My take on philosophy as a whole can be summarized in one sentence:
<<<<Everyone is a philosopher until life hits them for real. >>>>
Stoicism, archaic yet new, is no exception. It’s one of those constantly shape-shifting ideologies that reminds me of Jordan Peterson’s way of talking—many words, little substance, constant mental stretching followed by abstract brain sit-ups meant to trigger the masses but never to truly upset the rulers.
When you complain or criticize stoicism, some 190IQ professors will tell you that you are “not doing it right” and then introduce yet another “mental position” that you have to assume or else you ain’t nothing.
And of course, their favorite linguistic architecture “not necessarily” will be repeated 50 times.
In short, you are always the problem.
Kinda like natural bodybuilding where steroid-loaded humanoids gaslight you into thinking that doing sets of 6 instead of 7 is why you are smaller than them.
Most Stoics Are Hypocrites
Who are the most famous stoics – Seneca and Aurelius?
Both are hypocrites of the highest order who didn’t even live by their cringe-inducing quotes.
Seneca was an advisor to Emperor Nero – a Roman emperor known for his tyrannical rule, extravagant lifestyle, and persecution of Christians, as well as his involvement in the Great Fire of Rome.
Seneca got ultra-rich, think Elon Musk x2 type or rich, while serving Nero.
Yet he would tell you that:
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
What a hypocrite.
You don’t need to play mental chess with Einstein to figure out that Seneca was well aware of his populist nonsense and the evil that his boss did daily…
Here are some of Nero’s accomplishments:
- Persecution of Christians
- The Great Fire of Rome
- The murder of his mother, Agrippina
- The murder of his stepbrother, Britannicus
- Execution of his wife, Octavia
- Murder/forced suicide of his former advisor, Seneca (the irony)
- Execution of political rivals and senators
- Extravagant spending and neglect of the empire
- Use of public funds for personal indulgences
- Destruction of the Senate’s power
And Mr. Seneca “advised” that guy while amassing a ton of wealth himself through deals.
I guess he forgot the quote about “few wants”.
Zero surprises here to anyone familiar with human nature.
But let’s not forget, the other Stoic-wannabe – Marcus Aurelius the Roman emperor from 161 to 180 CE.
As you can guess, he was as rich as a human can be on this Earth.
He also has the following track record:
- Persecution of Christians
- Waging bloody wars (Marcomannic Wars)
- Execution of Avidius Cassius
- Failure to address slavery reform
- Tolerating corruption within the empire
- High taxes and economic struggles
- Suppression of political dissent
- Enforcing harsh military discipline
- Brutality in suppressing revolts
Yet this dude has the nerve to come up with quotes like this:
“The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.”
Oh, wait. I am evil for not wanting to buy wisdom from this hypocritical humanoid.
I can guarantee you that 99% of the stoic-quote-reposters on spam media (a.k.a. social media) do not even know who Seneca and Aurelius were.
I am not kidding. They probably think they were some sages who sat alone in the mountains and survived on oranges while pushing away the material world and living on that spiritual food.
But of course, the fact that the two main stoic poster boys were essentially frauds doesn’t dismiss the teachings. After all, if a smoker tells you that smoking is bad for you, is he lying?
The ultimate issue with stoicism is that it simply doesn’t work in practice apart from specific cases.
Its practicality is as NARROW as a g-string and yet people try to turn it into a hammer that can also be a screwdriver and ballerina shoes.
Stoicism = Silent Slavery
One of the main reasons why stoicism got so popular was to console the slaves living in the rotten Roman empire.
Stoicism’s main purpose was to put the average person into a state of acceptance.
It was a mentality designed for the subjects gaslighting them into accepting their fate, suppressing healthy and righteous anger while thinking that they are accomplishing some virtuous metamorphosis alluding to some divine ascension.
It was all coping in other words; a way of dealing with the depressive state of being a loser and a slave.
Ironically, stoicism gained a lot of market share among young men (e.g., Zoomers) precisely for the same reasons.
The life of a Zoomer is many times more depressing than the youth of a boomer or a millennial.
Think about it.
Boomers could afford to buy a house, married young, had children, and now enjoy pensions while Zoomers have nothing and will have nothing other than brain rot and persistent psychological decay expressed through Instagram reels constantly synthesizing depressant at 2 a.m. after an unplanned forearm session.
