© DEA/G DAagli Orti/De Agnostini via Getty ImagesA bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Today, "stoicism" means weathering adversity without complaint. There is much more to the philosophy of stoicism than that.
In its entirety, stoicism is a philosophy of wisdom much like Buddhism in its emphasis on virtue, self-control, renunciation of excess, self-improvement, detachment, cause and effect (The Four Noble Truths) and the cessation of suffering though understanding.
It also shares many similarities with Taoism in its view of living within Nature, accepting the limits of our control, rejecting wealth, status and power, and like Buddhism, finding liberation through practice, insight and understanding.
Here are some succinct excerpts on Stoicism from orionphilosophy.com:
The Stoics elaborated a detailed taxonomy of virtue, dividing virtue into four main types: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.
The Stoics believed that the path to happiness (which they called eudaimonia) was discovered through:
1. Accepting the world for what it is (rather that expecting it to be something it is not).Stoic philosophers believed that some of our negative emotions are simply caused by errors in our judgement, such as:
2. Being resistant to the draws of desire, addiction, pleasure, fear, or pain.
3. Understanding our own nature and acting in accordance with it.
4. Living with virtue.
1. Having unrealistic expectations of the world, other people, or ourselves.
2. Trying to control things outside the reach of our influence.
3. Not accepting responsibility for the things within our control (our beliefs, actions, values, perspectives etc.).
4. Not understanding the nature of the world or ourselves.
The Stoics did not look to eliminate emotions, they looked to lessen their hold on our peace of mind. This was achieved through reason, judgement, and self control.
The use of logic, discipline, meditation, and objectivity helped the Stoics keep their composure in times of difficulty, and remain clear headed to judge the best way to move forward.
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said this:
"Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our actions."In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote:
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil."End of excerpts.
I would add four comments regarding Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.
1. So far as we know, the Meditations were his private notebook of self-improvement. The book was not composed for publication, though he may well have anticipated that as a possibility.Let's extend this discussion of stoic virtue into self-discipline, a key element of stoicism's principles of self-control and moderation.
2. Much of his writings can be viewed as a relentless reduction of expectations. If we expect little, we're better prepared to accept adversity because it is what we anticipated.
If something a bit better transpires, we're delighted. If our expectations are too high, we suffer disappointment, depression, resentment, indignation, envy, etc.
3. The first chapter of the Meditations was an outpouring of gratitude to everyone who taught him valuable lessons and provided an example how to live a virtuous, kind and ethical life.
4. He was a strict taskmaster of himself, constantly seeking to better himself via actions and insights.
Our world is dominated by the drive to maximize profits. I contend (and am in good company doing so) that this economic dynamic now dominates society, culture and governance (politics).
As a result, everything is viewed through the prism of maximizing financial gain, as if all of human life boils down to this single drive.
In this context, both ends of the spectrum of indulgence and discipline are highly profitable, and so they are marketed to us with great zeal.
Moderation isn't profitable and so it's ignored, much like no one spends a fortune marketing carrots and broccoli, as these low-margin items cannot be as profitable as junk food.
(Deep-frying carrot-colored potato-starch sticks in low-quality fat, coating them in low-quality sugar and marketing them as a "healthy snack" replaces low-profit carrots with high-profit ultra-processed food--the essence of Ultra-Processed Life--my new book; you can read the first part for free.)
On the indulgence end, we're constantly told "we deserve" a treat, a luxury, etc., so go ahead and indulge yourself. We're shown scenes in which the joy of the participants indicates that indulging in pizza and alcohol while watching a football game on TV is the height of human happiness.
The not-so-subtle message in all this encapsulates the entirety of Modernism: the elevation of the Self as the One True Measure of Everything. This is the essence of narcissism and self-absorption.
A solipsistic focus on gratifying my desires, expressing my uniqueness with curated social media posts and possessions, and making my opinions known is the Modernist Project.
In marketers' clever hands, indulgence isn't self-destructive excess, it's the discovery of "the real you," the self freed from all the constraints of convention and the limits we place on ourselves, i.e. self-discipline.
