PHILOSOPHY - The Stoics

this is a film about ism and why you need your life because as people seldom tell you but we will quietly stoicism was a philosophy that flourished for 480 years in ancient Greece and Rome and was popular with everyone from slaves to the aristocracy because unlike so much philosophy it was helpful helping when we panic want to give up despair and rage at existence we still honor this philosophy whenever we think of someone as brave and without perhaps quite knowing why call them stoic there are two great philosophers of stoicism the first is the Roman

writer and Tudor to Nero seneca he lived between 84 and 80 65 that's right Tudor to Nero the infamous dictator who slept with his own mother raped young boys and just because he felt like it asked his old tutor Seneca to commit suicide in front of his own family and our other guy - stoicism is the kind and magnanimous Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius 81 to 1 to 180 who was forced to spend most of his reign on the edges of the Empire fighting off invincible Germanic hordes but found time to write one of the greatest

works of philosophy the meditations in his tent at night there are two problems stoicism can help us with in particular the first is anxiety when you're feeling anxious about something most people are maddening they believe it's their duty to cheer you up however intelligent they might otherwise be say things like it'll be okay don't worry even cheer up the Stoics were appalled they hated any kind of consolation that aims to give the listener hope hope is the opium of the emotions and must be stamped out conclusively for a person to stand any chance of inner

peace but this hope only lifts you up higher for the eventual fall the Stoics advises to take a different path to be calm one has to tell oneself something very dark it will be terrible I might have to go to prison the lump really could be malign I probably will be fired and humiliated my friends almost certainly will succeed but a huge consoling stoic but one must keep in mind that one will nevertheless be ok ok because in the end as Marcus Aurelius said we are each of us stronger than we think prison won't be

fun nor will losing one's job or being made a laughingstock but one will get through it stoicism emboldened us against the worst fate can throw at us and if you really really can't take it suicide is always an option the Stoics mentioned this repeatedly here is Seneca can you no longer see a road of freedom it's right in front of you you need only turn over your wrists to build up an impression of one's own resilience the stoic suggested one regularly rehearse worst-case scenarios for example twice a year one should take off on smart clothes

get into some dirty rags sleep on a rug in the kitchen floor and eat only stale bread and rainwater from an animal's Bowl and thereby you'll make an amazing discovery as Marcus Aurelius booted almost nothing material is needed for a happy life for he who has understood existence another subject of interest to the Stoics was anger Romans were a bad-tempered lot the stoics wanted to calm them down but they did so by an unusual route by intellectual argument they proposed that getting angry isn't something you do by nature because you have a Latin temper or

a somehow inherently hot-blooded it's the result of being stupid of having the wrong ideas about life anger stems when misplaced hope smashes into unforeseen reality we don't shout every time something bad happens to us only when it's bad and unexpected for example you'd never shout just because it started raining even though rain can be horrible because you've learned to expect rain the same should apply to everything don't only expect rain expect betrayal infamy sadism theft humiliation lust greed spite one will stop being so angry when one learns the true facts of the misery of life

the wise person should aim to reach a state where simply nothing could suddenly disturb their peace of mind every tragedy should already be priced in we're gonna leave you with the most beautiful remark that Seneca made just as Nero's guards were grabbing him and shoving into a bathroom where he was meant to take a sharp knife and kill himself his wife Polina and two children were panicking weeping clinging to his cloaks the Seneca turned to them pulled a weary smile at them and simply said what need is there to weep over parts of life the

whole of it calls for tears we have much to learn from the Stoics you