/lit/ - Literature

>>10484174
Everybody is fucking depressed

>>10484196
I see... let's leave the depression out of it I guess. Let's just talk about understanding the book.

/r/Stoicism
https://dailystoic.com/

>>10484174
It's basically just "shit happens, bro", but expressed in a lovely and eloquent way. He also places a lot of emphasis on the symmetry and unity of Nature, or "the Whole", and so he remains unaffected by things that happen to him, fortunate or unfortunate, if they are in accordance with nature.

It's a meme, but you've already fallen for the depression meme so you'll fit

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

>>10484288
I like Invictus better:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

>>10484400
my favorite poem, great choice m8

>>10484400
Timothy Mcveigh liked that one too. Go blow up a federal building why don't you?

>At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

-Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and total bro

>>10484174
go back to r/the_donald

>>10484174
Read Epictetus first

>>10484174
Is there anything in particular that is giving you trouble? I read the Hays translation, and found the introduction of the central stoic tenets he outlined in the beginning to be sufficient to grasp what Marcus was saying.
Still, I suggest you read Epictetus first. Not only does he instill in you the real essence of the stoic doctrine, he also provides you with the vantage point to appreciate the contrast between a common slave and the mightiest man in the human realm both adhering to the same philosophy; in many ways he is the natural starting point for exploring Stoic thought.

Stoicism as a methodology for survival is fine, but as a system of ethics (the pursuit of eudaimonia) its a complete failure. You'll find no happiness in knowledge, in fact, you'll likely be happier in ignorance.

>>10484174
Try Unshakable freedom by Chuck Chakrapani. Its much more accessible. I read Meditations, didn't take much in, read that and re-read meditations and it really stuck with me

>>10486562
>reading epic tits first instead of second like 99% of westerners would have
>not gaining a greater appreciation for how the transformation of stoicism through the roman lense affected western stoic thought

>>10484174
I just read it for similar reasons and didn't find it particularly helpful for alleviating my mood. While there are many interesting and touching parts in it I kind of came away unimpressed with Stoicism. I don't think most people would find a detached commitment to reason and philosophy sufficient for a happy or fulfilling life, nor do I think its misguided or against ones nature to have personal ambitions and seek fulfillment in things outside yourself.

>>10484174
I really liked it OP. read the Hays translation. However, if you have no background in philosophy, a lot of it might not make sense.

Read the wikipedia pages about plato, epicurus, and epictetus. Ryan Holiday (former marketing guy for American Apparel) wrote a nonspecialist guide to stoicism and has some articles you might want to check out too.

TL;DR The Meditations is a pretty simple book, but if you're not used to reading philosophy and don't understand the context he was writing in, might not be worth the trouble.

You should be reading philosophy though, so might as well start somewhere (although it should unironically be the Greeks, e.g., Plato's Euthyphro, Crito, and Apology)

>>10484174
Make sure you're reading the Hays translation, otherwise don't even bother

Ryan Holiday is a gigantic fucking faggot, do not read any of his books

>>10484196
Speak for yourself, m80.

>>10484174
Read Pierre Hadot - The Inner Citadel
It's the best way to fully understand the meditations