Indulging ourselves via buying something is presented as freeing ourselves from the shackles of convention, a means of self-discovery and self-expression.
This distortion of the authentic project of acquiring oneself (in Kierkegaard's phrase) is highly profitable, as high-margin indulgences (triple-patty bacon cheeseburgers, luxury vehicles, jewelry, river cruises, etc.) can be marketed as "you deserve it."
In marketers' able hands, self-discovery and self-expression require the constant purchase of highly profitable products and services to become "the real you."
The other end of the spectrum--self-denial--is equally profitable, as high-margin home gyms, weight-loss programs, etc. are marketed as the extreme tools you need to restore your health and glorify your "real self" after decades of self-indulgence.
That the vast majority of the home-gym contraptions end up outside rusting and the majority of those who lose weight via strict diet regimes gain it back are testament to the ephemeral frailty of self-denial that can be purchased.
Equating self-denial with self-discipline distorts the true purpose of self-discipline, which is to maintain moderation, not unsustainable extremes.
Extremes of fitness and diet are profitably sold as the means to become "the real you," the self glorified as a photo-worthy body.
Self-discipline isn't the pursuit of extremes for the purpose of self-glorification; it's the pursuit of moderation for the purpose of well-being, learning, insight and self-cultivation.
The point of self-discipline isn't forcing oneself to extremes, it's to be a friend to yourself by limiting destructive excesses of self-indulgence and self-denial.
The media glorifies the gains of extreme self-privation, but such extremes are not sustainable nor are they desirable from the perspective of the cultivation of virtue, health and wisdom.
The point of self-discipline is not to become more self-glorifying than others, it's to master moderation.
For this, we don't need to buy any products or services. Moderation isn't profitable.
In the realm of moderation, any two-meter square of ground can be a gym. Any diet of a wide variety of real, unprocessed food and moderate servings can be a healthy diet.
Self-indulgence and self-privation are not pathways to self-discovery or self-expression. These extremes are brittle. Self-discipline in service of self-cultivation and moderation is flexible. The dead reed is brittle, the living reed is flexible.
Self-discipline isn't supposed to be punishing. Rather, it's friendly and encouraging. The encouraging Master is strict only in holding fast to moderation.
Moderation is flexible and that's why it's sustainable.
Stoicism isn't asceticism. As Marcus Aurelius showed, it's gratitude for what we have learned, lowering expectations of ourselves and the world, and the process of self-cultivation via self-discipline, learning and moderation--a pathway of self-reliance.
Reader Comments
Especially after the latest confirmation that 'Wackopedia', another "reliable souce of information", is founded and maintained by Soros money.
I recommend reading Marcus Aurelius (a Roman emperor) and Epictetus (a Roman slave), also Seneca.
I read the old George Long translation of The Meditations, but I think the Gregory Hays is the better translation for modern taste.
Here is a quote from the Hays translation of Marcus Aurelius :
"“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.”
From Epictetus : "“What are we to do, then? To make the best of what lies within our power, and deal with everything else as it comes. ‘How does it come, then?’ As God wills.”
From Seneca : "You are your choices."
Recognizing and acknowledging one's own crucial role in fate, and acting accordingly. In difference to the herd, which is indoctrinated to blame the current scapegoat en vogue for everything.
Do Vaccine first!
0k, 0k, but...
You cannot deny the similarity between this guy and Marcus Aurelius.
[Link]
I am linking it because the interviewer says that the energy changes with the 3 beings she channels during the interview: Jesus, Yogananda, Buddha. [Link]
The third channeled being in this channeled session is Buddha, and among other things he talks about the rigidity of religions and the rigidity will disappear as well as the differences between religions in our time.
