As I began reading the handbook I noticed it again refers to utopia, this time regarding to how each individual can accomplish his/her personal utopia by following a set of teachings which the Stoic philosophy instructs. In other words it’s a handbook to “dispense practical advice to people on how to live their lives…” (Introduction 1) The teachings state, the best possible condition for a human being is to:
“Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and
your life will go well.” (Introduction 2)
I believe this statement may be to a certain extent right, if you have low expectations or none at all, then nothing will disappoint you. For instance when not expecting an event to be amusing, arriving to it and having a great time you can only be content about how things turned off, and when having a terrible time you will not be disappointed. In order to accomplish this you must take things as they come and not expect them in advance. On the other hand it is practically impossible not to become deluded by an idea. We as human beings have prospects on how things will turn out; if it weren’t to be like that then everything would become monotonous. I believe we must be disappointed at times to also feel satisfied at others. We constantly come across moments in which we await something so anxiously and when we actually live through it, we are frequently disillusioned since it’s not what we imagine it would be, but we have to go through it to undergo the contrast of enjoying something and hating something.
The author also talks about achieving an ideal state by “satisfying all of one’s desires…” but “a human being is by nature unable to do this, both because ones powers are so limited…” (Introduction 2) I completely agree with this statement, an individual will always have goals and try to fulfill them along their life span, when doing so a new goal will come up to mind. Therefore a person is never entirely satisfied and will have continuous desires to carry out.
All of these philosophies seem really simple when just talking about them, but the question lies on how to put oneself into such a state? According to the text we must realize “all events, at least in the external world, are completely determined by prior states of the universe as a whole.” (Introduction 3) Stoics viewed the world as something organized and planned ahead. This made me think about destiny, is our life really based on destiny? Can’t we change what lies ahead of us? Is there really a pattern in nature that defines how our lives will develop?
I then began reading the set of rules imposed by the Stoics, which one must follow to reach a complete lack of dissatisfaction. Among them I agreed with “some things are up to us and some are not up to us.” (pg. 11) I consider there are things under our control that no matter how hard they are to keep managed we are capable of handling them, while there are other things far from our control, that no matter how hard we try to dominate them, we can’t. What is so hard and what challenges most of humanity based on this regiment is accepting the fact we can’t control everything about our surroundings.
Another rule with which I am in complete accordance is, “When you are about to undertake some action, remind yourself what sort of action it is.” (pg. 12) We as humans tend to act impulsively and not think twice about what we are to do, therefore we sometimes end up in troublesome situation in which we didn’t intend to end up and just did so because of being rash. If we do consider our actions before taking them we can save ourselves from a lot of regretful experiences and if doing them, be prepared for whatever they may come with.
Lastly I definitely agree that “What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about things.” (pg. 13) For instance death, society has placed a burden in the sense off describing the decease of a person as a terrible event, but actually what do they know about it? Is death really terrible? Will actually never know that until going through it, but in the mean while we can say it’s based on people’s judgment. If they looked at it as a normal, natural and freeing experience, when a person past away they wouldn’t feel the resentment or anger they do. After reading this passage I got really interested in Stoic philosophy and how it analyses life, and is always looking for the ideal condition of a human being.
“Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and
your life will go well.” (Introduction 2)
I believe this statement may be to a certain extent right, if you have low expectations or none at all, then nothing will disappoint you. For instance when not expecting an event to be amusing, arriving to it and having a great time you can only be content about how things turned off, and when having a terrible time you will not be disappointed. In order to accomplish this you must take things as they come and not expect them in advance. On the other hand it is practically impossible not to become deluded by an idea. We as human beings have prospects on how things will turn out; if it weren’t to be like that then everything would become monotonous. I believe we must be disappointed at times to also feel satisfied at others. We constantly come across moments in which we await something so anxiously and when we actually live through it, we are frequently disillusioned since it’s not what we imagine it would be, but we have to go through it to undergo the contrast of enjoying something and hating something.
The author also talks about achieving an ideal state by “satisfying all of one’s desires…” but “a human being is by nature unable to do this, both because ones powers are so limited…” (Introduction 2) I completely agree with this statement, an individual will always have goals and try to fulfill them along their life span, when doing so a new goal will come up to mind. Therefore a person is never entirely satisfied and will have continuous desires to carry out.
All of these philosophies seem really simple when just talking about them, but the question lies on how to put oneself into such a state? According to the text we must realize “all events, at least in the external world, are completely determined by prior states of the universe as a whole.” (Introduction 3) Stoics viewed the world as something organized and planned ahead. This made me think about destiny, is our life really based on destiny? Can’t we change what lies ahead of us? Is there really a pattern in nature that defines how our lives will develop?
I then began reading the set of rules imposed by the Stoics, which one must follow to reach a complete lack of dissatisfaction. Among them I agreed with “some things are up to us and some are not up to us.” (pg. 11) I consider there are things under our control that no matter how hard they are to keep managed we are capable of handling them, while there are other things far from our control, that no matter how hard we try to dominate them, we can’t. What is so hard and what challenges most of humanity based on this regiment is accepting the fact we can’t control everything about our surroundings.
Another rule with which I am in complete accordance is, “When you are about to undertake some action, remind yourself what sort of action it is.” (pg. 12) We as humans tend to act impulsively and not think twice about what we are to do, therefore we sometimes end up in troublesome situation in which we didn’t intend to end up and just did so because of being rash. If we do consider our actions before taking them we can save ourselves from a lot of regretful experiences and if doing them, be prepared for whatever they may come with.
Lastly I definitely agree that “What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about things.” (pg. 13) For instance death, society has placed a burden in the sense off describing the decease of a person as a terrible event, but actually what do they know about it? Is death really terrible? Will actually never know that until going through it, but in the mean while we can say it’s based on people’s judgment. If they looked at it as a normal, natural and freeing experience, when a person past away they wouldn’t feel the resentment or anger they do. After reading this passage I got really interested in Stoic philosophy and how it analyses life, and is always looking for the ideal condition of a human being.
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