Zoomers are victims. They are lonely, weird, autistic, depressed, childless, undersexed, poor, and completely exploited by modern technology created by big tech to extract people’s energy and feed them retarded ads.
Zoomers have to get into massive debt (in the US that is) to get an education. And think of all the idiots who glorify living in a van and recording it on social media as if that’s some major accomplishment.
If anything, it’s only a sign that the average man is getting OWNED by the state and can only afford to live in a rotten cell on wheels while coping by taking images of big trees and rocks while using a plastic bag as a bathroom and showering with the watering system of the local park.
Think of all the Zoomers and soon-generation Alphas who call themselves “dog/cat” moms and dads.
That’s depressing.
And when you add the reality of modern dating for men which I have presented in insane, neurotic depth and realism on this site many times, you get a fertile ground for acceptance and stoicism development.
“We can’t do anything about anything so just accept it, bro”.
The West is also a metaphorical continuation of the Roman Empire.
There’s a reason why blooming generations never bothered with mental degradations such as MGTOW, game, stoicism…etc.
They had something more to live for. Now that men are in the corner, slapped in the face by pretty much everyone including themselves, and spending their time watching others print money out of their misery (e.g., Andrew Tate), fallible philosophies reach the surface.
Somewhat ironically, if those people were TRULY alpha stoics (a.k.a. controlling the controllable and accepting the uncontrollable), there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
But the brutal truth is that the real world makes it impossible to be maximally stoic.
Like I said in the beginning: Everyone is a philosopher until life punches them in the face and breaks their jaw in three places.
When reality hits, all those bone-crushing cringe memes become utterly pointless.
It’s easy to be stoic when you lose five bucks and say to yourself “I can’t turn back time and unlose that money”.
But using stoicism to accept the depressing fate of a modern man is just weak sauce mental architecture as the human mind needs HIGHER virtues than acceptance.
Acceptance matters only if it catalyzes something bigger.
The Danger of Silence
Yeah, I know. Men don’t cry.
Except we do. We are not robots. Men and women are 90% the same thing whether we like it or not.
The brutal reality is that silence equals “YES” unless it’s followed by a big slap.
By remaining silent about something, you are technically agreeing with it.
E.g., The bank increases your mortgage interest rate by 120%.
What can you do about it?
Stoicism says nothing. “Just accept it and pay, bro.”
I can go on forever.
But in my opinion, this behavior eventually leads to
a) endless depression
b) mental breakdown with unpredictable consequences
You can only accept so much of anything in this life. Truth. Hate. Love…etc. Therefore, the same applies to stoicism – you can only be stoic on a limited number of occasions before BOOOM!
Numbing your emotions more or less numbs life and makes it even worse than it already is.
Emotions emerge for a reason. What is the point of living if you don’t even have them? (As if that’s even possible.)
Stoicism ALWAYS Fails When You Need It The Most
Stoicism is amazing…in theory. Control your emotions as much as possible. Don’t focus on external variables you can’t control. A situation is determined by the way you look at it #mindset.
All nice.
All sweet.
But like all philosophical cults, it fails like a useless martial art in a street fight.
Why?
Because of the existential burden that we all face.
It’s like weight – no matter how strong you are, there’s always a number that’s gonna break you.
And that breaking point is precisely the time when you need stoicism the most and yet it will disappoint you every single time.
That’s the part of being human. You can’t avoid it. INB4 some genius will tell me that I don’t understand stoicism and need a lecture. I understand it just fine. What you don’t understand is that it’s an unrealistic shape-shifting ideology mostly designed for defeated souls.
The next ultra-important reason is the fact that stoicism has NO END GAME built into it.
Why be stoic in the first place?
The short game is good. You will avoid a lot of nonsense by taming your emotions in a healthy manner.
But the real issue is the end game of stoicism.
It’s damn weak unless it’s coupled with something bigger.
Why should you endure silently? And for what?
To cultivate some made-up virtue? Virtue is useless by itself. Humans need something bigger.
Or else everything crumbles.
Great and timely post, again. It also begs the question why Christianity is on the rise, and if I’m honest, they do share similar characteristics. But in Christianity, you do know what God is doing, so you become aware of the arc of history. It is true that the same older people and boomers are far more stoic and nonsense spewers, beyond being unaware. Aurelius is lackluster precisely because he could have put two and two together and understood Christianity, but perhaps he was too far gone at that point. Who knows. Saul (Paul) of Tarsus was very aware of the stoics, and of course also aware of what they lacked – the endgame, as you say.
