Sister bought me this book for Christmas, is it any good?
>>7504128
A preachy trite list of outmoded nonsense.
bin it
>>7504128
It's an amazing introduction to Stoicism and probably the one book that has really influenced my worldview and thinking.
The message is: don't be a worrying bitch nigga and let things come and go.
>>7504146
/thread
>>7504167
real /thread
>>7504128
I hated it but loads of people think it's very inspirational.
It's a lot of epigrams really. Quotable material that you shouldn't read in one sitting, but come back to every now and then to truly enjoy.
Happy even is he who liveth near this wise man! Such sleep is contagious-- even through a thick wall it is contagious.
A magic resideth even in his academic chair. And not in vain did the youths sit before the preacher of virtue.
His wisdom is to keep awake in order to sleep well. And verily, if life had no sense, and had I to choose nonsense, this would be the desirablest nonsense for me also.
Now know I well what people sought formerly above all else when they sought teachers of virtue. Good sleep they sought for themselves, and poppy-head virtues to promote it!
To all those belauded sages of the academic chairs, wisdom was sleep without dreams: they knew no higher significance of life.
>>7504182
true /thread
He was a cuckold. I'm not even kidding, look up his wife.
His whole thinking is based on god. -> Shit that happens to me is fine because god gave me everything to go through with it. At some point he even wrote: "If there is no god, why should I deal with all this shit and not just kill myself?"
If you don't believe in god, everything he wrote is nonesense.
>>7504231
He's not talking about about god as in judeo-christian god, he's just giving the deterministic force a name.
And his thinking is more like
>I can only truly control my thoughts and reactions and behaviour
>I can't control externals(people's opinions,outside events,material goods.) so I shouldn't worry
Since Stoicism is deterministic his other line of thinking is
>Since there's no other conditions that could lead other events, I should just bear it gracefully especially if it's outside my control
you seem to have misunderstood him greatly and Meditations is the easiest Stoic text to understand.
>>7504239
Dude, his wife fucks around like there is no tomorrow he is like "well, there is nothing I can do about it"
It was years ago and I'm not even sure if it was meditations or some other book by him, all I remember is him writing about god and how powerfull he is and how great it is to die for other people. If anything, I think he is one of the most overrated writers known to humankind. Maybe his other works are better, but I was not impressed. The fucking bible is less preachy than his writings.
>>7504270
>Dude, his wife fucks around like there is no tomorrow he is like "well, there is nothing I can do about it"
because he actually couldn't, he was away at war in far off provinces for quite alot of his life so instead of worrying about a little bit of cuckoldry, he focuses on his job as emperor and to protect the peoples of the roman empire, which is much more important.
Meditations was his personal diary and wasn't really meant to be for the public, it just happened to be preserved so it may come as 'preachy'.
He didn't really write other works, meditations wasn't even meant to be a work and was really just his journal to keep his shit together in a warzone.
