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| 1. The term "ego death" refers in modern days to the release of our self-identification and self-esteem that stems from it, but it is also the release of our need to guard it from harm and our propensity to see the world through the lens of our imagined identities. People who define themselves, for instance, by their political inclinations, social standing, skill set, or overall perception of physical attractiveness, will engage with the world as members of these groups and defend these abstractions as they defend themselves. It is a falsehood to associate one's own self-entity with these things because they are external to us, they pass by and don't require our attachment. Our true selves are the perceptions of our senses, feelings, and thoughts, as well as our ability to judge, choose, and have willpower. The real you is the one who makes decisions and is persuaded of certain things. Everything else is not a part of who you are; it is something you can find practical or enjoyable while it is available. It is not a fundamental aspect of who you are. | | 1. The term "ego death" refers in modern days to the release of our self-identification and self-esteem that stems from it, but it is also the release of our need to guard it from harm and our propensity to see the world through the lens of our imagined identities. People who define themselves, for instance, by their political inclinations, social standing, skill set, or overall perception of physical attractiveness, will engage with the world as members of these groups and defend these abstractions as they defend themselves. It is a falsehood to associate one's own self-entity with these things because they are external to us, they pass by and don't require our attachment. Our true selves are the perceptions of our senses, feelings, and thoughts, as well as our ability to judge, choose, and have willpower. The real you is the one who makes decisions and is persuaded of certain things. Everything else is not a part of who you are; it is something you can find practical or enjoyable while it is available. It is not a fundamental aspect of who you are. |
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| We are entities with thoughts and opinions that we associate with ourselves, these are identities. Although identities may aid in conveying information, they are actually external to us, something the ancient stoics understood but have in modern days become a practiced norm as an attempt as creating something for yourself. Since these external perceptions of ourselves are distorting our experience as self-entities, we ought to cease creating self-images of ourselves from these identities. This is due to the fact that we are actually unable to think of our self-entities in a tangible way. Realize that you are unable to think of yourself as you eliminate outside notions and assumptions about who you believe yourself to be. The only thing that is endangered when you experience hurt or are triggered by prospective "harm" in social situations, is your false sense of who you think you are because you believe that who you're thinking of in your thoughts (your imagined self-images) is actually the real you. One ought to realize that your thoughts are only memories and imagination, they are not real, when you're thinking back to something you've experienced, you aren't actually experiencing it, it is just another sensory input for you (your self-entity) to interact with just like your other senses. | | We are entities with thoughts and opinions that we associate with ourselves, these are identities. Although identities may aid in conveying information, they are actually external to us, something the ancient stoics understood but have in modern days become a practiced norm to believe in as a part of yourself as an attempt to creating something for yourself. Since these external perceptions of ourselves are distorting our experience as self-entities, we ought to cease creating self-images of ourselves from these identities. This is due to the fact that we are actually unable to think of our self-entities in a tangible way since our existence is just a conscience. Realize that you are unable to think of yourself as you eliminate outside notions and assumptions about who you believe yourself to be. The only thing that is endangered when you experience hurt or are triggered by prospective "harm" in social situations, is your false sense of who you think you are because you believe that who you're thinking of in your thoughts (your imagined self-images) is actually the real you. One ought to realize that your thoughts are only memories and imagination, it is just another sensory input for you (your self-entity) to interact with just like your other senses, they are not real experiences in the moment, but it is you who control them. |
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| 2. To reach the full and true potential of your intellect, you ought to unblock your survival from fear, pleasure from regret, willpower from shame, love from grief, truth from lies, insight from illusion and pure conscience of experience from worldly desires. | | 2. To reach the full and true potential of your intellect, you ought to unblock your survival from fear, pleasure from regret, willpower from shame, love from grief, truth from lies, insight from illusion and pure conscience of experience from worldly desires. |
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| 4. Follow The Three Stoic Disciplines of Desire, Action and Assent | | 4. Follow The Three Stoic Disciplines of Desire, Action and Assent |
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| • “The Discipline of Desire”.
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| Accepting our fate is a key component of the discipline of desire. Don't spen time on things that are out of your control. You can try your hardest to stay away from things you don't want, but don't wish for things that are beyond your control, like never becoming sick, dying, getting into an accident, etc. When something uncontrollable occurs, you use the resources at your disposal to address it as best you can. Given the real nature of things, brace oneself for the worst case scenario and hold out hope for the best. It will always break you to have an idealized fantasy (a desire for something unnatural) as the expected result. While it's acceptable to hope that your desired outcome won't go wrong, keep in mind that it is in the realm of possibilities that it will. Respect the laws of nature and don't wish for anything less than the best possible result.
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| • “The Discipline of Action”
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| The discipline of action has to do with philanthropy or love of humankind. Learning to control the need to act and the urge not to. This is a more subdued expression of aversion and desire. We are to make an appeal to our various roles. They are arranged in a hierarchy.
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| 1. Universal function in a human existence.
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| Taking care of our health and well-being comes first on the list. The second thing we do is grow our areas of interest and strength by appealing to our unique abilities. This is approaching your nature. Pursuing things outside of your interests would be seen going against your nature.
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| 2. Appealing to our unique interpersonal ties.
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| Am I a parent, a partner, a friend? Epictetus gives the example of a parent who is unable to tend to their sick child. They can't bear the thought that their child might not survive, so they flee the house and their child. This person does not appear to have mastered aversion and desire. They fear that their child may die, they view death negatively, and they haven't accepted what the Stoic ideal of ultimate values should be. It's preventing them from carrying out their responsibility to other people as a result. They're still terrified, which prevents them from carrying out their parental responsibilities.
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| 3. Preference
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| You are allowed to select whatever you desire as long as it doesn't conflict with logic, your interests, or your interpersonal ties with other people.
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| • “The Discipline of Assent”
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| The Discipline of Assent has to do with mindfulness of our judgements. Assent means agreement. The discipline of assent involves making correct judgements about the nature of the external world and events that occur in it. We assent to value judgements of things that occur around us that were made by us consciously or unconsciously. This can affect how we feel about the event.
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| Use the process of: Stop it, Strip it and See it.
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| Step 1 - Stop it: Put an end to the value judgment right away. Put a stop to it before it affects you.
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| Step 2 - Strip it:
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| Strip the value judgment and see through what it is. If we take the time to examine things more closely, we can realize that the majority of what we think are anything more than simple indifference. As said by Marcus Aurelius in Meditations... "When you have savories and fine dishes set before you, you will gain an idea of their nature if you tell yourself that this is the corpse of a fish, and that the corpse of a bird or a pig; or again, that fine Falernian wine is merely grape-juice, and this purple robe some sheep’s wool dipped in the blood of a shellfish; and as for sexual intercourse, it is the friction of a piece of gut and, following a sort of convulsion, the expulsion of mucus." (VI.13)
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| Step 3 - See it: See the incident from a cosmic perspective. Try to see things in the wider context, even when what is happening right now may seem strange and inconvenient. Perhaps all along, this was meant to be, and this experience has charted a different necessary path for you.
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