Introducing Stoicism to normies
So I have been re-reading one of my favourite self-improvement books: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck By Mark Manson.
I chose to read it again for 3 reasons:
- given the times in quarantine, knowing how to discern not about caring about nothing, but knowing what to pay attention to.
- I also that I wanted to take down notes of this as a book summary post later on.
- Lastly, the very first time I read this book I immediately knew it was basically a modern simplification of Stoic practices, whether the author is aware of it or not
Pretty much even though it’s a modern day interpretation of old ideologies, practices and philosophies of changing your mindset of how to view the world it is easier to introduce these time-less ideas in a simple manner. Which is basically what all modern-day self-help/self-improvement resources are anyways.
Simple summaries/paraphrasing/repackaging eastern and western philosophies and ideas for us monkeys with low attention spans to digest
Well then last week on r/stoicism a post mentioned to be friendly with all the new potential members that may flood into that subreddit from a video Pewdiepie made titled “How to be Happy **Tutorial**”.
Interesting, how would those 2 and 2 go together?
I am aware of the Pewds, not subbed to his content as I don’t need to follow so many Youtubers - hah. However I have always had respect for him for having the resilience to stay true to his self after amassing a huge following. On occasion when I peek into his non-gaming content I do find value with what he creates. I get the sense he asserts and lives by good values. Probably he was living an intentional, stoic, dutiful life without really knowing these ideas existed.
He made a really good introductory video of Stoicism which had a frame capturing some self-help books like Subtle Art. Stating that the solution to happiness have been answered 2000 years ago with these practices. Giving solid examples and comparisons to what we do today and providing the core fundamentals of Stoicism and how it came to be in the middle.
I don’t need to summarize the video, you can watch it to get the gist. I found it neat and well-timed as I was going through Mark Manson’s book.
No wonder he has maintained his following and while his channel grows steadily and his life pursuits continued evolving. This shows that he definitely is an influencer living true to his values and virtues. In fact it is great that he is being responsible and using his large influence so many people that look up to him to get onboard a way of life.
Just like what I’ve noticed reading Subtle Art, it’s okay that these ideas are nothing new, but a great way to get people introduced and curious enough to delve deeper into the source material.
In this case of being happy and self-improvement: figuring out the steps of understanding their current values and working on prioritizing better values.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for my summary of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson and drawing parallels, comparisons with the core Stoic philosophies.