I Just Discovered the Most Underrated Way of Life
Stoic thought deserves a revival
Reading Marcus Aurelius's Meditations (translated by Gregory Hays), his words emphasized that in the almost 2000 years since his existence, societal circumstances surely changed, but not people. Modes of thought come and go, but human nature is constant.
For me, Meditations surfaced one realization: people have strayed so far from staying in their own lane. The advent of social media has blown age-old gossip out of proportion, to the point where we are more concerned about what other people think of us than what we think of ourselves. As seen in his writings, Marcus Aurelius was adamant about keeping to the main tenets of Stoic philosophy, a mode of thinking that needs a revival in our modern age.
What is Stoicism? When did it develop, what are its tenets, and why did it fade away? But most importantly, how can Stoicism lift society from the depths it has fallen to? What follows is a brief overview of these questions.
The Basic Idea
Simply speaking, Stoicism is a philosophy. However, this simple labeling skews the popular understanding of Stoicism from the start. This day in age, we tend to see philosophy as one area of study, something students can go to school for, and something that can be…
