I was exposed to Stoicism since young and incorporated many of its tenets in my life. But the longer I live, the more I think this philosophy is most relevant now than ever before. I am glad to see its resurgence because the young generations need all the help they can get to not be swallowed by the void of the shallow and inconsequential….
Sharp parallell between the Stoic dichotomy and Zen's non-clinging. I dunno if most people realize that the attention metaphor actually predates social media by centuries - Seneca was basically complaining about the same thing with Roman social obligations. I tried applying the premeditatio malorum exercise for a week and it felt wierd at first, but it did shift something about how mornings landed. The auction never stops, but the bidding does get quieter.
The oddity is that I have read the Stoics but have never truly practiced it, whereas I have deeply engaged in Zen. Zen works at the meta level - there is only one thing happening in the room, and there is no room - but it is admittedly somewhat abstruse. My friend and new business partner is a student of Stoicism, and his work has piqued my interest enough to look back through some of his works. I may give some energy to the practices.
I was exposed to Stoicism since young and incorporated many of its tenets in my life. But the longer I live, the more I think this philosophy is most relevant now than ever before. I am glad to see its resurgence because the young generations need all the help they can get to not be swallowed by the void of the shallow and inconsequential….
Great post!
You are after my own heart with this one Rick🤍
Sharp parallell between the Stoic dichotomy and Zen's non-clinging. I dunno if most people realize that the attention metaphor actually predates social media by centuries - Seneca was basically complaining about the same thing with Roman social obligations. I tried applying the premeditatio malorum exercise for a week and it felt wierd at first, but it did shift something about how mornings landed. The auction never stops, but the bidding does get quieter.
The oddity is that I have read the Stoics but have never truly practiced it, whereas I have deeply engaged in Zen. Zen works at the meta level - there is only one thing happening in the room, and there is no room - but it is admittedly somewhat abstruse. My friend and new business partner is a student of Stoicism, and his work has piqued my interest enough to look back through some of his works. I may give some energy to the practices.