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<blockquote data-quote="John Cracovizk" data-source="post: 1919" data-attributes="member: 45">I appreciate your thoughtful response and the points you&#039;ve raised. You&#039;re absolutely right that Stoicism does have its roots in individual philosophy.However, I believe there&#039;s room to interpret Stoicism in a broader societal context, even if its primary focus is on the individual. Offering valuable insights into how individuals interact with the world around them. For me, the teaching to &quot;accept the things we cannot change&quot; and to &quot;focus on what is within our control&quot; is hugely useful when thinking about major and big problems which I indeed have no way to control (maybe in gathering a bunch of people or something, but I don&#039;t want that).I agree, I admire those who wish to follow that route in life (becoming a monk), but tbh, in my phase in rl right now I don&#039;t want to become neither of those you mentioned. Yeah, virtue is the only thing they weren&#039;t indifferent to, virtue is the only good thing for them. And if someone wants follow that path and truly resonates that everything that matters for them is being virtuous, it&#039;s good! But I don&#039;t think it&#039;s for me (being a pure follower of virtue, even though I like some of it, I don&#039;t think I can be a loyal follower), because stoicism basically denies other philosophies which I think are somewhat useful (like machiavelism, stoics reject lying anyway, while I think it&#039;s part of living in society) but I won&#039;t discard their knowledge either.I don&#039;t remember who, but in the book Sellars&#039; talks about a stoic philosopher who said that if the students truly thought and pondered about it, they probably wouldn&#039;t turned to be stoics and would follow other philosophy schools.And yeah, it&#039;s somewhat similar to Christianity, isn&#039;t it? Both emphasize the importance of transcending earthly concerns and focusing on something greater (virtues, one as its own end and the other to reach heaven). Buddhism also aims to transcend mundane worries and attain a state of inner peace and enlightenment. I find them all quite fascinating, but I just don&#039;t see them very aligned with my current perspective.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="John Cracovizk, post: 1919, member: 45"] I appreciate your thoughtful response and the points you've raised. You're absolutely right that Stoicism does have its roots in individual philosophy. However, I believe there's room to interpret Stoicism in a broader societal context, even if its primary focus is on the individual. Offering valuable insights into how individuals interact with the world around them. For me, the teaching to "accept the things we cannot change" and to "focus on what is within our control" is hugely useful when thinking about major and big problems which I indeed have no way to control (maybe in gathering a bunch of people or something, but I don't want that). I agree, I admire those who wish to follow that route in life (becoming a monk), but tbh, in my phase in rl right now I don't want to become neither of those you mentioned. Yeah, virtue is the only thing they weren't indifferent to, virtue is the only good thing for them. And if someone wants follow that path and truly resonates that everything that matters for them is being virtuous, it's good! But I don't think it's for me (being a pure follower of virtue, even though I like some of it, I don't think I can be a loyal follower), because stoicism basically denies other philosophies which I think are somewhat useful (like machiavelism, stoics reject lying anyway, while I think it's part of living in society) but I won't discard their knowledge either. I don't remember who, but in the book Sellars' talks about a stoic philosopher who said that if the students truly thought and pondered about it, they probably wouldn't turned to be stoics and would follow other philosophy schools. And yeah, it's somewhat similar to Christianity, isn't it? Both emphasize the importance of transcending earthly concerns and focusing on something greater (virtues, one as its own end and the other to reach heaven). Buddhism also aims to transcend mundane worries and attain a state of inner peace and enlightenment. I find them all quite fascinating, but I just don't see them very aligned with my current perspective. [/QUOTE]

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