I have a problem sometimes with optimism. Generally I am able to stay fairly optimistic, as a whole, while things may look down. The best allegory I can think of would be in the Battlestar Galactica reboot where they keep searching for Earth, suffer through a bunch a crap and then they say 'screw it, good enough!' That is my outlook at times, like now.
At heart I think though I am a Stoic, not the unemotional type but trying to find inner calm through outer control. The old philosophy of it is something that I can relate to. From Wikipedia:
"A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism: All people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should, according to the Stoics, live in brotherly love and readily help one another. In the Discourses, Epictetus comments on man's relationship with the world: "Each human being is primarily a citizen of his own commonwealth; but he is also a member of the great city of gods and men, whereof the city political is only a copy."[30] This sentiment echoes that of Diogenes of Sinope, who said "I am not an Athenian or a Corinthian, but a citizen of the world."[31]"
That echos quite nicely to me and it is something that I try to bring to my life though sometimes I fail, miserably.
I get angry, as we all do from time to time, but I get a lot more angry than I let on. Rarely to the point of seeking to do actual harm to a person for whatever they'd done but more than once I've broken something in a pure red rage and felt quite fine with it. Case in point, I've done this to my hand and in truth, I don't really regret it. It still hurts sometimes but it serves as a reminder of a last resort and is as such useful.
I think I've babbled enough.
At heart I think though I am a Stoic, not the unemotional type but trying to find inner calm through outer control. The old philosophy of it is something that I can relate to. From Wikipedia:
"A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism: All people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should, according to the Stoics, live in brotherly love and readily help one another. In the Discourses, Epictetus comments on man's relationship with the world: "Each human being is primarily a citizen of his own commonwealth; but he is also a member of the great city of gods and men, whereof the city political is only a copy."[30] This sentiment echoes that of Diogenes of Sinope, who said "I am not an Athenian or a Corinthian, but a citizen of the world."[31]"
That echos quite nicely to me and it is something that I try to bring to my life though sometimes I fail, miserably.
I get angry, as we all do from time to time, but I get a lot more angry than I let on. Rarely to the point of seeking to do actual harm to a person for whatever they'd done but more than once I've broken something in a pure red rage and felt quite fine with it. Case in point, I've done this to my hand and in truth, I don't really regret it. It still hurts sometimes but it serves as a reminder of a last resort and is as such useful.
I think I've babbled enough.
"Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
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