Thread by @WhatIsStoicism

At the start of this entertaining conversation between @DonJRobertson & @ScottFlear, DR talks about his method of teaching philosophy through ancient anecdotes.

The interview itself took a similar format, here are some of the best stories and lessons👇👇
livelikelouise.co.uk/donald-roberts…

[Socrates & Critobulus]

• Critobulus asks Socrates to help him make friends
• S asks C to list the qualities in an ideal friend
• C obliges
• S asks, “How many of these qualities do you have?”
• C - “....”

☝️Work on your own character first and you will attract the same.

[The Reserve Clause]

• The Stoics didn’t discourage the pursuit of external goals
• They should be pursued with the acceptance that they might not be achieved
• “Neurosis is caused by inflexible demands.” - Albert Ellis

☝️Having strong preferences > having inflexible demands

[Epictetus On Mindfulness]

• Someone walking barefoot takes care not to walk on jagged rocks
• The same care should be taken with what we focus our minds on
• 🇬🇷 Prosochē = Attention

☝️Continually be aware of how you’re using your mind and your value judgments

[The Choice Of Hercules]

• Hercules finds himself at a fork in the road
• The goddess Kakia offers the path of luxury (vice). Aretê offers adversity (virtue)
• He chooses virtue and later gains status of a God

☝️It’s better to face hardship and grow than embrace easy-living

[Time Projection]

If you’re upset now about something that has already happened, ask yourself how you’ll feel about it:

• Tomorrow
• Next week
• Next year
• In ten years

☝️If you won’t be worried about it in ten years, why waste time on it now?

[Wisdom For Adversity]

• There are many reversals of fortune in life
• Complaint adds suffering to suffering
• There’s always something to be grateful for
• To over-react is to prevent rational thinking

☝️Perspective is the key to coping with adversity

[Socrates & 🐑]

• If u were a shepherd, would u know how many 🐑 you had?
• 👍
• Are friends more important than 🐑?
• 👍
• How many friends do u have?
• Depends how u define a friend
• Friends are more important than 🐑, huh?
• 😕

☝️Consider what friendship means to u

[Aesop’s Bags]

• We all have two bags hanging round our neck
• One bag hangs in front and is full of everyone else’s flaws
• The other hangs behind and is filled with our flaws

☝️We’re often quick to see the flaws of others but are blind to our own

[Stoic Empathy]

• No-one is perfectly wise
• The Stoics didn’t even consider Zeno as such
• Seneca told Lucilius not to think of him as an expert, but as a fellow patient in a hospital with more experience of the treatment

☝️”We exist for the sake of one another” - Aurelius

[On Feeling Lost]

• If feeling lost in life, it means you at least have a clear goal of clarifying your values
• This can be done by seeking more wisdom
• If nothing else, your experiences can be shared to help others

☝️”Philosophy” = “love of wisdom”.

👏👏👏