#stocisim

[panatmansam]

If you desire any of the things which are not in your own control, you must necessarily be disappointed.

Epictetus

[panatmansam]

[panatmansam]

The Five Principles: The Axial Age

by Saṃsāran

These five principles form the foundation of just about every major religion and philosophical system which emerged in that incredible span of years from the 8th to the 3rd century BCE called the Axial Age when Taoism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Classic Greek Philosophy, and Christianity all flowered in the same time period. Why? Simple, it is because they are universal and when put into active practice in our daily lives they work. 

The practice of these principles will garb you in a suit of spiritual armor.  Even in the midst of chaos and in the face of evil your heart will be unsullied, calm and serene.

THE FIVE PRINCIPLES: WISDOM OF THE AXIAL AGE

1. Be compassionate. Compassionate in both thought and deed. Learn to recognize that the actions of others are often caused by spiritual pain. Avoid contempt. Avoid those mental judgments we always make of others. Compassion leads to harmony and harmony and balance is the key to inner peace.

2. Be kind.  Very simple. In every interaction, you have you have an opportunity to add to the sum total of good.  No act of kindness or charity is too small. It does not matter if you receive gratitude.  At times your acts of kindness will even cause resentment in others. That is their way.  Let yours be kindness.

3. Be Forgiving: Forgive others and mostly yourself.  Forgiveness is not easy.  It requires effort to let past harms and slights go.  You may be perfectly justified in your anger, sorrow or resentment but it does not matter.  Resentments do not harm the object of your resentment.  They harm only you.  Much of our spiritual disharmony is caused by our own self-contempt.  We magnify our failings.  We mull over our mistakes and shortcomings again and again.  We compare ourselves to an impossible ideal and then hate ourselves when we fail to measure up.  Forgive yourself. Let it go. There is so much that is good in you and tomorrow brings a new opportunity to achieve your dreams.

4. Be Loving. When you have been compassionate, kind and forgiving you will sense a flood of a unique form of love.  Love of all.  It will well up within you and influence your every action.  It will baffle and confuse others.  People who would confront you, engage you in argument or dispute and who would transmit their own anger to you will be astounded when they see that you are unruffled.  They will not know what to do.  Your calm and peace will affect them.  

5. Be Accepting:  You are not in control of the universe.  Stop taking everything so personally.  It is not all about you. Be humble before the majesty of the universe knowing that it is you and you are it. Things are often not going to go your way.  You may be treated unfairly by others, or be the target of hatred or cruelty.   You are not going to get everything you want. Accept this. Move on.  

[panatmansam]

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Podcast

May I introduce the  History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Podcast. It is an amazing resource from King's College London. It is as it claims to be a series of podcasts in order covering philosophy from the Presocratics to Game Theory. The episodes are short, easy to understand and fun.

Enjoy.

[panatmansam]

[panatmansam]

Good Stoic advice for trying times.

[panatmansam]

An Important Lesson

Here is a valuable lesson. Learn it early and be happy your whole life.

When we are born and in childhood everybody pays attention to our needs. We are important. In school this continues for a time. Then one day we are alone on the street or on the campus of a large university or maybe working on a big job site and it HITS US.

NOBODY CARES.

Okay, mom still cares and friends and family if they are still around but the fact is that to other people YOU BARELY EXIST. That’s right. Even your friends are glad when you cancel plans. Acquaintances even more so. You are still worried about that embarrassing thing that happened at the meeting two weeks ago but nobody remembers but you, Truth be told hardly anybody even noticed at the time.

Once you know this THE PRESSURE IS OFF!

[panatmansam]

Buddhism and the Stoic Tradition

by Saṃsāran

Ataraxia (Ἀταραξία “tranquility”) is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for a lucid state of robust tranquility, characterized by ongoing freedom from distress and worry. Dictionary.com defines Ataraxia as: a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquility. image

The achievement of ataraxia the “untroubled mind” is seen as the goal of philosophy and the keystone to a good life by the ancient Greek and Roman Stoic philosophers such as Zeno of Citium and Marcus Aurelius. This is achieved by detaching one’s mind from the stream of events and affecting a calm and dispassionate acceptance of fate. Ataraxia or Apatheia as it is later known is seen by many as the Buddhist concept of nirvana “stripped of its mysticism”. I am not sure if I agree with this but it is easy to see how such an assumption might be made. image

Buddhists and Stoics hold similar views regarding “desire”and “attachment”. Stoic philosophers categorize attachment into four categories: desire fear, distress, and delight. The most important of these fear is the judgment that things out of our control about to happen are bad. Its antithesis, “desire”, judgment that things out of our control about to happen are good. image

Compassion was another common trait of the Stoics and Buddhism. The Stoics, unique in their time, were opposed to slavery and preached brotherly love and an insistence on understanding and accepting whatever the logos set out i.e calm acceptance of our now whatever it may entail. This Stoic idea of “logos”, which is a sort of universal reason that determines the unfolding of events. For the Stoics the goal is to develop a degree of self-control that allows one to overcome destructive emotions.

This obviously is a corollary to the Buddhist concept of mindfulness. So we have two entirely unrelated philosophical systems appearing at roughly the same time in two very different cultures sharing almost the same core tenets proving, to my satisfaction, that Truth is Truth and will always appear within a sufficiently advanced culture perhaps wearing a toga in one place and a saffron monk’s robe in another but always the same Truth.