Stoicism - I couldn't agree more.
Stoicism was concerned with how individuals find happiness. Happiness to Stoics, the supreme good, could be found lnly in virtue, which meant essentially living in harmony with the divine will: "And this very thing constitutes the virtue of the happy man and the smooth current of life, when all actions promote the harmony of the spirit dwelling in the individual man whith the will of him who orders the universe." One achieved happiness by choosing to follow divine will through the free exercise of one's own will. To the stoics, divine will was the same as the will of nature, since nature was simply a manifestation or expression of the gods. "Living according to nature," therefore, meant following divine will or the natural laws that the gods established ro run the universe.
Virtuous living, then, was living in accordance with the laws of nature or submitting to divine will. This led to the acceptance of whatever one received in life, since divine will for us was by its very nature good. By accepting divine law, people mastered themselves and gained inner peace. Life's problems could not disturb such individuals, and they could bear whatever life offered. They also believed each human contained a divine spark which led to the uniqueness of humanity.
Spielvogel, Jackson in Western Civilization. 6th ed.
Virtuous living, then, was living in accordance with the laws of nature or submitting to divine will. This led to the acceptance of whatever one received in life, since divine will for us was by its very nature good. By accepting divine law, people mastered themselves and gained inner peace. Life's problems could not disturb such individuals, and they could bear whatever life offered. They also believed each human contained a divine spark which led to the uniqueness of humanity.
Spielvogel, Jackson in Western Civilization. 6th ed.
posted by Cristina. at 10:05 PM
0 comments
