The mind would rather amuse itself than heal itself, making #philosophy into a diversion when it is really a cure. 🔥

#Seneca, Letters I17:33

#StoicToots
#VirtueTheOnlyGood
#Stoicism

in short, he aims to inspire in his readers something like a religious conversion, only, not by appeal to any articles of faith or the promise of life in the hereafter (Stoics did not believe in the afterlife), but by appeal to reason alone.

-Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics), #Epictetus, p.x

#StoicToots
#VirtueTheOnlyGood
#Stoicism

#Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on matters that do not concern it. For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.

#StoicToots #Epictetus #VirtueTheOnlyGood

“The Stoics argued that the deepest cause of our vulnerability is not the fact that our bodies are frail, that accidents may befall us, or that other people may betray us. Rather, what makes us vulnerable is our belief that these things matter and define who we are.”

— This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom by Martin Hägglund

#StoicToots #Stoicism #VirtueTheOnlyGood

Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must keep the knowledge of it to myself. ... No good thing is pleasant to possess without friends to share it.

#Seneca, Letters 6.4
#Stoicism
#VirtueTheOnlyGood
#StoicToots

'Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes or figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily? Don't expect it, even if I were personally to tell you it was possible.'

#StoicToots #Epictetus #Stoicism
#VirtueTheOnlyGood

Progress takes time. Be patient. Keep at it.

#Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on matters that do not concern it. For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.

#StoicToots #Epictetus #VirtueTheOnlyGood

Ancient philosophers saw it as their job to help people develop the character needed to thrive in life. Argumentation, right thinking, and theorizing were considered good only insofar as they helped humans develop virtue.

Modern, academic philosophy is NOT about developing character.

#Education should be approached with this goal in mind:

'How can I personally follow the gods always, and how can I adapt to God's government, and so be free?'

Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it.

#StoicToots #Epictetus #Stoicism
#VirtueTheOnlyGood

If the emperor adopts you, no one will be able to put up with your pretension; but knowing that you are the son of God, shouldn't your pride be that much greater?

#Epictetus #StoicToots #VirtueTheOnlyGood

Both Christianity and Stoicism have a high view of human nature.

Christians believe that all humans beings are made in the image of God. This image is both a gift and a calling.

The Stoics were pantheists. Their God is neither the God of philosophers nor the personal God of Christianity. Nevertheless, Stoics believed God (the Logos) to be rational and benevolent, all things considered.

Stoic anthropology taught that human beings alone were gifted (or endowed with) reason. We are like God in that we have intelligence that can ground the decisions we make.

Seneca claims that we can not only be godlike, we can even surpass God in some sense—meaning that we can live by reason even while shackled to all the weaknesses and problems that being a human entails. Unlike us, God can be God without the burden of having to overcome any obstacles!

“The Stoics argued that the deepest cause of our vulnerability is not the fact that our bodies are frail, that accidents may befall us, or that other people may betray us. Rather, what makes us vulnerable is our belief that these things matter and define who we are.”

— This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom by Martin Hägglund
https://a.co/fbfvgAS

#StoicToots #Stoicism #VirtueTheOnlyGood

Even more than Musonius,#Epictetus has a plain and practical agenda:

he wants his students

to make a clean break with received patterns of thinking and behaving,

to reject popular morality and put conventional notions of good and bad behind them;

in short, he aims to inspire in his readers something like a religious conversion, only, not by appeal to any articles of faith or the promise of life in the hereafter (Stoics did not believe in the afterlife), but by appeal to reason alone.

-Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics), Epictetus, p.x

#StoicToots
#VirtueTheOnlyGood
#Stoicism