Its 10:30 PM, am sitting in my room surrounded with magnificent garden and my eyes were stuck at angelic Buddhist fountain for long before I decided to write this blog on Philosophy.
Most of you being technical readers, I will quickly explain what philosophy is. Philosophy is a way of life. Its our decision making capability to manage our emotions and thoughts. Each one of us have our own philosophical controller that helps us in making important and non important decisions in life. For geeks, its an autonomy advisor that helps us take decisions linked to real world issues. A good philosophy towards life is very important for us to control our thoughts and emotions to live stress free life during modern times.
While trying to understand human philosophy and meaning of life I started talking to people who were studying them. Recently I met a friend who introduced me to a philosophy that slowly started changing my perception towards life and the way I was pursuing it. Its called “Orion Philosophy” which talks of Stoicism as its core value. Stoicism means ‘the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint‘. It was founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC, long before Jesus was born.
If you are thinking same as me, finding meaning of life is somewhat confusing and elusive. We struggle to find purpose of life and get ourselves entangled in our own emotions and thoughts leading to foggy behaviour and decision making. While exploring I came across various articles and blogs on Stoicism and its practical implementations in life. I will be putting references to all of of them at bottom.
One interesting cheat sheet that I came across was of David Stoic which depicts Stoic philosophy as a pyramid.
Top of pyramid says, there is good chance that it will go bad but you will be ok. This is most important step to make your more stoic. It means you should know the difference between things you can change and things you can’t. What is yours and under your control will come to you but what is not in your control, you must not dwell on it.
Live Simply. Try living a simple life while pursuing what you love doing as it will give you much more satisfaction than anything that’s materialistic.
What’s done is done. You cannot change what is already done, so worrying about it is only going to create more misery. Rather focus on good things in life and practice mindfulness by practicing healthy lifestyle. Whenever you feel your mind is stuck in things you cannot change deviate yourself. Get a hobby, exercise, go out for a walk, do YOGA and try other mind relaxing techniques.
Here’s powerful video of Epictetus who was one of the most prominent Stoic philosophers of the ancient world. Not putting too much of cognitive load on readers I will end this blog here and soon start writing Part 2 where we will discuss ‘Nihilism’. Happy Reading.
References-
https://dawidnaude.com/a-stoic-pyramid-c4c135896506
https://wallhere.com/en/wallpaper/1371395
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Congratulations on a nicely articulated blog!
Similar to David’s cheat sheet, there is one more approach, that teaches us that suffering and destructive behaviour is simply a result of ignorance. Basically, Stoicism is a tool set that helps us direct our thoughts and actions in an unpredictable world.
We don’t control and cannot rely on external events, but we can (to a certain extent) control our mind and choose our behaviour.
I do realise that we all are the products of our own environment, and if the environment is abusive or oppressive, it will certainly affect the people within it. No one is/can be an exception to this.
The million dollar question is, how can we look for a solution?
Well, first we can reduce our ignorance, and it’s probably not a surprise to hear me suggesting philosophy and two specific steps:
1. Awareness: The examination of our thoughts, beliefs, actions and perceptions of the world.
2. Re-framing: Reading, watching, learning different systems of thought to find new ways to look at the world. If we agree with new ideas, we can adopt them and keep learning. If we disagree, we discard them and keep learning.
We can use certain virtues of Stoicism to learn new ways, these virtues are:
1. Wisdom
2. Courage
3. Justice, and
4. Temperance
Always remember, Pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments. So, self restraint, self discipline and self control are the tools to achieve Temperance.
Now, I’m not saying you should sell your TV and your car, and move into the mountains to raise goats. But, I think you’ll agree with me when I suggest that moderation of comfort and pleasure is normally a good thing.