What philosophies help you abide?

[Jianblade]

Lately I've been getting into Stoicism, especially the stoicism of Seneca. Boiled down, Seneca talks a lot about how to deal with frustration in life. Many times we become frustrated when we have expectations about the world, and the world doesn't fulfill those expectations. Frustration builds into anger when we allow our expectations of the world to run extremely off course of what the world really is. Frustration can be alleviated by realizing that we only have a finite amount of control over the world, and tempering our expectations to the point that they're almost nonexistent, so that we can accept things as they come.

Very Dude, very Zen.

What are you influences?

[PriorRestraint]

I'm a big Zhuangzi fan, myself

Deep, funny, narrative, liberating

Leads you playfully, idiosyncratically, to the conclusion: abide

[Anchorite83]

I enjoy mixing the philosophies of Kant and Nietzsche. I read a good deal of Buddhism as well, and spiritual liturgies. Gurdjieff teachings have also recently entered my life. Theosophy also has nuggets of wisdom sewn into it. I try to follow what Bruce Lee said when he spoke about martial arts, but apply it to philosophy; take what you need and forget the rest (or something like that).

[BikerDude]

I like to get back to basics. Aristotle is my home boy.

I find the quest for a perfect utopian society a worthy fucking endeavor. Which gets you to Plato and Aristotle.

On a purely aesthetic level I can dig the existentialist. Sartre, Camus etc. But I can't really think of them as philosophy. More like an exploration of Freudian psychology. But all that dark vaguely French or Russian Dostoyevsky vibe can be really cool on a Velvet Underground sort of level. Very punk rock. Existentalism as a style which can be pretty cool artistically speaking. But it's mostly an adventure in misery. Being and nothingness by Sartre is without a doubt the most thankless thome that I've ever slogged through. Page after page of circular hair splitting and about 1000 pages. His fiction is cool. Nausea being his most popular.
As art existentialism is compelling. It was behind modern visual art, literature, poetry, music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDuW3NvjqJY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g7gutsi1uT4

I don't dig Nietzsche. I can't get past the totalitarianism. Even if you take the position that the third Reich misinterpreted his philosophy, it's hard to envision any real life manifestation that isn't totalitarian. The ubermensch and all the stuff about breeding and basically right out of the gate the view that people need to be furnished with a "godhead". It's very "top down".

[jgiffin]

I enjoy mixing the philosophies of Kant and Nietzsche. I read a good deal of Buddhism as well, and spiritual liturgies. Gurdjieff teachings have also recently entered my life. Theosophy also has nuggets of wisdom sewn into it. I try to follow what Bruce Lee said when he spoke about martial arts, but apply it to philosophy; take what you need and forget the rest (or something like that).

Kant's an interesting cat. Kind of bridged the past into the present age. His antinomies still blow my mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant's_antinomies I vacillate between: (1) thinking their resolutions lie outside the boundaries of reality and/or human understanding; and (2) thinking they're just logical word games that sick German sadist made up to fuck with people.

[Anchorite83]

I enjoy mixing the philosophies of Kant and Nietzsche. I read a good deal of Buddhism as well, and spiritual liturgies. Gurdjieff teachings have also recently entered my life. Theosophy also has nuggets of wisdom sewn into it. I try to follow what Bruce Lee said when he spoke about martial arts, but apply it to philosophy; take what you need and forget the rest (or something like that).

Kant's an interesting cat. Kind of bridged the past into the present age. His antinomies still blow my mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant's_antinomies I vacillate between: (1) thinking their resolutions lie outside the boundaries of reality and/or human understanding; and (2) thinking they're just logical word games that sick German sadist made up to fuck with people.

That's pretty nifty. Thanks for sharing.

[BikerDude]

I suppose some attention should go to the "new" philosophers.
He speaks to the "problem" with philosophers like Kant.
On face value he seems to be a relativist but his thing is more nuanced.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BLbXgvI0a0c

[Anchorite83]

I suppose some attention should go to the "new" philosophers.
He speaks to the "problem" with philosophers like Kant.
On face value he seems to be a relativist but his thing is more nuanced.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BLbXgvI0a0c

Thanks for the share. I'll check out the video a little later. I love Kant but I don't believe his philosophies are flawless or something.

[Chaplain ChuckO]

I've come unto my own philosophy of finding zen in not giving fucks.  The more fucks I give, the more I seem to stray from an enlightened state of mellow.  The hardest part is determining when it's worth giving up my mellow to give fucks.

To Err is Human, To Dude is Divine

[HnauHnakrapunt]

Plato - to remember there are some patterns in this world
Nietzsche - when trying to find some wild joy in my life
C.S.Lewis - when mixing Christianity and Paganism
Freud - to stop behaving like a spoiled child
Kierkegaard - when life gives a lemon; contrary to popular opinion, he may help, saying you need this to grow up
Pragmatists - when I need to think technical

With this Nietzsche thing - I know he may turn into a missile in some hands but I appreciate him saying you should try to find something that makes you really happy and powerful instead of just doing useful and bleak things all the time.