Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Stoics Always End Up Ruling the Epicureans

“From Zeno of Tarsus to Paul of Tarsus was but a step.” – Will Durant

The farther you look back into history, the farther you can see into the future.

I have a minor in Philosophy, and about the only things I remember are a class in Buddhism and a class in Greek philosophy, which also meant Greek history. And pretty much all our intellectual ideas came out of Greece – about 2500 years ago.

The Greeks discussed everything and they figured out solutions for every problem people have. Even our country was founded on what some of the Greeks thought – and some of their intellectual Roman descendants, such as Cicero.

Epicurus was not an Epicurean, not in the degraded modern sense as someone who devotes his life to pleasure. But much of the Manosphere, as it stands today, is Epicurean in the degraded sense. One only needs to read the sites of the foul Roissy and Roosh. Both of whom are degraded (I suspect Roissy is a Jew, and there is a good reason Christianity overwhelmed Judaism, just the way Stoicism always beats Epicureanism).

Epicurus thought the purpose of philosophy was to free men from fear, although the modern degraded ones think its purpose is to free men from all responsibility.

I recently pointed out that the more ridiculous ideas in the Manosphere will never last and will be transformed by the Alt Right, which is in many ways Stoic (and what most people perceive as “Stoic” is not what it originally was). Although “Alt Right” is its current name or sooner or later it might get another one.

This is one of the reasons I think Trump will win. In some ways he comes across as a Stoic (at least compared to the brain-damaged, drug-addled, alcoholic, degraded Bush and Clinton crime clans). He certainly uses some Stoic ideas (“making America great again” is the same thing as freeing the people from fear), which resonates with the American people.

For that matter, “conservatives” (the real ones) are far more Stoic than liberals, all of whom are Epicureans. That’s the real divide between them, although today I hear discussions about the modern equivalents of K and r reproductive strategies.

What we’re dealing with here, ultimately, is ethics – what is the good life? (Not surprisingly, the Stoics influenced early Christianity). And not surprisingly, our degraded “elites” barely have any ethics, unless one wants to consider love of money and political power ethical.

The good life certainly isn’t devoting your life to sex and women as “plates” (the ancient Greeks – and Christianity even today – realizes that those who devote their lives to physical pleasure always become degraded. This I have seen more than once).

The ancient Stoics clearly saw the basic problem of their age – the collapse of the theological basis of morality. They tried to fix it by bridging the gap between philosophy and religion. It sort of worked, for a while. Then, ultimately, Christianity showed up and transformed everything.

Our degraded Epicurean “elites” – all of who have money, drug and sex problems – no longer believe in religion. That’s for the unwashed masses. Hence Brak Yomama’s comment about people in Flyover Land clinging to “their guns and religion.”

Possibly the oldest problem in the world is class warfare – when the greedy and power-mad grain control of the government and crush everyone else. This never lasts and sooner or later this kakistocracy is always overthrown. Sometimes they lose their heads or end up hanging upside down by their heels from a lamp post.

As that modern saying tells us, history may not repeat but it does rhyme. And no great nation is ever conquered until it has destroyed itself. We’re not anywhere near there yet but our “elites” are doing their best to bring it on.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hedonism ultimately causes two things to happen to a person:

They become weak and they become arrogant to cover up the weakness.

Unknown said...

Bob, you sound like an cranky old man. Chateau Heartiste isn't the Playboy Channel. The manosphere isn't full of "players" pulling tail. You've got it all wrong. The manosphere is guys fed up with girly men who want to Alan Alda kiss up to manjawed lesbians. Its the circle of tough guys who don't follow the feelies and emo crap they're peddling. They're not just talking about pulling in tail. They're telling guys to take the upper hand and stay there. Don't wimp out and let women take control. Keep the bitches in their place, by learning what really get them, and use it to keep them following you. The feminists have brainwashed the grrls into this men are bad and need to be whipped into line. Game lets you get past that shit, by appealing to their libidos and egos. Get past their feminist brainwashing by going into their reptile brain where the tingles and feels come from. Get past the feminist nonsense by going straight to the source and dewiring the tripwires and traps the manjawed feminists set up. Its mindwar. A Psyop.