It’s pretty clear there are no real “solutions” in the worldly sense, after this boom in population, unless big time war comes, or revolution, or a massive die off. Even really advanced, successful men have to leave the west to find a woman that’s even questionable as an investment at this point. All part of the game. I guess people have to look deeper, and find God. The true red pill, which some call white.
> Even really advanced, successful men have to leave the west to find a woman that’s even questionable as an investment at this point.
Such a woman is never worth it because raced mixed children are so far genetically from either parent that they are basically should not even be considered related to their parents. A random guy of your race has more genes shared with you than your very own race-mixed child. Western women may or may not suck, but the alternative is even worse.
> or a massive die off
That’s literally happening right now. There is very little difference between the people not having children because they have all died of war or plague and the people who just decided not to have any children. It’s all the same. Most people you know (especially if you live in a city) will not have any living descendants a hundred years from now.
We are all victims of technology but the zoomers are being devastated by it. It is astonishing to see how they not only fail to recognize how technology is dehumanizing them in every facet of life, but in a masochistic manner seek more of it any opportunity they get.
Of the Hellenistic schools of philosophy, I have found some of the tenets of epicureanism to be useful. The focus on avoiding pain in order to maximize net pleasure I find appealing (i.e. avoid having sex with that married hot skank because even though you will enjoy the sex, the possibility of acquiring an STD or being shot by her husband will result in more pain than pleasure). In other words, if you don;t expect much from life (set the bar low), you will face many less disappointments and the suffering this produces. Focus on the simple pleasures (that cup of coffee in the morning), a good night’s sleep, etc,
Epicurean ethics are sadly underrated, but I can see why. Most people tend to gravitate towards extremes and, sadly, balanced belief system are seen as “bland” or “weak”.
Like your imaginative example of pain avoidance lol. It also perfectly applies to the “temptation” of paying for sex to a visually appealing prostitute as the risks and moral issues are the same or greater, especially in countries where there isn’t a legal framework for sex work or it is outright illegal.
There are many reasons to justify not giving in to the temptation of paying for sex with attractive prostitutes,but to me the most important is the preservation of your self-worth. My personal opinion is the act of engaging in transactional sex (prostitution and all of its offshoots, call girls, sugar babies, kept women, etc where there is some quid pro quo other than the sex itself) is a form of self-abasement that degrades your self-worth. The negative feelings induced by the knowledge that you are having sex with a woman who has no real desire to be with you and is only engaging in the act because of some form of payment, take a toll on your psyche in the same way that a rejection by a serious love interest does.
Of course there are many men out there who this does not bother one bit and will do anything and give anything for a piece of pie. I for one have never resorted to it even though I have been presented with ample opportunities to do so without the risk of penal consequences (lived a year in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) and I hope I never will. Time will tell.
While personally I no longer care that much about female rejection and lack of real sexual/romantic attraction/ (after years with no luck you kind of get used to living without it), I get your point and agree that engaging in transactional sex feels degrading on different levels.
I’ve only paid for sexual services in my life during a trip to the Netherlands (I went to a licensed strip/sex club) a few years ago out of a mix of morbid curiosity and mild depression. I would lie if I said that I had no fun, but in retrospective I feel it was a wrong and reckless decision that haunts me to this day.
When you do a deep research about the topic, you realize how evil and brutal the “industry” is behind the scenes even in countries where it is legalized and regulated. IMO it is actually the main reason to stay away from it.
Stoic or not the rules of reality cannot be broken! The current state of Western Society is terrible and will lead to an inevitable collapse!
You are becoming increasingly unhinged, mate
To be fair, Marcus Aurelius was a “good” ruler compared to most Roman emperors (especially batshit insane ones like Nero and Caligula), but he is indeed quite overrated. He was as ruthless and despotic as his predecessors when it suited him and did little to truly change the evil statu quo of Rome as you point out. In addition, his private life was a mess and the appointment of his son Commodus as his successor would prove to be a mistake as he, ironically, was the complete opposite of his ideals and ruined his legacy. The only reason I think he is remembered more fondly than other emperors are his writings, and the idealized depiction of him in mainstream works of entertainment like Gladiator have perpetuated the myth.
I actually studied stoicism a few years ago (read Aurelius’s Meditations and other books) when I was going through a “self-improvement” phase and, while I still think some of its ideas have some value, I agree with most of your conclusions. Like Marxism and other ideologies, it sounds great and convincing on paper but proves to be highly limited and flawed in practice. In its worst interpretation (unfortunately the one promoted nowadays on social media) is just another form of “slave morality”.
Oh man this is excellent. I read the books from Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epectitus and you are spot on with them being hypocrites and the philosophy basically being used to justify all the stuff going on at that time. That was why I gave up on that philosophy a while back. Great post.
Is ignoring people also stoicism?
I found peace of mind in ignoring people/strangers as much and as often as possible. Especially if they act in some annoying way.
First you dont waste energy and second it hurts their ego if you just look at them and say absolutely nothing.
Piece of art
It’s funny you mention this, because I’m an extrovert but came to the same conclusions, at least in the modern day around big cities (which is why I left them, at least a chief reason). The degree of debasement of the common man (after the pop boom, dysgenics, welfare) is quite a thing to behold once government becomes the daddy they listened to. Among the worst of this would be city blacks, who care the least about peace, self worth, noise, and creating greater ego to get your attention or bother you. It becomes so disturbing over time the only good choice is to just avoid/leave.
Finding or maintaining quality relationships gets harder given how many people there are, how generally low quality they are, and how distracted they are. A lot of people, it’s true, don’t have the best (or any) upbringing, but that doesn’t help me if the effect is that they don’t know how to be minimally courteous, respectful, or worthwhile to engage with. Sad, but true.
I wholeheartedly agree that silence translates to acceptance, however I would also add that we live in a time where words can’t accomplish anything anymore (at least for us cattle people).
Regarding what you said about Zoomers having the worst lives, I also completely agree and I believe the only nonviolent solution to the problem would be a complete disappearance of the internet which would force everyone to go outside, indirectly live healthier/more meaningful lives, and re-learn how to communicate properly. Curious what your take is on this.
This is exactly what I realized after having read most of the stoicism books. You didn’t mention it here but Epictetus is another famous stoic professor who used stoicism to cope with the fact that he was a slave. Instead of fighting for freedom, he accepted his fate because it’s considered stoic.
One of his famous teachings is that you shouldn’t get attached to a peaceful life. Basically, even if something or someone is disturbing your peace, you gotta accept it. Bunch of bollocks really, because if something or someone disturbs my peace, I’m going all blitzkrieg on them. I sure wouldn’t accept being a slave like he did either.
So much truth in your post and thanks a lot of that.
Haha, good article, something small but deadly, like a bullet, and yes, there is reason in that, I knew about stoicism respectively about 5 years ago, I mean reading it, but I saw something interesting on the net, shit hit the fan, the teachers who teach you how to deal with life, how to be your own boss, and even how to improve yourself copied this technique, there are even idiots who look for stoic things in animes for triple x addicts, also selling courses, books, I would say even seminars, illusion always sells, ALWAYS, THAT IS COMMERCE, also do not forget that it always tends to the sexual (look for stoicism and add the word “She”,
“quotes”, “ignores”, “sigma”), I highly doubt that those thumbnails are stoic (lol), in reality the modern popularity of stoicism is a profitable way to make money on the part of scammers, hence the popularity of podcasts with a very low coefficient intellectual (why the hell do you think they always bring women who look like they just came out of a stripclub, cabaret, night club, or casino at night??????????????????? Lust sells, and even more so with the modern female generation) it is a constant loop, the apocalypse will be a miracle and not a punishment.
The fact that “brainrot” content is at its peak says a lot of the seemingly unstoppable decadence of modern humanity.
I remember that in the 2000s there were already mind viruses resembling things like wokism and the “masculinity pills”, but they were quite niche, obscure stuff that almost no one promoted or took seriously.
Since the late 2010s, they’ve somehow turned into the new mainstream. Whether accidental or a an orchestrated outcome the truth is that these times are fertile ground for scammers and manipulators of all forms. I feel bad for the new generations who have to grow up with such bleak prospects and referents.
The first time I learned about Stoicism was when I had 15 years. I saw a book offer on the market. The book was called “meditations” I guess it makes sense why it was so cheap.
At its best, the book was about how convenient is to be patient and resilient. At that time I thought there must have been a message between the lines, a secret that had to be deciphered to become a “super saiyan.”
Cant really learn much about stoicism. I think people who are really struggling in life because uncontrolable circumstances can tell one thing or two about life or survival, at least one thing.
Related to your article, I think these demagogues do everything to manipulate, from incomprehensible technology to spiritual leaders , and had reached a point of perfect domination.
“You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy” -FMI (the new buddhist stoics, folks! I was talking pest about them. At the end, they never werent that greedy)
So, this current situation helps scammers not only to get money and resources from people, but also brings fake lights.
IMHO Cynicism is the philosophy Stoicism rose up and defanged.
Cynicism is insanely tight.
I’m surprised you haven’t analyzed it here. Because Cynicism is all about REAL LIFE. Diogenes is a much better figure than the others.
Yes, this was one of the breadcrumb ways of life that has truth in it, and was a precursor in certain ways, to Christianity – it understands what tendencies humans have due to their brokenness and foolishness.
I’ve noticed that one stoic guy on the video reels makes all these claims but all I see is someone who hasn’t studied Christianity mostly due to rich western self loathing and/or silly evangelical teaching. It’s quite sad. Then you get Jerry Seinfeld even talking about it. The point is that once you arrive from a wealth point of view, you realize if you don’t believe in anything, and there isn’t more to life, it’s silly. Stoicism does NOT have an answer to this, really, while Christianity does. But that’s hated in the current world, for obvious reasons.
Stoicism like all the mantras and rules invented by organized religion are tool to control the masses. One of the reasons Christianity and Islam become the most dominant religions was the creation of religious manuals to be followed by the people so they develop an uniform way of thinking, while free will and free thinking are discouraged. But I also think this kind of uniform behavior is required for modern societies to exist piece, as much as it is possible. It’s like some kind of emotional communism where people suppress their true feelings for the greater good of the community, society and the whole nation.
I am surprised you didn’t mention out beloved Christian Jordan Peterson who is one of the biggest proponents of stoic minds in our modern times. He is all about sucking up the pain and always look for the fault in yourself. IDK, Jordan Peterson is a weird case…
In our modern times you don’t even need stoicism or some kind of religious believes to control the masses especially males, when you have social media, porn and computer games. They are enough to numb you from any troubles in live, you may feel something is not right in your life or society, but your dopamine receptors are or whatever there is in your brain is too desensitized from all the masturbation, visual and informational stimulation. True brain rot. I feel like if internet is stopped there will be a revolt and absolute chaos until the whole system is overhauled.
Regarding the transactional nature of things mentioned by other posters, I agree that they are promoting the best way and that is pure. The only problem for the modern, distracted, oversexualized man is that choosing to be a monk or getting married are both unbelievably difficult or bad choices, respectively. What isn’t transactional about nearly every girl you “date”? All that’s going on is that they are delaying sex for attention and payment of other types. This is the part you here nothing of because old men and the previous generations either don’t know or are too chicken shit to stand up for modern men – it doesn’t matter as it is baked in, we got here BECAUSE they were unaware, didn’t hold the fort, don’t care, etc.
Trust God but know that hard times are coming, and the hardest in a sense because most of what is going on right now is “unnatural”, digital, information, and psychological torture. The goal is a type of transhumanism, quite clearly. I don’t know when we go full bore on that but for most on the board here, I suspect we will see it in our lifetime.
I’ve kind of reached “cynical” conclusions similar to yours.
Not sure if your comment is a reference to my discussion with Leonardo, but ironically that time I gave in to lust was after a year invested in “self-improvement” nonsense such as nofap (which basically promotes the absolute avoidance of masturbation even if you don’t consume porn, which is indeed objectively bad). Like you point out, living in perpetual “monk mode” is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) and there will be a point where you will feel tempted to do things potentially riskier and more morally questionable than just jerking off occasionally to fulfill what are fundamentally natural biological needs. Ideally you should get a girlfriend or wife you can trust to satisfy them, but it is easier said than done in these times.
I believe “love” like it is commonly portrayed in media is mostly an idealized fantasy. Even if the physical/sexual attraction is initially genuine, most romantic relationships soon become purely transactional or held together by things greater and more meaningful than fleeting passion, such as children (something highly discouraged or neglected nowadays). There’s a reason why a significant part of the consumer base of sex work/content in some countries are not singles, but married men who get bored or disillusioned of married life at some point and no longer take the “quest” for a new partner seriously.
