I really liked How To Be A Stoic. I found that a lot of stoicism is directly inline with my own approach and beliefs... which was surprising. Coming from a religious background, stoicism connected...
I really liked How To Be A Stoic. I found that a lot of stoicism is directly inline with my own approach and beliefs... which was surprising.
Coming from a religious background, stoicism connected what I believe to be the truth that is often hidden or overshadowed in most religions.
I studied Buddhism/Zen way before reading about stoicism. The similarities are so great that one could easily consider Zen and Stoicism to be different expressions of the same movement, even...
I studied Buddhism/Zen way before reading about stoicism. The similarities are so great that one could easily consider Zen and Stoicism to be different expressions of the same movement, even though separated in time and space.
definitely! I found that the stuff I liked about Christianity and Sufism were also in-line with Zen and Stoicism... like, as I said, this were to be the actual universal Truth.
definitely! I found that the stuff I liked about Christianity and Sufism were also in-line with Zen and Stoicism... like, as I said, this were to be the actual universal Truth.
it's a lot of the same inward focus with the same rejection of material items. It's sort of an offshoot of Islam, but it's very... poetic. I wasn't into the more muslim side of it, which seems...
it's a lot of the same inward focus with the same rejection of material items. It's sort of an offshoot of Islam, but it's very... poetic.
I wasn't into the more muslim side of it, which seems weird to say since on paper it seems like all of it. But the stuff I was reading was more focused on the denial of self, seeing God in all things and acknowledging that if you see God, God sees you, etc etc. Communal thought.
That last bit really tugged on my christian mindset -- but I left the church because it didn't seem real, as if the god of christianity had become just another idol in a series of 'things' to worship. I always felt like the christian god was trapped in the church, being held prisoner.
The first book I read was To Die Before Death by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, which is good, but not the best primer for people who really want to learn about Sufism. Essential Sufism by Robert Frager would be much better for that. It's a quick read, too.
Ultimately, when it comes to faith and such, I'm more looking for something that connects everything that is real and not something that is stuck in hard ritual, empty mantras, etc.
Sufism, at least what I got into, was really focused on discovery and the beauty found in the journey and also the beauty of the process of learning to deny the self. This could be totally off base... but it's something that jumped out to me from Muhaiyaddeen's writing.
Great article! Dr. Pigliucci produces some fantastic content on stocism. I have been reading Meditations and Discourses recently. I've found that their insights have been very helpful for me. If...
Great article! Dr. Pigliucci produces some fantastic content on stocism.
I have been reading Meditations and Discourses recently. I've found that their insights have been very helpful for me. If anyone has any other recommendations, I will happily take them.
The Stoic philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius often deployed Heraclitean metaphysics in his Meditations, drawing out its ethical implications: "Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise yourself about this part of philosophy. For nothing is so much adapted to produce magnanimity."
Contemplating the impermanence of everything, including our own self, leads to magnanimity, literally "greatness of soul," because one is less likely to be attached to specific configurations of events and more likely to accept change as an inherent and necessary aspect of how the cosmos works. Buddhists would nod approvingly.
I really liked How To Be A Stoic. I found that a lot of stoicism is directly inline with my own approach and beliefs... which was surprising.
Coming from a religious background, stoicism connected what I believe to be the truth that is often hidden or overshadowed in most religions.
I studied Buddhism/Zen way before reading about stoicism. The similarities are so great that one could easily consider Zen and Stoicism to be different expressions of the same movement, even though separated in time and space.
definitely! I found that the stuff I liked about Christianity and Sufism were also in-line with Zen and Stoicism... like, as I said, this were to be the actual universal Truth.
Tell me more about Sufism :)
it's a lot of the same inward focus with the same rejection of material items. It's sort of an offshoot of Islam, but it's very... poetic.
I wasn't into the more muslim side of it, which seems weird to say since on paper it seems like all of it. But the stuff I was reading was more focused on the denial of self, seeing God in all things and acknowledging that if you see God, God sees you, etc etc. Communal thought.
That last bit really tugged on my christian mindset -- but I left the church because it didn't seem real, as if the god of christianity had become just another idol in a series of 'things' to worship. I always felt like the christian god was trapped in the church, being held prisoner.
The first book I read was To Die Before Death by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, which is good, but not the best primer for people who really want to learn about Sufism. Essential Sufism by Robert Frager would be much better for that. It's a quick read, too.
Ultimately, when it comes to faith and such, I'm more looking for something that connects everything that is real and not something that is stuck in hard ritual, empty mantras, etc.
Sufism, at least what I got into, was really focused on discovery and the beauty found in the journey and also the beauty of the process of learning to deny the self. This could be totally off base... but it's something that jumped out to me from Muhaiyaddeen's writing.
Great article! Dr. Pigliucci produces some fantastic content on stocism.
I have been reading Meditations and Discourses recently. I've found that their insights have been very helpful for me. If anyone has any other recommendations, I will happily take them.