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This line stuck out to me;
Rather than questioning your material conditions, the merchants of modern Stoicism want you to change what’s in your head.
Having tried the stoic life a couple of times while fighting depression. I’ve always left the experience feeling that I gas lighting my self into accepting my circumstances and it would inevitably make me feel worse.
I was only able to come to terms with my depression and find purpose in my life once I started doing the exact opposite of stoic teachings. By embracing my emotions(good and bad) and allowing my self to be influenced by them did I start living a better and more fulfilling life.
A True Stoicsman wouldn't fight and deny his emotions /s. But what was the harmful thinking pattern wrt your circumstances?
Are there solid examples of ancient and modern eras where Stoic thinkers drove massive justice movements? I've seen names of Marcus Aurelius, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Susan Fowler (interviewed by Ryan Holiday) but I may be drunk on the koolaid.
Weigh avoiding people exhibiting these behaviors:
1. No sense of humor, thin-skinned, rushes to disproportionately condemn others for minor transgressions
2. Inflexibility: black & white thinking; tribal groupthink; zealous, mechanical adherence to rules
3. Incurious
4. Wallowers in the litany of useless emotions
5. Quick to like/love others
6. Lacking in reciprocity / The Golden Rule, or gamifying pseudo-generosity to take more
7. Lacking in self-awareness and self-examination, especially an inability to admit or recognize fault, or continually self-deceptive
8. Magical thinking, i.e., conspiracy theories or manic hope
9. Constantly needs others for something: approval, attention, advice, decisions, ideas, information, labor, money
Seek these:
I. Better together?
II. Would you kill for them?
III. Would you die for them?
IV. Do you trust them with your life?
Almost everything else is noise.