
What the Stoics did for us - kawera
https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5258/what-the-stoics-did-for-us
======
acabal
You can download Marcus Aurelius' Meditations for free at my project, Standard
Ebooks: [https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/marcus-
aurelius/meditation...](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/marcus-
aurelius/meditations/george-long)

The translation is good and Meditations is one of my favorite books. Super
interesting to get an inside look at how the most powerful man in the world
used Stoicism to deal with both the weight of an empire, and with day-to-day
trivialities.

The Enchiridion is another Stoic "manual" that's very short and just as good:
[https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-
enchiridion/...](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-
enchiridion/elizabeth-carter)

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phren0logy
For what it's worth, the Hays translation of Meditations is much easier
reading.

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flatline
I also like Robin Hard's translation quite a bit.

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ashark
I surveyed a bunch of translations a few years back, comparing them to one
another and to the original Greek, trying to find the best
accuracy/readability balance. Landed on Maxwell Staniforth's. There's a
paperback available from someone (Penguin?) and it's the translation the Folio
Society used for their Meditations, if you're into above-average-quality
hardbacks.

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leephillips
One of my favorite quotes is attributed to the stoic Epictetus:

    
    
       If anyone tells you that such a person speaks ill of you,
       don’t make excuses about what is said of you, but answer:
       “He does not know my other faults,
       else he would not have mentioned only these.”

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phren0logy
I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work in corrections. I have been finding
myself recommending books on stoicism to some of my patients after reading a
few myself.

It's a useful counterpoint to the modern idea that if your life is not
Instagram/Pinboard material then you are a failure.

~~~
eref
Maybe I misunderstand stoic philosophy, but the rule to override emotional
responses to failure with serenity strikes me as overly broad. Sometimes it is
simply easier to get angry and let it out; especially if that sends a valid
corrective signal to someone who is at fault. And even if the failure was just
bad luck, it seem totally fine to be mad for a couple of minutes or hours. It
is simply the way our brains have evolved to work and that's fine as long it
is not harmful as long as nobody is harmed. Just be careful to not turn it
into a constant state of anger because that will likely worsen your life
rather than improve it. All of that can be subsumed under rationality.

~~~
phren0logy
I think you are referencing more of the conversational definition of stoic
rather than the philosophy of stoicism.

~~~
bitexploder
Agreed. The Stoics allowed themselves to have emotions. It is a common
misconception that stoicism is about deadening feelings and reactions to the
world. Stoics acknowledge and even embrace our emotions, but what stoics aim
for after experiencing emotions and gut reactions is some of the most
interesting parts of stoicism for modern readers.

I always direct people to
[http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.html](http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/goldsay.html)
for a taste of Stoicism. It is still tricky because what most Stoics thought
of as "God" and what a modern reader would interpret as (the Christian) God
are pretty different, but it is still easy reading. Other than that caveat it
is pretty easy to understand.

As a sort of random aside, some of the most memorable sections of Epictetus
for me are when he would referee to a pupil or discussion partner as a
"slave". It always gave me a good chuckle. "My nose is running." "Why do you
have hands, you slave?" e.g. quit complaining and wipe your nose. The color of
comments like that really gives a feel for when the stoics think someone is
being dense or wasting their mind. Some of the time now, when I am feeling
particularly sorry for my self, Epictetus will pop up in my mind and call me a
slave for complaining and it really helps me get over whatever random thing I
was fixated on.

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beaconstudios
It feels like an older version of "sheeple".

In terms of modern Stoic writing, I find Ryan Holiday's "The Ego is The Enemy"
and "The Obstacle is the Way" (as well as his "Daily Stoic", although that's
more of a daily devotional) to be very enjoyable and help to reframe the often
hard-to-read writings of Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus into actionable
advice.

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tunesmith
What is the singular of sheeple, anyway?

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thisrod
Errson?

~~~
wballard
That is the best comment I’ve seen all year. Bravo.

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evo_9
A good summary of my go-to Stoicism book:

[http://becomingeden.com/summary-of-a-guide-to-the-good-
life/](http://becomingeden.com/summary-of-a-guide-to-the-good-life/)

The book they are summarizing: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of
Stoic Joy:

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195374614/ref=as_li_ss_tl...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195374614/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0195374614&linkCode=as2&tag=effeforgeek20)

~~~
evo_9
Ah nothing like being down voted for trying to help

~~~
minikites
Welcome to Hacker News: "We're Reddit with a better vocabulary!"

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k4ch0w
Stoicism was the only philosophy that I felt was practicable in he real world
today. It reminds you that you have control over your own thoughts and you can
choose how to respond to outside events. You can appreciate what you have now
by negative visualization and remembering there was a time when you wanted it
more than anything. That your hard work is good for your own soul even if no
one else appreciates it. That life is fleeting, people will leave you, will
die and betray you but not be surprised when it happens.

I am in no way affiliated with this site or mailing list but I can't recommend
this site enough, it's the only mail I always open in the morning. It's nice
everyday to get a new tale of how someone was stoic in a difficult situation.
[https://dailystoic.com/](https://dailystoic.com/)

~~~
autokad
i dont mean to sound snarky, but i thought this was just 'growing up'.

