All of them are heavily influenced by the same school of philosophy as well as these people: Bill Clinton, Jordano Bruno, Francis Bacon, John Steinbeck, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Neil Strauss, Robert Greene, Chandra Crawford, Michael Lombardi and many more.
I am intentionally not giving you the name of the school just yet. Reason being: it’s the most commonly misunderstood philosophy movement. In fact when people hear the name, they instantly label it and from there on it’s very hard to break those labels. So in order to make it easier for you to see this the way it really is and to be unbiased I will use start with all the misconceptions and also use a codename. Let’s get to it.
Codename: Practicism
Misconceptions
"Being practical is for men. Women are too emotional."
This one is very popular. While it’s true that in general women appear to be more emotional than men, I don’t believe the gap is that wide. Women can and do benefit from practicism. J.K. Rowling is a prime example. She had 38 rejections for Harry Potter before someone agreed to publish it. She knew that her novel was worth something and never gave up. I’m sure it was very emotional period for her, all that while being a single mother, but practicism managed to help.
"The Practics are cold people with no emotions."
This is probably the most famous misperception. While Practics appear to be less emotional, this is not because they reject emotion. They do not put a brave face and just sit indifferently. In fact they feel the emotions we all do but are being practical about it and choose to concentrate on what matters. For example imagine a traffic jam. There are probably all kinds of characters in it, right? They are nervous, cursing and swearing, maybe even getting out of the car to see what’s ahead. The Practics may still be annoyed by the circumstances but will choose not to concentrate on that emotion as it’s something they can’t control. They quickly put it aside and do something practical like listening to a podcast or talking to their parties.
"The Practics see the worst in everything"
Practicism encourages us to focus on the possible negative outcomes, this is true - but the reason behind it is misunderstood. It’s done in order to prepare the mind in case the worst outcome does occur, but also in case it doesn’t - to help us appreciate what we have. For example a Practic may imagine that he’s about to meet someone rude today at work. Now if he does indeed, he’ll not be that much disconcerted, but if he doesn’t, he will appreciate the fact and feel happy about it. So although Practics tend to imagine worst-case scenarios, it’s from a very pragmatic standpoint and not because they believe that those scenarios will occur. I understand that this can feel very counter-intuitive to those of you who are influenced by the modern schools of thought like optimism and imagining the best case scenario in order to connect to the universe, which will deliver to us what we seek. Now, I’ve watched The Secret, read the books and I don’t have anything against it. If it’s working for you, that is great! But I believe it’s useful to be aware of the different possible points of view, and maybe you can borrow things from schools that are even opposite! Bear with me, optimists! I consider myself as one of you as well, so I can relate to the initial struggle. :)
"Practicism is a religious concept"
That’s another misconception. Although the Practics constantly make reference to God in their writings, their doctrine is a philosophical one rather than religious. The main focus of most religions is about having a good afterlife. By way of contrast, Practicism is primarily concerned with us having a good life. What Practicism offers is a philosophy of life or, as it is sometimes called, a philosophy for living.
"Renounciating power and money"
Practicism doesn’t imply such thing as it is perceived. What it does say is that anybody can live a good, moral life, no matter of his looks, wealth or even health. If you happen to become wealthy, if you are good-looking and healthy, you should by all means enjoy these things - but still remember what’s important in life.You can gain them, enjoy them and you can lose them, and none of that should matter.
Now that we’ve cleared some of the major misperceptions, below are the most important things that Practicism focuses on:
- Recognize what is under your control & what isn’t, and don’t worry about the latter.
- Develop very present state of mind so that you’re aware of your thoughts and emotions, before they take control of you and lead you to bad decisions.
- Be content with what you have rather than constantly striving to get what you desire
- Live to life’s full potential.
- Take care of your mind and soul. Live virtuously and with integrity.
- Have more realistic expectations. Optimism can often be harmful.
- Prepare your mind for what is to come.
- Accept failure and throw away regret.
- Throw away vanity and any excessive belief in one's own abilities. Be willing to learn, to listen, to leave your ego aside.
- Live in accordance with nature.
Sounds good to me!
By this point, I am sure that most of you have already decrypted the codename and know that we’re in fact talking about Stoicism. In my native language to be a Stoic means to be emotionless, cold human being, bearing the misfortunes of life with a strong, statue-like face. I believe the english use of the word is not very different, right? But as we saw, the Stoics are in fact emotional, caring, connected to others and to nature. They are just practical.
In the next few posts I will dive deeper into what Stoicism is, into its history and some of the main characters. For now, I leave you with a quote by the most famous Stoic:
“Constantly think of the universe as a single living being, comprised of a single substance and a single soul; and how all things issue into the single perception of this being, and how it accomplishes all things through a single impulse; and how all things work together to cause all that comes to be, and how intricate and densely woven is the fabric formed by their interweaving” – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor
I will start a weekly blog about life and ideas to improve it - check out my recent post about it.
