Why we should all just chill out and not care

These days, people are way too uptight and emotional about everything. When was the last time you were faced with a problem, and you simply went “You know what? I don’t need to worry about this”? When did you last look at your bank account and not have a reaction, positive or negative?

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy, from the early third century BC. Stoicism's prime directives are virtue, reason, and natural law. Stoics believe that, by mastering passions and emotions, it is possible to find equilibrium in oneself and in the world. In short, they believe that there is no specific ‘evil’ in the world, and that all negative emotions are merely caused by the ignorance of the person feeling said emotions.

The modern day adjective ‘stoic’, i.e. a person who detaches himself from all emotions, positive or negative, is not far off from the original meaning. Someone who is deemed stoic is thought be be one who bides pain and suffering, hiding all external emotion. This apparent apathy gives the exterior of someone who is calm, collected, and sometimes cold, or uncaring. Like the original stoics, they do not give in to negative emotion, taking on the lesson, perhaps unwittingly, that "Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.". It is this open minded apathy that most of us ignore, instead choosing to close ourselves to the world around, judging and shunning those different from ourselves.

True enough, this is an unfortunate human trait. We as humans cannot help but look upon ourselves are the ‘norm’, therefore, thanks to our remarkable ability to see immense worth in ourselves as singular beings, we perceive anything outside the norm to be inferior. But there is worth in all things. Like in Buddhist teachings, I believe we as singular beings are just that. Singular. However we are all one, we are all part of the universe as a whole. We are at equilibrium with nature.

A quote from Greek philosopher ‘Epictetus’; "Permit nothing to cleave to you that is not your own; nothing to grow to you that may give you agony when it is torn away." This side of stoicism makes it sound as if stoics are merely blocking emotion, shunning all that might hurt them. This is what the close minded fool might read. Then permit me to enlighten you. Stoics do not merely block out emotion. As I have mentioned before, they believe that negative emotions are derived from ignorance. This self destructive path is the one many of us follow. People on a path like my own try to deal with emotion more readily than any of you who believe that you are truly happy with yourselves. Happy, sad, angry, these are just words concocted by a mind in need of labels. That is perfectly reasonable. Our minds don’t like to deal with anything outside their knowledge, and this find safety in anything they know or may have heard. They label things to the best of their ability, much like the afore mentioned prejudice. I try to leave these labelled emotions and accept them as states of mind. By shedding these layers of perceived perception, we can understand more fully the world around us.

My school of thought is modelled on that of stoicism. While embracing the idea that we are at equilibrium with nature, my beliefs are more firmly rooted in the laws of science. I am a scientific man, after all. I have no god, other than my personal personification of 3 basic truths, Logic, Probability, and sweet Lady Irony.

If you have found this article in anyway enlightening, I thank you for your time. If you think I am a pretentious/self righteous cunt, then you are right. I try not to let it bother me, and you should do the same. Negative emotions and all.

Later

[This is a serious article. If you thought Ozzy was joking then go back and read it again, with an open mind]

" Will they open their eyes, and realize we are one."