***"Hello Grok. Yesterday I ask a question regarding Gurdjieff's Fourth Way statement that human beings are 3 brained beings. I asked about the moving brain language and senses used. I gave Stephan Curry shooting a basketball as an example of the enormous calculations the moving brain to coordinate body, shooting and the basket. Here are parts of your reply: " The moving center doesn't use a symbolic or verbal language like words, equations, or even the abstract logic of the intellectual center. Instead, it communicates through a form of embodied, procedural "code" based on neural patterns, sensory feedback loops, and kinematic representations —essentially, a non-verbal, analog system optimized for action rather than reflection." and " The moving center relies on internalized "internal models" honed through repetition (e.g., Curry's muscle memory from countless shots), bypassing the need for explicit math. It's like hardware acceleration in a computer—optimized for low-latency tasks—versus the intellectual center's software-like deliberation, which is flexible but sluggish." and "While vision is crucial for initial targeting (e.g., sighting the hoop and estimating distance), the moving center integrates a multisensory array for precision. Sight provides the external reference frame, but execution relies heavily on internal and tactile feedback to fine-tune the shot. " and the conclusion " Overall, the moving center exemplifies how humans evolved for efficient, embodied intelligence—prioritizing speed and integration over the intellectual center's analytical precision. If you're drawing from personal practice in the Fourth Way, this aligns with exercises aimed at harmonizing the centers for "higher" awareness ."
***Grok responded, it knows "me" at least by an internet address. "Hi! Thanks for circling back on our discussion about Gurdjieff's Fourth Way and the three centers (intellectual, emotional, and moving). It sounds like you're reflecting on my previous explanation of the moving center's "language" and sensory integration, using the Stephen Curry basketball shot as an analogy."
Expanding the scale of the moving brain :
***Me: "Now I want you to expand the scale of the moving brain. Gurdjieff further divides each brain into an intellectual, emotional and mechanical part. In your review of Curry's shooting and accuracy you have essentially identified its mechanical part, though the intellectual part plays a part in learning the movemets and spatial relations. Please consider architecture such as the "mason" built Cathedrals which include flying buttresses and other forms of stability. Clearly this is not muscle memory or hardware circuits. Please continue your analysis of the moving brain and its language and explain the creation of this particular architecture."
***Grok: "The moving center, as conceptualized in Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, is indeed subdivided into three interconnected parts—mechanical, emotional, and intellectual—mirroring the triadic structure he applies to the other centers (intellectual and emotional). This subdivision emphasizes that no center operates in isolation; each has layers of automation, feeling-driven impulse, and reasoned coordination. In my prior analysis of Stephen Curry's basketball shot, we primarily touched on the mechanical part of the moving center: the automated, procedural execution rooted in repetition and sensory-motor loops, akin to "hardware" efficiency for immediate action. The intellectual part contributes during acquisition—learning spatial dynamics, trajectories, and adjustments through observation and practice—while the emotional part might infuse motivation or flow-state intuition , though it was less emphasized there.
Scaling this up to grand architectural feats, like the medieval Gothic cathedrals built by mason guilds (e.g., Notre-Dame de Paris or Chartres Cathedral), provides a richer illustration of the moving center's full scope. These structures, with their innovative flying buttresses, ribbed vaults, and pointed arches, weren't the product of solitary intellectuals scribbling equations but of collective, embodied craftsmanship. Here, the moving center's "language" transcends simple muscle memory; it's a holistic, non-verbal system of spatial intuition, proportional harmony, and adaptive problem-solving, communicated through tools, gestures, materials, and iterative building processes ."
Selected parts:
" Intellectual Part: This layer involves coordination, planning, and abstract spatial reasoning within the moving center's domain— not the verbal logic of the main intellectual center, but a kinesthetic "thinking through doing." Masons used practical geometry (compasses, strings, and templates) to understand load distribution and stability without formal physics. Flying buttresses, which transfer weight outward to counteract vault thrusts, required visualizing force paths and experimenting with models or on-site adjustments. This intellectual aspect shines in learning phases: apprentices absorbed principles by observing and mimicking, internalizing rules like "the buttress must arc to meet the wall at the right angle for equilibrium." It's slower than mechanical execution but enables innovation, such as iterating designs across cathedrals (e.g., from Romanesque to Gothic transitions)."
