Stoic Tenets

 Stoic Tenets

Hey there everyone, now this blog is coming after a long time and it is pretty long. Now the reason for the big gap is that I wasn't getting time of writing the blog or choosing the topic (hung up on watching anime). So the topic for today is some of the Stoic Tenets, now tenets means beliefs and stoic means a person who is highly philosophical so putting it together it means the 'Beliefs of a Philosophical Person' Now, here the philosophical person does not mean me or you, it means a person like Marcus Aurelius. 

The thing is people like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca were very knowledgeable people and have written many great things. If we read their writings completely we can become very wise as well and can come to know, how to deal with life's  problems or hard situations. So here are some points that they have mentioned -

1. Memento Mori - 

         'You're gonna die' this should be the most motivating statement ever. We all are one day, so let us not procrastinate some of the important stuff that we should be doing. The one that puts finishing touches of their life each day is never short on time or has no regrets. As, there's  only one way of living life and that's without regrets and we only can live like that by completing the tasks that should be completed. 

    

     2. Amor Fati - 

      

        This refers to the saying 'everything happens for a reason' Now we may have a hard time believing it but this is true. Even the worst situations have something good or important for you to learn or take. Don't just expect life to be good with you everytime and in every situation, it doesn't work that way. Life is not going to be fair, it will hurt you but that will be for your own good. So take everything that comes to your course positively or atleast not negatively.

     3. Premeditatio Malorium - 

 

       This teaches us to Wake Up To Reality. Not everything will go as we planned. Even if we deserve something we might not receive it everytime and we have to be okay with it. The thing is trying is in our hand the result is not. There is a simple solution to it. We should not care about the things that are not in control of our five fingers. The things that are beyond our control, why waste time worrying about that? 

 

    4. Summum Bonum -

       This is directed to our actions. Just do the right thing. Do not worry or think about anything else. Marcus Aurelius has rightly said - 

' Just do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Cold or Warm. Tired or well rested. Despised or honored.' Be busy doing the right thing without worrying about anything else and do not  expect others to be nice as well, not everyone will follow this. Remember that you are doing good to others for you and not really for others.

   5. Obstacle is the Way - 

 

      The name pretty much suggests what it wanted to say. The hardships that you are facing today the reason why you'll be successful tomorrow. Don't chicken out by some small difficult situations you face in your way. Just remember your fore fathers were alive during the world wars and managed to live through that, 'not getting the new iphone' doesn't sound bad now, does it... The thing is someone can impede our actions but not our intentions or attitude. For the mind that can adapt and convert any obstacle into opportunity and achieving the goal, nothing seems hard for him. 

   6. Ego is the enemy - 

      Now this can be understood by a book named Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. It's a great book you sure should give it a read. We believe it or not but each of us have an ego inside us that we ignore to notice. Now i'm not gonna point out how you have ego or in which sense but the thing is you do, we all do. The thing that is important is to fight the master of our greatest opponent i.e Ego. It is most dangerous when we have an early pride. Doing a task that is important of 10 and bragging it as if it is of 1000 importance is called as an early pride. Ofcourse I'm talking about out energetic youth. The easiest way to defeat ego is by doing 'Work, Work, Work'. Now this has been beautifully described by Ryan Holiday in the book Ego is the enemy in chapter 9th. He says that work is pushing through the pain and ignoring whatever plaudits you may be getting after completing the work. 

So these were some of the Stoic Tenets given by legendary people like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Aristotle, etc There are many others as well but I may suggest to not read them instead read books written by Ryan Holiday such as Ego is The Enemy, Stillness is the Key, Obstacle is the Way etc. He has described stoic philosophy very nicely. 

Thank You for Reading it,

Yash Trivedi.