Glen Filthie said...

It started out that way, kid, or maybe with some of that as its intent... And has produced laughable parodies men instead. Look in the mirror next time Ya wanna beak off about uppity bitches. At the rate you're going you'll be pumping and dumping your youth away and you'll be doing that with the throw-away tire biters left by greasy pakies like Roosh. You wouldn't know a woman of worth if ya saw one, and she wouldn't give you the time of day! "Mind War"? HAR HAR HAR! It's a FOOLS war, you twit! Anything that hurts one gender ultimately hurts them both. Vox Day, Roosh and the others are casualties of that war (and probably bad parenting as well). They certainly aren't heroes that real men would emulate.

I've been studying Stoicism as the put forward by the ancients, and any comparison between that philosophy and the childish head games and name calling of the Manosphere are laughable. Game, Josh - you don't even know what the game is! If you want to dispense with the games of pikers and poseurs like Vox Day... Give Marcus Aurelius and the others a shot. They won't tell you how to become a man, they will challenge you to ask yourself the questions you need to answer in order to become one. A REAL one. Clucky, chattering girls won't even come up on the radar - you'll be out of their league if you succeed. Stoicism is weaponized, quick-kill martial arts for the soul. It's a transformative philosophy with no short cuts and requires dedication and effort. And pain, too, by the look of it.

In any event, classical Stoicism will make you a better man. Emulating guys like Vox and Roosh will make you a clown.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid I haven't seen any stoics among the 'spherians or the alt right. Indeed, I think it is the stoics that our culture really need right now, but the alt right is so rhetorical, so emotionally based, and so full of hyperbole, I'm really not certain if I should laugh or cry at their parody of "stoicism." Also, Trump is a libertine, kind of the Weird Science vision of the altright, what they imagine an alpha male to be. He's practically their own invention.

Unknown said...

Marcus Aurelius? Can't you find a role model more out of date? Aurelius didn't even appeal to the Romans. If you're going to use tactics that old, no one is even going to care. We don't live in an orderly society where girls are encouraged to remain chaste and support men, and wishing it were true isn't going to do shit either. You sound just like the cucks in the GOP who talk about respectability while the other side calls them names and plays dirty. Your gentlemenly old fashioned attitudes aren't going to work old man. The game has changed, and you need new strategies and tactics to deal with it. The key words are: DEAL WITH IT. We don't live in the world we want, we live in the world as it exists. You won't change anything unless you see what is being done now and adapt.

Glen Filthie said...

You're either a citizen of the cellar or the trailer park, kid. Low women have been taking down stupid men since the dawn of time. As they say, fools that don't learn from history are damned to repeat it.
stoicism isn't about chasing chicken headed skanks with mental and sexual hang ups. It's about YOU. Why, I was reading Vox today and that anorexic fag can't even run 5k! Don't like Marcus? There's others. Once the Stoic builds himself he won't give the time of day to the cankles you idiots bed - he will have much better to choose from! The poseurs play on your ego and fears, kid. If you undertake Stoicism you will confront and lose your fear, and you will have the courage to challenge your ego when necessary. Shut your gob, Josh, do yourself a favour and READ. It's only a mouse click away. Put some effort into it - and you will see why Bob says Stoics rule the world.

Eduardo the Magnificent said...

Can't you find a role model more out of date?

Yeah, because if it's not shiny and new and modern, it can't be any good.

Its mindwar. A Psyop.

It sure is, kid. And you're on the losing end of it and don't even know it.



You're a first-rate dipshit, and the worst kind, too: one who thought he found truth and then quit. Roosh and Vox Day don't give a shit about you or men in general. They just want to sell you a book or a seminar, and the manosphere is just the vehicle used to do it. The ancients can't sell you anything but yourself, because they're dead, but you're still (presumably) alive. The only price you pay for Aurelius and Epictetus is your own effort. Assuming you don't find mental work "ridiculously out of date".