Ebook A Guide to the Good Life The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy Audible Audio Edition William B Irvine James Patrick Cronin Audible Studios Books
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One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life.
Using the psychological insights and the practical techniques of the Stoics, Irvine offers a roadmap for anyone seeking to avoid the feelings of chronic dissatisfaction that plague so many of us. Irvine looks at various Stoic techniques for attaining tranquility and shows how to put these techniques to work in our own life. As he does so, he describes his own experiences practicing Stoicism and offers valuable first-hand advice for anyone wishing to live better by following in the footsteps of these ancient philosophers. Listeners learn how to minimize worry, how to let go of the past and focus our efforts on the things we can control, and how to deal with insults, grief, old age, and the distracting temptations of fame and fortune. We learn from Marcus Aurelius the importance of prizing only things of true value, and from Epictetus we learn how to be more content with what we have.
Finally, A Guide to the Good Life shows listeners how to become thoughtful observers of their own lives. If we watch ourselves as we go about our daily business and later reflect on what we saw, we can better identify the sources of distress and eventually avoid that pain in our life. By doing this, the Stoics thought, we can hope to attain a truly joyful life.
Ebook A Guide to the Good Life The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy Audible Audio Edition William B Irvine James Patrick Cronin Audible Studios Books
"Irvine presents an accessible overview of the early Stoics and then consolidates their thinking according to specific topics such as anger, old age, grief, etc. Most helpful is his collection of Stoic techniques - ways to implement Stoic philosophy in your own life.
As a Stoic, Irvine has a lot of criticism for current psychological approaches to dealing with life's challenges. He says that "the consensus view among psychological therapists is that we should stay in touch with our emotions: Rather than try to deny their existence, we should contemplate them, and rather than trying to bottle them up we should vent them." He contrasts this with the Stoic approach, which doesn't require that we bottle up our emotions, but does "help us to to take steps to prevent negative emotions and to overcome them when our attempts at prevention fail."
This criticism is valid for much of popular psychology and many psychological professionals as well. There is one psychological approach, however, that is explicitly based on Stoicism: Rational-Emotive-Behavioral Therapy (REBT). REBT was developed by Albert Ellis, who wrote many books teaching people how to identify and correct the thinking that causes them emotional upset. If you want practical advice about how to live as a Stoic, without having to read about ancient philosophers, get one of the several books by Ellis."
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A Guide to the Good Life The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy Audible Audio Edition William B Irvine James Patrick Cronin Audible Studios Books Reviews :
A Guide to the Good Life The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy Audible Audio Edition William B Irvine James Patrick Cronin Audible Studios Books Reviews
- The Stoics sought tranquility and a consequent joy in, and thankfulness for, the lives we have as core parts of an answer to the venerable ancient question, "How should I live my life?" In 2018 America, tranquility and joy sound like a good deal...if you can get it. I'm a retired intelligence analyst. I spent my entire professional life looking at the potential downside for American interests in the behaviors of foreign leaders and states and in regional developments that affect allied interests--and thus US alliances and interests. There's not a lot of tranquility in the national security business. It's filled with anxiety and fears and worrisome days and weeks. You get used to it. You cope.
You know, though, in the quiet recesses of your mind, that "stress kills." You hear it from the Doc every12 months. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I hear you, I exercise and I've got my blood pressure down, I'm making making a point of trying to reduce the amount of friction in my life, if not the numbers of stressful situations." And in retirement, you can carve out more time to think about distractions from things that get you riled up, or sadden you, or fill you with fear or anxiety when you face the encroaching reality that "all things human are short-lived and perishable," including you.
Stoicism doesn't rescue you so much as train you to manage unproductive emotions and thoughts, beginning by bundling up, or triaging, your concerns according to a fundamental trichotomy--expanded by author William Irvine from a classical dichotomy posed by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus (Some things are up to us, other things are not)--of "things I have no control over, things I have absolute control over, and things I have some measure of control over." We can exert control over our goals, values, what we formulate as our life philosophy. We have no control over the sunrise, or of the past--what's happened has happened--or, as a federal annuitant, over trade or immigration policy or other acts of people in high office over whom we have no means of influence. We have some control over our professional lives but cannot guarantee success in every endeavor, only that we'll do our very best, our utmost to fulfill the mission.
Hence there's a broad category of things beyond my control that I'd be foolish to spend much time fretting over. As the great Stoic and Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius observed, "Nothing is worth doing pointlessly." It's more productive to spend my time on cultivating my own garden of tranquility and on worrying the things I can affect. This is very like Niebuhr's serenity prayer Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."
