Stoicism
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What is Stoicism? These are virtues that people have been striving for and committing to in daily practice for a really long time. I didn’t know anything about Stoicism when I first came across it. I have heard about things in movies and a small amount in books that I have read. However, I was unaware that there was a whole philosophy around this. I have been reading a lot about it because I went down a rabbit hole while researching about anger.
This rabbit hole has lead to some very interesting and compelling information. It makes me want to dig deeper into the Stoicism Philosophy. There are a few books that I want to get on this subject as well as a ton of information on the web. The amount of information I have come across has felt very overwhelming, yet very exciting.
So I will go into a brief explanation on what Stoicism is about and how I feel it still relates to the world today. Most of the information I have gathered here, was from multiple sources on the web, that I will be summarizing in hopes to give you a little understanding. I hope what I provide here will spark your curiosity and that you will dig deeper. If you find yourself doing that, please come back and share what you have learned. I would like to spend time talking to you about the things we are learning.
What is Stoicism? Per a dictionary on the web it is defined as below.
noun
noun: stoicism; noun: Stoicism
1.
the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint.
2.
an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge; the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.
That is a good definition, but truly one must dig deeper to define what Stoicism truly is. One must go beyond the literal definition to find the true meaning of Stoicism.
Stoicism is four core virtues and those virtues are:
Courage
Temperance
Justice
Wisdom
With all the information I have read there is too much to summarize to put into this writing. I am going to provide a few places on the web and some books to get you started.
I have started with this website.
https://dailystoic.com/what-is-stoicism-a-definition-3-stoic-exercises-to-get-you-started/
I am learning so much from this site and it provides a great list of books to read. Those books are:
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Letters From A Stoic by Seneca
Discourses by Epictetus
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman
The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday
On that same site is the following regarding how to be a Stoic.
9 Stoic Exercises To Get You Started
The Dichotomy of Control
Journal
Practice Misfortune
Train Perceptions
Remember—It’s All Ephemeral
Take The View From Above
Memento Mori: Meditate On Your Mortality
Premeditatio Malorum
Amor Fati
There is so much information out there that this tiny little blog post does not do the justice Stoicism deserves. The information I have wrote about it just the tip of the information that I have been reading about and I have yet to scratch the surface of all of it. What I am learning so far is pretty exciting and I am enjoying the information I am learning.
I hope the information I have provide sparks your interested and passion to learn. If it does and you would like to share, please come by and comment. Let us start and join in the conversation. Please join me on this journey of discovery. I look forward to hearing from you.
As always take care of yourself and each other.