~~~
k4ch0w
You don't, I think that's fair.

Everyone comes from a different background and sometimes the people around you
don't "Grow up", so you never learn it yourself without discovering a new book
that gives you this insight. I guess that was the case for me, and just wanted
to share my thoughts with others.

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JCummings01
I made a simple Chrome extension in the Chrome Web Store that shows a stoicism
quote and serene wallpaper in each new tab:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stoikk/hghegkdflff...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stoikk/hghegkdflffdalnkoidgppmaalkajfba)

Any recommendations for improvements/features/etc are always appreciated.

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sigstoat
the text of the quotes takes way too long to fade in. in fact, i'd remove the
fade entirely.

otherwise, nice work, thanks.

~~~
JCummings01
Thank you for the recommendation - I have added an options menu to allow users
to turn off the fade in animation.

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foopod
It is pretty interesting to see Stoicism in a modern context too.

Albert Ellis developed Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) in 1955. And
later started the Albert Ellis Institute
([http://albertellis.org/](http://albertellis.org/)) with the aim of research
and education in this area. Ellis refers to Epictetus in his first major
publication.

The primary framework is described really well here
([http://www.intropsych.com/ch13_therapies/a-b-c-d-
e_mnemonic....](http://www.intropsych.com/ch13_therapies/a-b-c-d-
e_mnemonic.html)) and is actively used in Behaviour Therapy to treat several
forms.

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fenwick67
So if I'm getting this right, Stoicism mostly just encourages pragmatic action
and acknowledges the dichotomy of control?

So it's basically Taoism?

~~~
munchbunny
Quite likely just the same basic ideas under different packaging, yes.

Though classical Stoicism did have a bunch of other beliefs mixed in about
god, nature, and science, but people mostly ignore those parts and focus on
the parts that apply to day to day behavior.

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Robotbeat
Probably the most prominent display of stoicism (well, almost a mockery of
stoicism) is the Jedi Order in Star Wars.

...which also illustrates some of the problems of stoicism, IMHO.

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GarvielLoken
"You desire to LIVE "according to Nature"? Oh, you noble Stoics, what fraud of
words! Imagine to yourselves a being like Nature, boundlessly extravagant,
boundlessly indifferent, without purpose or consideration, without pity or
justice, at once fruitful and barren and uncertain: imagine to yourselves
INDIFFERENCE as a power--how COULD you live in accordance with such
indifference? To live--is not that just endeavoring to be otherwise than this
Nature? Is not living valuing, preferring, being unjust, being limited,
endeavouring to be different? And granted that your imperative, "living
according to Nature," means actually the same as "living according to
life"\--how could you do DIFFERENTLY? Why should you make a principle out of
what you yourselves are, and must be? In reality, however, it is quite
otherwise with you: while you pretend to read with rapture the canon of your
law in Nature, you want something quite the contrary, you extraordinary stage-
players and self-deluders! In your pride you wish to dictate your morals and
ideals to Nature, to Nature herself, and to incorporate them therein; you
insist that it shall be Nature "according to the Stoa," and would like
everything to be made after your own image, as a vast, eternal glorification
and generalism of Stoicism! With all your love for truth, you have forced
yourselves so long, so persistently, and with such hypnotic rigidity to see
Nature FALSELY, that is to say, Stoically, that you are no longer able to see
it otherwise-- and to crown all, some unfathomable superciliousness gives you
the Bedlamite hope that BECAUSE you are able to tyrannize over yourselves--
Stoicism is self-tyranny--Nature will also allow herself to be tyrannized
over: is not the Stoic a PART of Nature? . . . But this is an old and
everlasting story: what happened in old times with the Stoics still happens
today, as soon as ever a philosophy begins to believe in itself. It always
creates the world in its own image; it cannot do otherwise; philosophy is this
tyrannical impulse itself, the most spiritual Will to Power, the will to
"creation of the world," the will to the causa prima." Nietzsche

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billbrown
Audible has a Daily Deal on Meditations for $1.95.

[https://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Meditations-
Audiobook/B0...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Meditations-
Audiobook/B004IBRMZS)

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MitjaBezensek
You can also download Tao of Seneca from Tim Ferris' blog:
[https://tim.blog/2017/07/06/tao-of-seneca/](https://tim.blog/2017/07/06/tao-
of-seneca/)

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rebuilder
Am I the only one who feels this is just another ism being packaged in a
trend-friendly form? IOW, stop, think, don't make an ideology an inseparable
part of your self-view. Ironically, that seems like an idea the stoics might
have endorsed.

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aaimnr
If Christianity is Java and Buddhism is Haskell then Stoicism is like Scala -
easier to digest from the Western point of view, but not all the way there.

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minikites
On the advice of a friend, I bought [https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stoic-
Meditations-Wisdom-Persev...](https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stoic-Meditations-
Wisdom-Perseverance/dp/0735211736) a month ago. It's been an enjoyable morning
read and a very approachable introduction to the philosophy.

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jonnybgood
I highly recommend the free courses on Stoicism by Donald Robertson:
[https://learn.donaldrobertson.name](https://learn.donaldrobertson.name)

