Can be dangerous things.
Category: Philosophy
Epictetus
Epictetus, a former slave turned Stoic philosopher, came up with the key Stoic concept of focusing only on what one can control and ignoring anything beyond one’s control. You can see how someone who was a slave might become very familiar with the second half of this concept, as slave’s have little control over what befalls them.
Most people are very focused on the first part of this axiom — concentrate on what one can control. But the second part — ignoring what one cannot control — is also very liberating, for why waste any time on things one cannot even influence, and so much of modern life falls into this latter category. Best to just ignore such things entirely, although this can be difficult when they are threatening.
Dealing With Insanity
If you dig deep enough into the current circumstances of the world you are living in, chances are pretty good that it will appear to be rampant insanity.
So the question becomes, how does one keep one’s balance under these conditions? That’s where a philosophy like Stoicism provides it value.
Don’t
Don’t forget how to smile.
Temporary
How temporary everything is! You realize this when you are old. When you are in a particular circumstance in life, you think it is more or less permanent, but it never is. Never.
Which?
Ignore It?
Should one just ignore the news?
It is usually of the clamorous and disastrous variety. So it is is a huge stressor, and who needs the stress? Plus, one can’t do much about whatever it is anyway.
So why pay any attention to it at all? Just ignore it, for one’s mental health.
In Stoicism, they tell you to concentrate on what is under your control, but ignore everything else — that would include the news, in my opinion
You see these people who never miss a single headline, and it is just making them crazier, although they may not realize it.
Discipline
When you must do something but you don’t want to — that’s discipline.
It is like a muscle. The more you are able to do it, the stronger it becomes. Conversely, the more you fail to do it, the weaker.
You can’t achieve anything without discipline. There isn’t much you can’t achieve with it.
Odd Beauty
The beauty of ordinary things.
Dog Walkers
There are two types of dog walkers — those who wait patiently for the dog to have a thorough sniff, and those who, instead, are constantly and impatiently pulling the leash for the dog to move on. Which type would you be?
I know which type the dog prefers.
Henry's Views 