Stoicism Shocks Me

Stoicism, at first, makes you feel powerful. You know what you can and can not control.

Stoicism also makes you logical. Instead of thinking that everything is based on destiny, you understand that your choice makes who you are now.

If you are a student and fail an exam, you no longer feel powerless. You trace back and understand the reasons behind your failure because stoicism believes in a chain of reactions. Maybe, that is because you only studied last night when you knew that you could not study everything in one night. You studied until late and had a lack of sleep. As a result, when you did your exam, you were not optimal. This means you start using logic and know how to prevent the same failure from happening again. For instance, you will start learning a week before the exam instead of cramming everything in one night.

You do not believe that your failure is out of your control. Thus, this thinking process makes you take responsibility, and it is a good thing.

Stoicism is wonderful at first. But if you solely rely on it, notice that stoicism does not define what is good and bad. Stoics believe that everything is neutral, but thinking makes it good or bad.

The problem is stoicism relies on each individual's thinking. Each person has different standards for what is "good" and "bad." Also, the standard often keeps changing. This makes stoicism nothing but empty wisdom.

I do not intend to offend your daughter. Just to give you an example of how stupid stoicism is. If someone rapes your daughter, that is a neutral event according to stoicism. Stoic people can think that it is bad or good. Not to mention that it is also an external thing. Your daughter and the rapist are not within your control. So you can still be happy even though your daughter gets raped. Happiness comes from within yourself, right? That is a good philosophy.

Also, stoicism believes that anger is an act of stupidity or the same as an animal. Do not be angry if your daughter gets raped. This is temperance.

Additionally, sex is an act according to nature. Your daughter is beautiful and there is a man who wants to have sex. He is your daughter's boyfriend. But because your daughter is ignorant, she has sex with him. This is natural for a man to have sex with a woman. This man acts according to nature like an animal.

Stoicism invalidates your emotions. If you are angry, you are crazy. If you feel sad when someone you love dies, this means you are weak. Stoicism makes you emotionless. If you think about the desired feelings, feeling happy is always desirable. Being happy is not wrong. But being happy all the time is wrong and impossible.

Stoicism teaches you to be selfish. You either instruct or endure. Most people go with the easiest option: enduring. Enduring is passive. Stoicism does not force you to educate people on the right path because it does not have anything "right." Your moral compass is your conscience. You, yourself, decide what is right and wrong. Because you rely on your standards, you will often make wrong decisions whether you believe it or not. You focus on yourself only, your own happiness.

Stoicism does not make you jacked. I do not know why people put a jacked person as a video thumbnail for stoicism.

If you are a stoic and an atheist, you should not be angry reading this. Otherwise, you are now a crazy person according to your philosophy.