To me, stoicism is about accepting reality so you can move forward and not be stuck on negative feelings.
A lot of ancient stoics I believe took this too far where they essentially did not let themselves feel anything other than their own entitlement.
Not to say they weren't very intelligent and we can't learn from them.
There's things that are absolute in this world, but most things live in a superposition of more than one thing.
Nobody is all good or all bad. If it's a hot summer day and I bring out ice cubes, technically they are also water too since they're melting. Even wood has microscopic sized flakes of metal.
What about how much you're getting paid at your job? Maybe not enough, maybe too much maybe somewhere in between.
When you can look at the world objectively, remove your personal feelings when analysing it, that to me is stoicism.
Stoicism these days is all that new age Star Wars "Spock" shit you read about in Jediism.
In a nutshell it's basically "self discipline". The Romans tended to adhere to a brand of it where they had polytheism, monotheism, pantheism and agnostics working together but not at each others throats. Though Christianity came in and made all that history.
It sounded good when I first explored it, but like your picture suggests, it leaves you not giving a shit about anything. Hedonism for me is definitely the happier lifestyle, but a balance of both is ideal.
It's living practically. Like you can get angry because you are human but you can choose not to stay angry because otherwise you are just hurting yourself.
stoicism is if you try to find a "golden centre" (aurea mediocritas) in every situation or attitude. Not too extreme on one side or another side. You try to get rid of not necesary emotions.
Most Helpful Opinions