Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started

Being Moral in an Immoral World

When you live in times that seem to you, to be going in very bad ways, morally, and you’re working hard to be a good stoic, what do you do? I’m going to look further into that, and report back.

************************************

OK, after some further reading, and thinking, I’m back again – So, Stoic thought has it that we are here, not to accumulate great wealth for ourselves, but to use our wealth to provide for ourselves and for others, family, community. So if you are a successful business person who has much and gives nothing, well Boo to you, you greedy person!

Also, further to the idea of possessions, Stoic thought has it that you would do well to appreciate what you already have, rather than to long for or even work toward more than you can ever need. Gratitude for your haves, will bring you a better life than yearning always for more and more have nots. 

Another important issue to always remember, is that it is not your role to live the lives of others, your own life is the only one you can, or should try to live. This is a concept that requires thought, lots of it, sometimes. As a parent, your role is to assist your child as much as you can, and this can mean teaching them good ways to live, be, do things. You are not making them live in a way they can’t or don’t want to live, just a way to also live a life that is in keeping with the four cardinal Virtues – wisdom, morality, courage, and moderation.

If each and every one of us looked to living our own lives with wisdom, morality, courage and moderation, there would be plenty of the good for us all, with none of us ever missing out on what we need to live good lives. Food, shelter, enough, and no more.

So, given this is not that world, or not yet, far from it actually, what are we to do? The way I see it, we are to do the very best we can, to make that world come into being. Start with ourselves, and our family, then extend what we do as far as we can, within our sphere of influence. We are here in this world, to better ourselves, surely? After all, otherwise what is the point of anything we do, it not that?

Are Stoics Happy?

Many people assume that Stoics are staid and cheerless people, never smiling or carousing, or ever having any kind of fun.

But that is misunderstanding what it really means, to be a Stoic. Stoicism is all about being satisfied with what one has, or in fact, being grateful for all we have. If we are alive and not in pain, we are so much better off than someone who is alive and in pain.

If we have shelter and food, we are better off than a homeless person with no access to anything to eat. If we have a job that we get paid for, even though we’d like a better, higher paid job, we are still better off than an unemployed person.

If you were to think on the good things in life you have, and imagine how you may be if you didn’t have all of those things, you will see that yes, you do indeed have a good life. And if there is someone who seems to be having a better life than you, what of it? There may be negative things happening for that other person of which you have no knowledge.

Blue skies, trees, a good road, life is good!

Life for me is good. I have a roof, a husband I love, who loves me. I have a fine son, and other family members I love, and who love me back. I have a dog who brings joy to my life. I have a garden with beautiful flowers, I have food growing in my garden too. And that blue sky in the photo is up there above me on most days. Beautiful!

I am a very fortunate person. I can honestly say that, and I believe. I can imagine many ways in which my life could have been worse, and indeed still could be worse. But there is no point in getting upset about those other ways, because the life I currently have is the only life I can have, the one I’m living right now.

My future life is truly unknowable. I could guess at how it may be, but I can’t live it, until it is here. The future is a myth, and while some things can be prepared for in the present, there is no point in getting so carried away doing that, you neglect to proper ‘be there’ in the now.

These thoughts are from my own personal understanding on what Stoicism is about, and if I don’t get it quite how another person sees Stoicism as being, so be it. We are all entitled to look on life how we consider it to be, and live accordingly.

Our guard flamingo watching over the garlic crop.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/want-happiness-become-a-p_b_3759317

The link just above was the resource I used to write this particular, along with my own thoughts, based on my other studies, especially this book:

This is a great book, get a copy, if you can

So are Stoics happy? Well I consider myself to be a Stoic, and yes, I am happy, are you?