
An English Clergyman’s Advice for Quarantine - Petiver
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/05/14/an-english-clergymans-advice-for-quarantine/
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cityzen
If you need a daily pick me up from the drag the quarantine is putting on your
life, I would recommend The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. There is stoic
philosophy passage each day with a modern interpretation by Ryan.

Here's todays (May 28)

May 28th

THE FIRST TWO THINGS BEFORE ACTING

“The first thing to do — don’t get worked up. For everything happens according
to the nature of all things, and in a short time you’ll be nobody and nowhere,
even as the great emperors Hadrian and Augustus are now. The next thing to do
— consider carefully the task at hand for what it is, while remembering that
your purpose is to be a good human being. Get straight to doing what nature
requires of you, and speak as you see most just and fitting—with kindness,
modesty, and sincerity.” M ARCUS A URELIUS, M EDITATIONS , 8.5

Imagine, for a second, what Marcus’s life as an emperor must have been like.
He would preside over the Senate. He would lead the troops in battle, direct
the grand strategy of the army as its highest commander. He would also hear
appeals—from citizens, from lawyers, from foreign governments. In other words,
like most people in power, he was called on to make decisions: all day, every
day, decision after decision.

His formula for decision making is a battle-tested method for doing and acting
right—literally. Which is why we ought to try to use it ourselves.

First, don’t get upset—because that will color your decision negatively and
make it harder than it needs to be.

Second, remember the purpose and principles you value most. Running potential
actions through this filter will eliminate the bad choices and highlight the
right ones.

Don’t get upset.

Do the right thing.

That’s it.

Holiday, Ryan,Hanselman, Stephen. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom,
Perseverance, and the Art of Living (p. 162). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle
Edition.

~~~
stormdennis
Someone recently recommended a particular philosophy as a more natural fit for
westerners than Buddhism or other Eastern religions/philosophies. The reason
given was that it originates in Europe which not even Christianity does. I
couldn't remember what it was but reading your post I've a feeling it might be
Stoicism.

~~~
cityzen
I would highly recommend that book to anyone. It takes literally 60 seconds to
read every morning but gives you hours of things to think about.

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stormdennis
The letter has nothing to do with quarantine at all, it's just a series of one
liner bits of advice of the calibre you find on those one page per day
calenders.

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kjakm
While I agree the title is complete clickbait (this has nothing to do with
quarantine - it's a letter about depression) dismissing the letter as "advice
of the calibre you find on those one page per day calenders" is disingenuous.
I found it quite interesting that most (not all) of the tips for coping with
depression are exactly what people are told today, almost 200 years later.

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blackhaz
Drink loads of wine? :-)

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Cthulhu_
While no longer advertised as such, alcohol is still a common pasttime
ingrained in a lot of cultures. In informal advertising (e.g. Reddit memes),
weed is a recurring theme and ingrained in a lot of people's daily routines.
And on HN, articles and comments about how great psychedelics are make a
regular appearance.

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particleandwave
As others noted the this has little to do with quarantine and a lot with
depression. However, there is a parallel between depression and quarantine,
for me personally, it struck very hard, and I found myself questioning the
value of my life up to the point where the thoughts of meaningless existence
shadowed every good thing that ever happened to me.

Funny to mention but what helped me was Arthur Schopenhauer book "the wisdom
of life", it deals a lot with a sense of meaninglessness and ability to
overcome that. Do recommend.

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hotcrossbunny
I think I could use a little help expanding no 19. "Be firm and constant in
the exercise of rational religion. Considering he was a clergyman, whatever
did he mean?

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einarfd
The description of Reverend Sydney Smith in the article seem to indicate that
he was an intellectual during the enlightenment period. Given that, I would
presume that the phrase "rational religion" would mean religion
interpretations that would not be in conflict with science and rationality as
understood at the time.

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JoeAltmaier
Is that like "Intelligent Design"? Where you apologize for religion by trying
to explain away the contradictions with shaky logic?

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einarfd
It's more the opposite, "Intelligent Design" seems to be faith dressed up as
science. While this would be more faith that doesn't contradict science.

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JoeAltmaier
So, you just freely abandon the parts of faith that contradict science? Then
why call it 'faith'? Its just 'hunches'.

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mikekchar
Are you implying that it is an important part of faith to cling to beliefs for
which all observable evidence points to the contrary? It seems a bit hard to
understand why one would want to pursue such a practice, so I wonder if I'm
misunderstanding your point.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
What a neat, concise definition of faith! Despite a cruel and unfeeling
universe, to believe in a just God is exactly as you describe.

Yes, that is faith in a nutshell. Every attempt to 'reconcile' faith with
science, compromises both and does no service to either.

I'm not a person of faith (not in a dogma anyway). But I can understand that
to mean anything at all, faith has to mean a different thing than 'observable
confirmation of nature'.

~~~
mikekchar
Interesting. I am also not a "person of faith", but I don't use that
definition of faith. Most people I've known who value faith, do so in areas
where they are not sure one way or another. Generally speaking, faith is
something that provides comfort because it gives them certainty for things
that are uncertain to the person -- especially for things that can not be
proved or disproven. Sometimes I've seen people have a "crisis in faith"
because they discover that something they believed to be uncertain (and hence
a good candidate for faith based belief) turns out to be quite certain and not
what they believe. Usually this is quite uncomfortable for them. Sometimes
they are able to continue with their faith by shifting their interpretation of
the thing they believe onto something that is still uncertain to them.
Sometimes they struggle to find something that will throw doubt on the
situation so that they can continue their faith. Sometimes they they abandon
their faith. I've really yet to meet _anyone_ who walks into walls because
they have faith that they don't exist (or other equivalent situations). I'm
absolutely sure that they exist, but I don't think they are very common to be
honest.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Well, everybody that believes in truth, justice (and the American Way) is
"walking into walls " every day. Its faith that _some thinks you believe
because they should be true_. How does that figure into this?