Author Irvine is a pleasant cicerone on our journey into Stocism, focusing on the four Roman Stoics whose writings seem to him most relevant to us today Epictetus, Seneca, Musonius Rufus, and Marcus. He divides his book into four broad parts. In part one, he discusses the birth of philosophy and, in greater detail, the rise of Stoicism. In part two, he inventories and lay out psychological techniques devised by the Stoics for developing and maintaining tranquility, perhaps the most important of which is "negative visualization," the art of reasoning through our fears or anger--"what's the worst than can happen"--or through the sources of our happiness or unhappiness, the latter of which is (as research suggests) often rooted in the insatiable character of life in a mass-consumer society. Part three discusses "Stoic advice" across a broad array of concerns social relations, insults, grief, anger, luxurious living, the desire for fame and fortune, aging, death. The entertaining concluding part is Irvine's often humorous reflections on how he's walked the Stoic walk.
I flatter myself to think that reading, and thinking through, and beginning the practice of "the ancient art of Stoic joy" over the past two weeks has begun to soften me and mute my anger (along with canceling the papers and most magazines). I'd like to be kinder. A better citizen. Calm. Tranquil. Thankful for all I have family, friends, interests, a decent place to live in a nice city. I'll give this a shot, as Irvine recommends, as a "stealth Stoic" (although I've already outed myself. No matter no one reads a thing I've posted here...) But I'm withholding a star, and will probably update these remarks at some point, as I progress, or don't, in Stoicism.
And I'm wishing myself luck on this.
I think I'm into something good.
Thanks, Bill. - I've been helped immensely just by reading the first chapter. I embrace the focus on living the Stoic philosophy, learning techniques to banish negative emotions and the distractions surrounding us in a consumer society which take me off the path to deciding what my "grand goal in living" is and staying focused on that goal every day. I had been dipping into Buddhism for years, loving aspects of it while feeling it just wasn't fitting my personality and circumstances; I happened upon a FB site devoted to the similarities between Eastern and Western philosophy, in particular Buddhism and Stoicism, and a light began to shine. I began to read about Stoic philosophy Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, The Art of Living, and now this book, which is just so clear and so engaging. I am a reader of Albert Ellis' books, in particular the subject of how to stop allowing people to push my buttons; I am engaged in cognitive therapy to help me learn how to banish negative emotions and develop tranquility while living my values and developing positive qualities such as reasonableness, self-discipline, and courage; listening to Tom Petty, really for the first time...I know, this is a whole packet of different sources of inspiration which all seem, to me, to be pointing in the same direction - developing integrity while experiencing joy...
Learning about Stoic philosophy is like finding a perfectly ripe orchard peach after living with the memory of what they taste like while making due with those tasteless grocery store articles. There's an art to living well as I see it, and this book is really helping to guide me towards a more meaningful life. William Irvine's book is a treasure of information on this philosophy, on the importance of setting a goal you won't deviate from, on what Stoic philosophy is and how to live it. Well-written, inspiring, informative. I no longer have an opportunity to study in a Stoic school, philosophy courses are focused on learning theories while the ancient schools taught pupils how to practice. This book is as close as I may ever come to one of those immersive experiences with a teacher. I'm enjoying this book, thrilled to be finding some texts here on to learn more about Stoicism written by knowledgeable authors, and feeling very optimistic about life in general again. - Irvine presents an accessible overview of the early Stoics and then consolidates their thinking according to specific topics such as anger, old age, grief, etc. Most helpful is his collection of Stoic techniques - ways to implement Stoic philosophy in your own life.
As a Stoic, Irvine has a lot of criticism for current psychological approaches to dealing with life's challenges. He says that "the consensus view among psychological therapists is that we should stay in touch with our emotions Rather than try to deny their existence, we should contemplate them, and rather than trying to bottle them up we should vent them." He contrasts this with the Stoic approach, which doesn't require that we bottle up our emotions, but does "help us to to take steps to prevent negative emotions and to overcome them when our attempts at prevention fail."
This criticism is valid for much of popular psychology and many psychological professionals as well. There is one psychological approach, however, that is explicitly based on Stoicism Rational-Emotive-Behavioral Therapy (REBT). REBT was developed by Albert Ellis, who wrote many books teaching people how to identify and correct the thinking that causes them emotional upset. If you want practical advice about how to live as a Stoic, without having to read about ancient philosophers, get one of the several books by Ellis.
