While Stoicism was never a religion in the modern sense , with temples and altars, its spiritual nature evoked reverence and piety in the ancients and in many who practice it today. ... However, most modern popularizers of Stoicism are themselves atheists or agnostics.
Do Stoics believe in Jesus?
Stoicism follows Heraclitus and believes in one Logos ; Christianity follows Jesus, and requires followers to believe in the one true God and have no other gods before him [her]. Additionally, both Stoicism and Christianity serve the will of the Logos/God.
Did Stoics believe in God?
The Stoics often identified the universe and God with Zeus , as the ruler and upholder, and at the same time the law, of the universe. ... In one sense the Stoics believed that this is the best of all possible worlds. Only God or Nature is good, and Nature is perfectly rational.
Do Stoics believe in heaven?
The ancient Stoics rejected a permanent afterlife , and were agnostic about even any kind of temporary afterlife. The afterlife did not play any role at all in their value system or the argument they made for their ethics.
Do Stoics believe in prayer?
On the subject of prayer and God, ancient Stoics most certainly did pray to and praise the logos . Seneca, for one, definitely has God in mind too, and he’s not much informed by the Judeo-Christian tradition, about which he seems to have simply shared common Roman prejudices.
Are Stoics happy?
Yes , the Stoics can not only be happy but also feel the full range of emotions. They can be happy, sad, angry, or intense, without the need to hide behind faces emptied of expressions. The Stoics feel emotions as given by Nature but do not get overwhelmed by them.
Why are Stoics emotionless?
People think of the Stoics as emotionless beings — as grim, wooden individuals whose goal in life was to stand mutely and take whatever life could throw at them. ... They were very good at finding life’s sources of delight and savoring them to the fullest.
How do Stoics view death?
The Stoics viewed death as natural, a return to Nature . It is the value-judgments we place on death which makes it as terrible as it is. This is the existential dilemma we all will face at one point or another in our lives. It often appears after the passing of a loved one or someone close.
Do Stoics believe in a soul?
The pneuma permeating the body was held to be a portion of the divine pneuma permeating and directing the cosmos. The human soul is a portion of God within us, both animating us and endowing us with reason and intelligence. The Stoics argued that the soul is a bodily (corporeal) substance.
Did Stoics believe souls?
The human soul is a portion of God within us, both animating us and endowing us with reason and intelligence. The Stoics argued that the soul is a bodily (corporeal) substance . Although the soul is a body, it is best to avoid calling Stoic psychology materialist. The Stoics contrasted soul and matter.
Can a stoic cry?
“ Neither philosophy nor empire ,” Antoninus said, “takes away natural feeling.” ... No matter how much philosophy you’ve read. No matter how much older you’ve gotten or how important your position or how many eyes are on you. It’s OK to cry.
Do Stoics drink alcohol?
So how did the Stoics view alcohol? The historian Diogenes Laertius, a “doxographer” who recorded the views of Greek philosophers, says that the Stoics typically drank wine in moderation , but would not allow themselves to get drunk.
Is Buddhism a Stoicism?
Stoicism and Buddhism are two remarkably similar philosophies that were created independently thousands of miles apart. ... As philosopher and author Nassim Taleb once wrote on the similarities between the two: “ A Stoic is a Buddhist with attitude .” Sure, both of them differ in their explanations of how our world works.
Are Stoics attractive?
Considering how society has always either disregarded or dismissed male emotion, it is no surprise stoic behavior has now come to be viewed as an attractive masculine ideal . Stoic-ness exists as a pillar of traditional masculinity alongside competitiveness, dominance, and aggression.
Do Stoics get angry?
Ancient Stoics recognized anger to be a destructive emotion . ... Here are sixteen ways to do so, based on the writings of the ancient Stoics (mostly Marcus Aurelius, but also Seneca and Epictetus).
What are the 4 virtues of Stoicism?
It is the virtuous use of indifferents that makes a life happy, the vicious use that makes it unhappy. The Stoics elaborated a detailed taxonomy of virtue, dividing virtue into four main types: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation .
