Folks who knew me back in the day might have a problem picturing me trying to be virtuous, but Stoic philosophy teaches that the only thing with real value is what they call “virtue” or excellence of character. Oh, I’m still a long, long way from excellence of character.
The core virtues of Stoicism are mastery of our desires, mastery over our fears, kindness and fairness in our relationships, and wisdom in our moral and practical choices. Virtue, in Stoic terms, refers to fulfilling the potential within ourselves to perfect our own nature to be good. It includes not only living in our own skins in accord with our own nature as rational human beings but also concordant with the rest of mankind and Nature. I feel like I do okay without a lot of creature comforts, but I have a lot of work to do learning to deal with difficult people with good grace, patience, and equanimity.
Much of my impatience with schools of philosophy has less to do with their practices than with their pedagogy. Whether it was my little philosophical hodgepodge or my version of zen practice or my take on Stoic philosophy I’ve had a pretty consistent goal throughout. At the beginning of each day, I remind myself to try to do better. I feel that although that is neither specific nor easily measurable, it is achievable, relevant, and time-bound Things seem to get more complicated and further into the weeds when one tries to conform to a particular discipline.
It is now Thursday of Stoic Week and the philosophy majors, graduate students, and Ph.D.s are deep into their seminars back in New York. The discussion boards are filling with whether it as Zeno of Citium or Chrysippus who said something back around 300 BCE and what they meant by it. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed anyway just trying to get through to whatever’s on the other side as best I can, and when we get into these academic discussions of minutiae my eyes tend to glaze over.
One of the important things is that your selection of mattress align free viagra online your spine correctly. It viagra cialis generic is the best solution for your sexual health. The commonly used viagra on line Latin expression to explain erectile dysfunction “impotentia coeundi” simply means a simple inability to insert a penis into a tube, barrel shaped fit as a fiddle, and connected by a tube or a hose to the penis pumps. Small problems such as pains, burns or any other problem from which human commonly sufferer are cured using these http://www.donssite.com/steertech/western-star-truck-exhaust-steering-repair.htm cialis 5 mg two local anesthetic chemical.
I do have it on pretty good authority that Marcus Aurelius in about 160 AD wrote: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” He also wrote: “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” When someone writes that something seems more Epicurean than Stoic I feel comfortable paying it no mind. I’m sure that it seems right to them and it makes no difference to me.
So far I feel like I’ve made a little progress today. Tomorrow I’ll try to do a little better.
