now it's done and staying miserable helps noone, just makes me feel bad. Let's take it seriously and make the best of it (at least using it as a very important lesson), focusing on improving the future, not crying about the past.
      - jajko 2y ago
        Completely agree. I see mistakes (not really bad ones, I managed to avoid those due to what I wrote and probably some luck) as necessary learning steps that got me where I am right now. I am happy with current state, and thats all that matters. Then inevitably avoiding those mistakes would not made me the man I am today, you learn much more from bad experience rather than good one. Past girlfriends are a prime example - since they are past, there was always a not-nice breakup for those long trelationships, but every time I learned very valuable lessons about psychology and personalities and also myself and areas to work on, that led me to my current, non-perfect but pretty amazing wife. Of course then focus of not repeating those mistakes, this is going back to rationality. And past is a great source of lessons, but that's about it - focus on now and future, time spent pondering about 'what if' is wasting precious little time we still have in this reality, and it will go fast.
  - analog31 2y ago
    At first glance it seems related to self discipline.
keybored 2y ago
If someone said this about Stoicism on HN (not a professional philosopher) they would get corrected by the Stoic practitioners/dabblers: that it’s about skillfully managing circumstances and your reaction to them. Not about cutting off your emotional life. Anyway I don’t see the connection between the vicissitudes of life and travelling half-way across the world and then getting blown up by an IDE^W IED. What part of that fits into the Reinhold Nieburh quote? > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.
- KineticLensman 2y ago
  > > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference. Or, as soldiers (and some others) put it: "Pick your battles"
- getpokedagain 2y ago
  Damn IntelliJ blowing people up
  - keybored 2y ago
    Ahh haha. Fixed now. ;)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

mturmon 2y ago

Full agree. The preceding paragraphs are terse and add further insight about the limits of Stoicism (or perhaps the little-s version that one might commonly adopt if under stress) and its effects on curtailing emotions.

pjlegato 2y ago
Common misconception; Stoicism is not about curtailing or repressing emotions. Stoicism is about not allowing your emotions to govern you. Subtle but profound difference.
- jajko 2y ago
  Hmm, I may be a stoic by accident then (or more like coming there on my own). Emotions are great, I've fallen madly in love few times, I've cried from happiness when summiting Matterhorn, proposing to my girlfriend on top of Mont Blanc or checking some other higher peaks, I've had tears of joy when cutting umbilical cords of my kids and so on. But I never let them run my life, and I remove them from any bigger decisions. Cold hard facts don't change, and so doesn't your perspective and decisions based on them. Any new fact just adds to the mix with at most mild alteration of the result. Yet many folks I know have fucked up something bad in their life, by giving up to emotions in crucial moments. Lifelong regrets often afterwards, either hiding the fact in shame or living with consequences, in both cases visibly permanently less happy (not just cheating to be clear although that's of course one of main ones).
  - gljiva 2y ago
    Ditto the first sentence. One imperfect, but applicable analogy: "emotions are a fuel, and reasoning should be the steering system" I think it would be useful to emphasize that not letting the emotions govern applies to regret as well: Yeah, I did what I shouldn't have (or missed an opportunity), but now it's done and staying miserable helps noone, just makes me feel bad. Let's take it seriously and make the best of it (at least using it as a very important lesson), focusing on improving the future, not crying about the past.
    - jajko 2y ago
      Completely agree. I see mistakes (not really bad ones, I managed to avoid those due to what I wrote and probably some luck) as necessary learning steps that got me where I am right now. I am happy with current state, and thats all that matters. Then inevitably avoiding those mistakes would not made me the man I am today, you learn much more from bad experience rather than good one. Past girlfriends are a prime example - since they are past, there was always a not-nice breakup for those long trelationships, but every time I learned very valuable lessons about psychology and personalities and also myself and areas to work on, that led me to my current, non-perfect but pretty amazing wife. Of course then focus of not repeating those mistakes, this is going back to rationality. And past is a great source of lessons, but that's about it - focus on now and future, time spent pondering about 'what if' is wasting precious little time we still have in this reality, and it will go fast.
- analog31 2y ago
  At first glance it seems related to self discipline.

keybored 2y ago

If someone said this about Stoicism on HN (not a professional philosopher) they would get corrected by the Stoic practitioners/dabblers: that it’s about skillfully managing circumstances and your reaction to them. Not about cutting off your emotional life. Anyway I don’t see the connection between the vicissitudes of life and travelling half-way across the world and then getting blown up by an IDE^W IED. What part of that fits into the Reinhold Nieburh quote? > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.

KineticLensman 2y ago
> > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference. Or, as soldiers (and some others) put it: "Pick your battles"
getpokedagain 2y ago
Damn IntelliJ blowing people up
- keybored 2y ago
  Ahh haha. Fixed now. ;)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]