Maybe attractive men get more chances of random sexual encounters and fathering children, but like the resounding failure of most celebrity marriages prove, even today being a “Chad” is not a guarantee of finding true happiness and fulfillment in dating or marriage. Those with enough common sense might realize that most women only see them as disposable “sexual toys” and nothing more (nowadays most women are not interested in truly building a family), just like attractive women like to complain the same way about men (and to be honest, it is often right).
“hard times are coming, and the hardest in a sense because most of what is going on right now is “unnatural”, digital, information, and psychological torture”
Many times we hear people say that if technology continues “advancing” or “progressing” at the current rate, we will soon be living in a dystopian future like those depicted in novels like 1984 or Brave New World. But in my opinion, dystopia is now. We are currently living in a dystopian world that the best science fiction of the past could never have imagined. But yes it will get worse and it will do so in leaps and bounds. Covid triggered one of these leaps further into the digital nightmare.
Jose, your comment is totally accurate. We see things very similarly, if not entirely the same. But I must mention there is a wholesome aspect of the difficulty of dealing with women, and perhaps women dealing with men, if you both see God as ultimate meaning and children as part of your vocation as well. The idea of love in the modern day is as stupid as all other language games. It’s trickery with base level thinking, of course feminine type fantasy, where it is emotional and not real – as in sacrifice, which is what true love is. Once the feminine got completely unrestricted (the 1960s and on), we increasingly lived in a world slouching towards Gomorrah, as Bork said we would.
That leads to Leonardo’s point, which I have also made in other places; we’re already in a tech type dystopia and a female/family/children rearing mess. I also agree it will get worse. When you realize what most people here do, including Truth Seeker, that almost all attention online is to sell something to a surplus of men that don’t have much chance, the and rest of the social media is like porn for females to debase them, you’ll see that the only change will be in breakaway communities and/or when hard times come such that women aren’t afforded easy access to welfare, resources, options, drugs, tech, etc.
Hedonism in modern times is at levels probably unseen since peak Ancient Rome (far from “feminist” but also a degenerate, hubristic dystopia once it got big and rich enough).
Honestly, I don’t blame most modern women for acting the way they do. Think about it: if a child is constantly pampered since birth by his relatives and made to believe that he is entitled to almost everything just for existing (and that the kids of the opposite sex are inherently evil/dumb and below you), would it be that surprising if he grows up into an hedonistic, arrogant and self-absorbed adult?
While I believe everyone with a decent intelligence should be able to see the errors and lies of their upbringing once they get old enough, it can be hard to transcend and act against them, especially if the status quo constantly rewards you with privilege and convinces you 24/7 that you are doing great and are some kind of living deity.
Great work deconstructing this particular school of philosophy. On paper, Stoicism sounds great, but in practice can be very easily abused as an official ideology for maintaining unsavory status quo and keeping people silent and docile.
It is definitely no coincidence, that, while Stoicism started centuries before Roman Empire, it really started to take off in popularity at precisely the moment the Empire basically finished expanding and opportunities for “advancement” in life of an average Roman (well, the only way Romans really knew how – acquiring material resources and “glory” by conquering, plundering and enslaving other peoples) essentially dried up. And yes, Stoicism still tacitly condoned slavery. Fabulously rich slave-owners like Seneca denouncing wealth is the true height of hypocrisy, however. If the wealth was truly unimportant, why didn’t he give most of that wealth away to poor people, release slaves and satisfy himself with just the basics? At least Diogenes, love him or hate him, lived by what he preached.
Indeed, for Christian thought, Stoicism is nothing but a empty shell, since it lacks both a beginning and a end. However, it’s important to say that there is a great gap between both philosophies, since for Stoicism is nothing beyond this life, and Marcus Aurelius himself saw the christians of his time as a kind of necromancers, and their doctrine as a cult of death.
That means that the only common points between them are superficial.
On the other hand, i think that your analysis of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius has a contemporary bias, since in their time slavery and political violence were institutions as normal and accepted as those we have today, so, isn’t accurate to think that not reforming slavery or violently suppressing rebellions was wrong.
Everything else is a piece of true wisdom. Thank you very much, TS.
P.S.- I would like to add something: it’s true that many of those who share those stupid images with stoic quotes with Ancient Rome busts pretend to follow that thought only as an appearence, because i know that they are people to want to cry when a woman stops to answering them on Instagram. They wouldn’t even capable of taking a cold shower to demonstrate their detachment from comforts.
