Stoicism – Blogs Don't Burn

November 25, 2022November 28, 2023

Stray Thoughts: The ‘Ultimate Fidelity’

Note: The title art for this post is ‘Ouroborous, Cosmic Loveheart’ by Silvana D. You can see more of her work on Etsy.

A few posts ago, I tried to illustrate the profoundly dark mindset that human beings can fall into during the most extreme moments of suffering and resentment. This attitude, which I associate with the ‘extinction-drive’ (the yearning to put an end to life itself in the face of overwhelming suffering), can be captured in a single term: Invidia Fati. Literally meaning the ‘hatred of fate’, this life-negating maxim has been a major motivator in countless acts of death, destruction, and mayhem throughout human history.

In essence, it is nihilism-turned-activism; the result of a process by which evil is perversely elevated to the status of the Highest Good. Faced with a world too painful to endure, some poor wretches become genuinely convinced that the only solution to the problem of life is to tear the whole damn thing down and stamp it into oblivion. ‘Burn down the circus, kill all the clowns, and end the great cosmic joke forever’. This is the cynical, even genocidal impulse which motivates such characters.

September 22, 2022

The Stoic Lens: Rudyard Kipling’s If

If by Rudyard Kipling is one of those seminal works of Victorian-era stoicism that never gets old no matter how many times I read it.

Perhaps it’s the lyrical, chant-like structure of the text – in combination with its powerful, prosaic language – which makes it so magnetic? Or maybe the philosophical content of Kipling’s poem is the major invisible hook? After all, If remains one of the most concise and profound illustrations of ‘big S’ Stoicism that I’ve come across in literature. (Regular readers will be painfully aware of my own obsession with that School…)

April 26, 2022

Death and Nostalgia in How Green Was My Valley

In the final pages of Richard Lewellyn`s rural Welsh masterpiece How Green Was My Valley, we get this beautiful passage on life, death, and loss, which should resonate with anyone who has ever felt a pang of nostalgia for days gone by:

“An age of goodness I knew, and badness too, mind, but more of good than bad, I will swear. At least we knew good food, and good work, and goodness in men and women. But you have gone now, all of you, that were so beautiful when you were quick with life. Yet not gone, for you are still a living truth inside my mind, So how are you dead, my brothers and sisters, and all of you, when you live with me as surely as I live myself?

May 13, 2021May 13, 2021

The Inner Court: From Self-Esteem to Self-Justice

In response to a recent post on a Stoicism-related Facebook group – which I will not reproduce here for the sake of the author`s anonymity – I put forward an analogy intended to help the user cope with an intense habit of self-criticism that was causing him much distress. As someone who is in the 97^th percentile for trait neuroticism (according to Jordan Peterson`s Understand Yourself personality test, in any case) this is a problem I often struggle with myself. If you are also prone to a degree of neuroticism it is likely that you will be all-too-familiar with this tendency.

That voice which whispers nasty things about you into your inner ear can be truly insidious. Many people only experience this when they are feeling particularly low, though for some poor souls it is the Rule, rather than the exception, of their entire lives. A common response to such continuous self-recrimination is to drown it out with noise and distraction. Drugs and alcohol are a favourite method here, as is excessive mental stimulation through the overuse of porn and video games. These methods all produce a dulling effect for the inner voice, thus offering much-needed relief. However, these methods are temporary at best, and only ever serve to stave off the inevitable. This is because, no matter how long the binge goes on, we always end up alone with only ‘Me-and-Myself’ for company.

January 8, 2020January 9, 2021

The Philosopher-King of Rome

A review of Donald Robertson’s How to Think Like a Roman Emperor (2019).

This intriguing new book by Donald Robertson centers around the life of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD); a man for whom philosophy was no mere academic affair. Elevated to the head of the most powerful Empire in the world, despite his own reluctance to inherit the Imperial throne, Marcus would go on to become one of the most celebrated political leaders in history. The admiration still directed towards the reign of Marcus Aurelius is an especially impressive feat given the state of chaos that Rome would lapse into soon after his ascension.

In the North, war would break out across the frontier of the Empire. The thin line separating the territories of Rome from the barbarous lands of Germania strained under pressure from the Germanic hordes now bearing down on it from above. In Egypt, a powerful former ally would rebel against Marcus with all the power of the East at his back, nearly triggering a civil war. Meanwhile, across the towns and cities of the Roman heartlands, the Antonine Plague would spread. Brought back by returning soldiers from the Near East, this vicious disease would claim the lives of thousands of Romans both rich and poor alike, eventually killing Marcus himself whilst stationed by the frosty waters of the River Danube. The Emperor’s personal life would prove just as tumultuous. In addition to the death of his cousin-wife, the Empress Faustina, Marcus would have to cope with the loss of all but five of his thirteen children. His only surviving son and unruly heir Commodus would grow to become a murderous despot, eventually being assassinated by his political rivals. Suffice to say, Marcus’ was not a peaceful reign.