A reminder that stoicism can be divine | Mark Vernon
Mark Vernon: Stoics argued that logos, or flow, was crucial to the good life, but this spiritual element has not been mentioned in Stoic Weekwww.theguardian.com
Practices such as saying grace before meals, or giving thanks for the day at night-time, are stoic.
Is it too cheeky to suggest that if you want to practise stoicism today, you might start in a church?
Stoic Views of Poetry on JSTOR
Phillip DeLacy, Stoic Views of Poetry, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 69, No. 3 (1948), pp. 241-271www.jstor.org
Of all ancient philosophies Stoicism was the most favorably disposed toward poetry.
But what isn't mentioned is that he probably has lived a life of relative luxury compared to most humans on the planet. Epictetus, on the other hand, was against vacations or even sleeping comfortably. (Cicero had a field day with the ancient Stoics, who took things to religious extremes. Epictetus, for example, viewed his body as simply a "walking corpse" and was against self-care -- not unlike how the Heaven's Gate cult stoically viewed the human body as just a "vehicle.")
How My Toxic Stoicism Helped Me Cope with Brain Cancer
One of my sisters commented that I was so calm she thought the doctors must have given me a Valium.quillette.com
During this ordeal, not once have I cried. Not once have I felt depressed, anxious, or out of sorts. Not once have I felt a need to seek therapeutic help. On the morning of surgery, I worried more about losing cognitive abilities if the surgery went awry than I did about death. One of my sisters commented that I was so calm she thought the doctors must have given me a Valium. I was, in a word, stoic...
As a man who believes wholeheartedly that mental health is a serious and under-appreciated discipline, I fully support the effort of any man, or woman, to come to terms with anxieties, complexes, traumas, and other emotional vulnerabilities, either with family, friends, or mental health professionals. At the same time, I would emphasize again that restraining emotion is not the same as repressing emotion...
All of those friends, and others, offered a great deal of emotional support when they learned I had brain cancer. But I invariably told them not to worry. For me, a healthy and happy life is one of emotional restraint in the face of life’s adversities. Dealing with brain cancer has been no different.
Stoicism and death acceptance: integrating Stoic philosophy in cognitive behaviour therapy for death anxiety - Discover Psychology
Growing empirical evidence has revealed the central role of death anxiety in numerous mental health conditions. Given this, there is a significant need for treatments which specifically address fears of death. Whilst such treatments have only recently been developed within clinical psychology...link.springer.com
An awareness of Stoic philosophy has the potential to guide and improve CBT treatments for fears of death...
Death anxiety has been argued to be a transdiagnostic construct, underpinning a range of mental health conditions [3]. In support of this argument, death anxiety has been shown to predict the symptom severity of at least twelve different mental illnesses, including depressive disorders, anxiety-related disorders, and addictive disorders [4]. Further, experimental evidence has highlighted the causal role of death anxiety in numerous conditions. Studies have demonstrated that reminders of death increase compulsive washing in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) [5], bodily checking, threat perception and reassurance seeking in panic disorder, illness anxiety, and somatic symptom disorder [6], avoidance in social anxiety and specific phobias [7], and disordered eating behaviours among women [8]...
A central principle of both Stoicism and CBT is the idea that it is our beliefs and interpretations that are the cause of anxiety...
Some individuals will believe that they can indeed have control over their own lifespan, and may view their maladaptive behaviours (e.g., compulsive washing, avoiding leaving the home, excessive exercise, or frequenting medical services) as a way of doing so. However, contrary to this view, meta-analytic research has shown that individuals with clinical anxiety do not live longer relative to controls [35].
One study of over three million people revealed that not one anxiety disorder examined appeared able to reduce the risk of death from either natural (e.g., illness) or unnatural causes (e.g., accidents), compared to people without anxiety disorders [36]. Thus, for clients who hold this view, therapy may help the client understand that although these anxious behaviours may in theory ward off one particular cause of death (e.g., compulsive checking of a stove may reduce the chance of death by household fire), they are unlikely to actually extend a person’s lifespan...
Cross-sectional evidence suggests a relationship between Stoic attitudes to death (e.g., neutral acceptance) and reduced death anxiety. Further, preliminary evidence suggests that a CBT-based treatment which integrates Stoic perspectives on death appears to reduce fears of death. Future studies are needed to investigate whether: (1) interventions which center on Stoic philosophy can significantly reduce death anxiety, (2) complementing existing CBT treatments with a component on Stoic approaches to death can have an additive effect on death anxiety, and (3) increasing death acceptance (through interventions informed by Stoicism) may improve broader mental health and wellbeing, consistent with theoretical arguments [60].
www.orionphilosophy.com
www.humanmastery.net
As you can see, speaking of strategies to overcome an external obstacle that obstructs our path, the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius draws inspiration from the typical way of acting of fire (a Yang element) – an impetuous force, which aggressively and forcefully demolishes everything that finds on its path, while the Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu draws inspiration from the opposite element: water (a Yin element) – a yielding force, which makes of flexibility and strategy its points of strength...
