Stoic Week 2018 is upon us and I am as usually attempting to participate. The timing of this week is usually a bit difficult becuase it seems that this is usually a very busy time of the year for me.
The theme is on happiness this week. The question to ponder: “What do you think about the Stoic idea of happiness as a framework for holding your core values together and giving them coherence? Can you see how their pattern of thinking links up with yours? Is there anything you see as missing in the Stoic view – or something new but helpful in the Stoic idea?”
It is one of the ideas where I tink Stoicism differs radically from Budhism in that it does not sit suffering at its core but it actually places happiness at its core. Rosicrucianism does a similar thing. Seneca warns: “You need never believe that a man can become happy through the unhappiness of another” in that sense happiness as a central theme or base is not just about happiness as an individual but happiness to society. We cannot find our happiness in the unhappiness of another person. Such an approach will simply lead to a critical judgement that serves no value in itself.
Seneca further explains that: “The sum total of our happiness must not be placed in the flesh; the true goods are those which reason bestows, substantial and eternal. ” which means mere greed to satisfy bodily desires will not lead to complete happiness. A Stoic acknowledges the dual nature of man as having both a body and spirit or the temporal and the eternal. It is only when both aspects of humanness is addressed that happiness becomes an achievable goal.
zeal4living