Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction?
It seems counter-intuitive at first, that you should consider an Islamic extremist to be your brother or sister, but that is the true stoic mindset.
A stoic sage is a citizen of the world, part of the cosmopolis of man. Any of our brothers who don't agree with our principles deserve our pity, for they are ignorant of virtue.
To a stoic sage, a terrorist provokes no fear. Death is already certain, death is already going to happen at any time, death is not frightening.
A stoic sage is concerned only with those things under his own control, those things which are to do with his rational mind. The ideology or actions of others should be of no concern... This isnt to say he shouldn't care, but only that it will not affect his own well-being and tranquility of mind.
The best way for a stoic sage (or indeed any stoic) to combat religious extremism is to support those causes which address the root causes of radicalization.I wonder what happened on this day, 16 years ago...
@previous (Green !BEERiVqJJw)
John was a golden god and conquered that day.
This is too long a thought.
@previous (F)
The length of Stoic Sam's thoughts are out of your control. The best you can do is stoically accept them.
@OP
> Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction?
>
> It seems counter-intuitive at first, that you should consider an Islamic extremist to be your brother or sister, but that is the true stoic mindset.
>
> A stoic sage is a citizen of the world, part of the cosmopolis of man. Any of our brothers who don't agree with our principles deserve our pity, for they are ignorant of virtue.
>
> To a stoic sage, a terrorist provokes no fear. Death is already certain, death is already going to happen at any time, death is not frightening.
>
> A stoic sage is concerned only with those things under his own control, those things which are to do with his rational mind. The ideology or actions of others should be of no concern... This isnt to say he shouldn't care, but only that it will not affect his own well-being and tranquility of mind.
>
> The best way for a stoic sage (or indeed any stoic) to combat religious extremism is to support those causes which address the root causes of radicalization.
commentators hate the idea of considering root causes
perhaps because it feels more satisfying to get revenge after something has happened than it is to do ongoing effort
it's like weeding -- it would be better to pull out small sprouts every day, but stomping the whole fuckin thing out of anger after neglecting things until it's no good feels righteous.