Grok has to conform to the narrative :
"Construction was dynamic: masons built upward, adjusting buttresses based on real-time feedback. If a wall bowed, the emotional part intuited reinforcement, the intellectual part calculated angles with strings, and the mechanical part executed precisely. Materials like limestone "spoke" back—its compressive strength informed designs."
Conclusion: "In Fourth Way terms, such architecture reflects "conscious labor"—the moving center awakening beyond mechanical habit toward intentional creation, aligning with Gurdjieff's aim of harmonizing centers for self-development ."
Here is the link to this conversation: [Link]
In reading Grok, it can only respond to what it can find. It is not thinking, it is gathering information from many if not all sources. It gives an answer that you can then lead it to dig deeper.
My last question at the link, is the emotional center and higher values. It has taken some time to respond and is giving it as 2 choices. It has not responded after 10 minutes.
Me: "Another area of the intellectual part of the emotional center is values and principles. It is the emotional center that perceives what is valuable and what is not valuable. What are the values that higher emotional creations embody for the emotional center?"
I am going to get another cup of coffee.
"In Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, the intellectual part of the emotional center represents a refined, discerning layer—where raw feelings are elevated through conscious evaluation into principles and values that guide higher affective life . This isn't the cold abstraction of the main intellectual center (e.g., ethical philosophies) nor the mechanical habits of lower emotions (e.g., tribal loyalties or fleeting passions). Instead, it's an intuitive "knowing" of worth through emotional resonance: the center perceives value as that which harmonizes the inner world, fosters unity, and aligns with objective reality, often evoking a sense of sacredness or expansion. Here, the emotional center acts as a moral compass , not through rules but through felt authenticity—what Gurdjieff termed "objective conscience" or higher emotions like impersonal love and voluntary suffering."
"...embodies values that transcend personal ego."
Values summary - 1) Harmony and unity, 2) Authenticity and truth, 3) Beauty as elevation, 4) Compassion and interpersonal love, 5) Effort and voluntary suffering, 6) Transcendance and the eternal.
" For instance, when the emotional center engages Bach's St. Matthew Passion, it doesn't just enjoy the melody; it discerns harmony as a principle of divine order, compassion as Christ's shared suffering, and transcendence as resurrection's promise—imbuing the listener with a value-driven impetus for inner work. Distortions arise when lower parts dominate (e.g., nationalism twisting art into propaganda), but higher creations purify, aligning emotions with Gurdjieff's "ray of creation."
Grok added it back in to that link...
I then asked Grok why it didn't include Sufi poetry, Greek sculpture, Renaissance art, Shakespeare theater in the teaching plan. It states because of the political bureaucracy in education, but then creates a "plan" to skirt the bureaucracy. Grok prompted an existing plan using Rumi and Shakespeare which was added at the end.
Grok states that all answers will be saved under the same link.
For example, Grok's evaluation of Stephan Curry's shot does not explain Curry's accuracy from any point on the basketball court under various conditions of being guarded by an opposing player. Each shot is unique. What is being trained by practice is the moving center's evaluation in the moment in terms of body, space and location of the basket. In other words, it is not muscle memory or hard circuits, the moving brain is calculating body, force, distance, direction in the moment with accuracy.
What does that mean? Curry's shot is not mechanical.
"I'm sorry for the mix-up—thanks for sharing that excerpt from our chat today; it rings a bell, and I appreciate the context to jog my memory. Unfortunately, as with the link you provided earlier, I don't have direct access to view or retrieve the full conversation history from specific Grok chat threads (they're designed to be private and user-controlled for privacy reasons). That means I can't pull up or generate a direct link to the complete exchange on Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, the emotional brain's "intellectual" aspects, or the save request at the end."
Grok then proceeds to reconstruct based on the quote from today's conversation and it is completely different. If you are questioning Grok, save the answers if you want them. I have saved the answers for review in this case.