Daniel, you also nailed it. That somewhat “famous” social media reel guy now tries to compare Seneca to Christ and it’s laughable. That was the final straw for even trying to take the guy seriously or not realize what’s really going on (people just looking for ways to monetize an easy job, attention, clicks, etc).
One needs to have a complete theory of things, and that’s why Christianity, when studied and contemplated, is clearly the Way of Life. Even Chris Langan understands this, he just uses rational thought to inform others that are more linked to that way of thinking to describe why. If you want a proof in itself that Christ is the King of Kings, first understand that was born into the world in lowliness, and had the best character, was the perfect example of life – no one can say this about any man, and no other even rose from the dead – of course, he still lives as another proof. You can find Him, because he’s also looking for you. Cheers
Realizing that money does not give you happiness is much easier when you have money and see that you are still not happy. If you don’t have money, you may cling to illusory hope that some day money will buy you a happiness. Of course, lack of money for basic things like food and your own apartment (yeah that’s a basic) will cause a misery, so better to have them, but it will just make you less miserable, not happy.
Yes, it’s a paradox of life that you only come to that understanding once you arrive. This is yet another proof that the Way is the way. The key is to understand yourself that this is true IF you make it/are successful, and be charitable to others both in word, deed, and clout. Part of that charity is realizing that most simple, basic people of course are going to believe in things like wealth making them happier and having a better life. It’s somewhat true, as you realize, but ultimately not. As you say, it just makes you slightly less disappointed in life. I actually think it’s equally as hard for the wealthy and the poor to come to the realization that trust in God is the key to all things. For me, there is no doubt that the acceptance of reality is what causes so many foolish actions, political, social, and otherwise. Look around and see today that it explains most disgusting ideas and behaviors, and underpins leftism for certain.
So what to do instead of stoicism?
Monotheism — that is Islam
Also Christianity, Judaism and probably more religions. What’s your point?
Well, Seneka certainly died like a real stoic, no question about it.
And what is this about all these neo Christianity? For the record, violence was also so typical to Christians in later Roman history.
Romans prosecute Christians because they believe in one god. In Roman Empire emperor was also a proclaimed god, so rejecting all other gods by Christians was a sign for Romans that they were actually rejecting the Roman emperor and Roman state as such. So they were considered as treat.
BTW
with all due respect this is just you rambling. This post is just a big fat ad hominem in which btw stoicism is not even that relevant, this is just you complaining about -governments and human nature- in a very populstic way yourself: whats this higher ‘thing’ people should find? god? armed proletariat revolution? give me a break. if the system is so broken and evil, ask yourself first why you (and others) arent really doing anything about it (in the west)
Your point is mainly about how social media perceives stoicism, especially for younger men. I will push back on your assertion that stoicism is impractical. In my professional and persona life I have found tremendous practical value in Epictetus, namely the Enchiridion. It’s not even a book, just a collection of sayings. Some of them are contradictory but it’s short and concise, and most importantly, provides practical advice for daily life. You call the zoomers slaves but it’s ironic that Epictetus was a literal slave who was later freed.
During times of hardship with others in the military the Enchiridion helped me gain perspective and calm down. It helped me avoid placing blame on others or the situation. In this regard it was a practical stress and anxiety reducer. However, I never prescribed to Stoicism as a religious and moral salvation. I don’t think that’s how it should be applied. Nor is it a panacea for all things in life, which is how it is being sold to young men a la “sigma male grind set.” Indeed the Enchiridion says that one must act in life as in a play, and assume the role you are given. If you are a son be a good son, if you are a soldier be a good soldier etc… I think this touches on your oft repeated point about the need to focus on things outside of ourselves in the modern world to escape depression and lack of meaning.
As for Seneca and Aurelius, I agree in part that they have been shilled so much in the same way as Jocko and Goggins type of retardation. Zoomers are lazy and don’t read the original texts. Meditations has useful nuance on humility and not letting power get to your head. Aurelius is exceptional as being the only philosopher king in written history among all the others in the Roman line. I say written history because there could’ve been others who were more pious and stoic but didn’t write like Aurelius. I don’t deny that Aurelius was probably a narcissist. He liked the smell of his own farts and had enough self-importance/righteousness that he wrote Meditations. It’s no coincidence that Meditations draws many parallels from Ecclesiastes, written by another “philosopher king.”