I do not inspire to be a life-guru or to have any genius revelation about life.
My ultimate goal with this series will be to stimulate your brain cells to think on different topics. If I state something it will be merely my own opinion on things and I accept and embrace that yours may be different. Please share it with me :)
their common characteristics is they wont give up of what they do, they are obsessed and determined and passionate, once you feel the same too you gonna have a successful life without you knowing you are already successful, it will beat those talented people who give up early on what they do. So be consistent and stay focus on what you do, you will never realized how power this is. :)
Well done .. great post
It's okay to be worried ..
The worst is sadness and depression..
Thank you!
good one
@wideeyedwonderer I've learnt a lot from this post, one of it is to never give up when things are not working if you are sure of what you are doing keep doing your thing one day it will work out fine.
Thank you my friend!
t’s very important for people to remember that anger is powerful. So is selfishness along with cruelty. However, kindness overpowers all. You may think your kindness makes a difference for other people only, but it doesn’t. What comes around goes around, and your act will be returned. Your most important reward is knowing how much you just helped someone in need. You feel satisfaction knowing that you might have saved someone’s day, week, or even life. What you have really been given is the most precious gift you can receive, the gift of kindness. Everyone is capable of being kind. Everyone can help. The real question is, why don’t we? This should not be a question. Kindness should come automatically. It should be common rather than a rarity. We can make this happen and do something kind today.
Very well written! Agreed on all points!
Interesante artículo, pero son temas muy complejos y ya que suelen confundir, sería bueno seguir diferenciando una de la otra y así aclarar todas las dudas.
Muchas gracias, @arivis29! Continuaré publicando materiales sobre estoicismo y espero poder ayudar a clarificar las dudas :)
I'm a new steemit user and I also have this "entry-level" interest in philosophy, and I think this is a great post, thanks for posting this, it really helped me in sparking another interest towards another different branch of philosophy.
I was exposed to philosophy when I started digging about existentialism, and some of the key concepts in stoicism, for me, is in a way, in line with the concepts of existentialism that are purposed by the main actors. Is this true? or is it just me being a newbie and connecting lines that aren't supposed to fit just to justify my beliefs?
very glad I saw it
Thank you!
well done .. nice post
Thanks!
What is the difference between Practicism and Pragmatism ?
I think it is that Practicism does not exist :)
wideyedwonderer
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Awesome post; very well-written.
Upvoted and followed; cheers!
Thank you androsform!
i really like this blog. it’s very nice and inspiring. i learned a lot! we should always look on the bright side :)))
Thank you yagurlali! What does your nickname mean?
You made an amazing content my dear friend. We sould connect and support each other by follow each other. I already upvoted you and following you, please think about that.Thanks and greeting from @ayahlistic
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This is a wonderful post, knowledgeable and opens up a discussion. I could go on and give an all-out yes to everything you said but this is just the first work on this subject matter that I'm reading, I'd have to read a lot more and broaden my knowledge before I can have a full intelligible reply to this.
Great post regardless.
Thank you tudors. I will keep posting on Stoicism in the coming weeks, there is a lot more to come! Looking forward to discussing with you!
Sure, I'll be here.
I'll read some more on my own too so we can have intelligent arguments.
Followed you.
Fantastic article. I love when you especially started itemized the philosophy's of "Practicism". I didn't know my mannerisms and belief's paralleled that of the Stoic. Thanks for the great content.
Thank you, nwjordan! I will be posting a lot more on Stoicism, stay tuned!
If you read the books of Paul he actaully states "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ." (Philippians 3:7-9)
The way I see it Paul rejected the idea of practicality.
Thank you for sharing! My view is that doing something in the name of faith is a lot more important for Christians than being practical. That does not mean that Paul was not influenced by Stoicism's ideas.
Yes, but in this text Paul is saying that he counts Stoicism as "rubbish". That's the point I'm posing @wideyedwonderer..
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This I relate to so well, In my opinion, optimism is great but only after every seeing the whole picture which comes with the negatives and the positives.
Exactly! Once upon a time I watched "The secret", which is just so much in the optimism side of the scale that it can't possibly work by itself. But I think one can take a bit of here, a bit of there and make his own picture. No need to be a Stoic, a Buddhist, a Christian or a cult follower. But you can take something good even from a cult. Its all about what it works for yourself in my view :)
Open-mindedness is key here and finding a good balance, good point @wideyedwonderer.
Anger can be a positive emotion if directed properly, who agrees?
Personally, I do not have that much of an experience with anger. But I can see how it can be used in a positive way, yes!
Eminem, for example... He puts it to work pretty well.
Worth reading, I gain lots of ideas about these persons and I learned about practicism. I do believe that when you really believe in yourself you should not stop pursuing the things that you believe in life. Never give up is the key.
Thank you for sharing this informative and motivating article.
Keep Steeming
Thanks, @ra-moon-ra! I will!
really nice
I like your post👍👍👍
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