Ask a Stoic anything

Love , Joy and Passion are not emotions they are pure sensations

a sense of love .a sense of joy ,a sense of deep passion

sensations that spontaneously raises up from deep with in your being and over flow

for example ....the joy and the spontaneous awe and delight upon seeing the beauty of a rainbow,
a babies beautiful bright smile , the twinkle in your lovers eye....

As a stoic do you suppress and stuff down such sensations ?

Originally posted by xsheep
Love , Joy and Passion are not emotions they are pure sensations

a sense of love .a sense of joy ,a sense of deep passion

sensations that spontaneously raises up from deep with in your being and over flow

Love - A strong positive emotion of regard and affection

Joy - The emotion of great happiness

Passion - A strong feeling or emotion

Emotions are things that people feel and that people hold on to. I don't hold on to such things and thus I don't suppress.

What I hear is you choosing to be passive at all times.
Not choosing to engage in life, ever. You pose these things as if the choice is either "let go of all attachment"
or
"being overpowered by attachment"

You seem to be ignorant of the possibility which is neither one nor the other. Choosing to attach at times and being powerful in that attachment.
"I stay off all horses, I have no accidents. Those who get on a horse have it run out of control and have accidents."
Such a point of view will have a self fulfilling effect- you won't learn to ride correctly and each time you get on a horse it will go out of your control.

Some people learn progressively how to ride effectively and your principles do not apply- they ride and control, and get much more pleasure and usefulness out of the beast.
You speak of a fear of engaging actively in life, and how well you have learned to stay out of it.
Fear is an emotion, and it can easily be the driving force behind our choices and decisions, no matter how well we learn to justify it with our intellect. Intellect can be quite the puppet to the emotions, and convince itself it is "the boss".

reply to post by Bluesma


I detach of emotions and allow peace. Fear is an emotion.

The lack of emotion does not equal logic. My only rationale is peace.

Originally posted by arpgme

Originally posted by xsheep
Love , Joy and Passion are not emotions they are pure sensations

a sense of love .a sense of joy ,a sense of deep passion

sensations that spontaneously raises up from deep with in your being and over flow

Love - A strong positive emotion of regard and affection

Joy - The emotion of great happiness

Passion - A strong feeling or emotion

Emotions are things that people feel and that people hold on to. I don't hold on to such things and thus I don't suppress.

Thank you for your answer

so are you saying you have such joyful sensations that you do allow to rise up and then allow to pass?

another question

would you say that wearing the "stoic" label (mask) creates a certain restriction in your response to life....?

Originally posted by xsheep

Originally posted by arpgme

Originally posted by xsheep

so are you saying you have such joyful sensations that you do allow to rise up and then allow to pass?

another question

would you say that wearing the "stoic" label (mask) creates a certain restriction in your response to life....?

Peace is dominant in me now, but whenever I do feel joyful, I bring myself back to my peaceful state. I don't stay with that emotion...

I guess so, the restriction would be, not leaving your natural state to act from emotions instead of peace...

But stoicism is about just release of emotion so if one is feeling "restricted" they still did not give up their emotion.

reply to post by arpgme

Peace is dominant in me now, but whenever I do feel joyful, I bring myself back to my peaceful state. I don't stay with that emotion... I guess so, the restriction would be, not leaving your natural state to act from emotions instead of peace... But stoicism is about just release of emotion so if one is feeling "restricted" they still did not give up their emotion.

Thank you
so you are simply endeavouring to stay within your pure natural state of being, by continuously returning to your inner state of grace and stillness.

personally I found your label of being "Stoic" a little confusing in the beginning because being stoic is being something and what I see here is that you are endeavouring to be neither something and neither nothing...
just being neutral ...hence my confusion by your stoic label you hang upon your state of being ...

would you say that the desire to be something might end up creating it's own restriction?

reply to post by xsheep


Can the desire to be something end up creating it's own restriction? It is possible.

There's a difference between "desiring peace" and actually giving up the emotion to return there...

Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by xsheep

 

Can the desire to be something end up creating it's own restriction? It is possible.

There's a difference between "desiring peace" and actually giving up the emotion to return there...

thank you

may I ask ...
is there an avoidance of certain activities or places where you may rise your sensations of passion,love and joy?

reply to post by xsheep


As I said early, I can listen to techno music without feeling dancy and ecstatic...

Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by xsheep

 

As I said early, I can listen to techno music without feeling dancy and ecstatic...

Well, lots of people can say that without being 'a stoic'!

I was hoping you would answer the question by Xsheep, but maybe you didn't understand it.
I'll try from a different angle-
Do you, for example, avoid having sex?
If you do not avoid it, do you enjoy it?

reply to post by Bluesma


The main intention is peace, being at my natural state....


Whether I just let go of the desire for sex, or if I let go through actually having sex, it doesn't matter. They both release the emotion and brings me back to peace.

Is this thread conducive to peacefulness?

(I don't expect you'll be annoyed if someone already asked)

Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by Bluesma

 

The main intention is peace, being at my natural state....


Whether I just let go of the desire for sex, or if I let go through actually having sex, it doesn't matter. They both release the emotion and brings me back to peace.

Wait a minute..... releasing emotion? I thought you were not feeling it at all?
Are you instead talking about not holding onto emotion, not creating "feelings", or "sentiments" which continue the production of emotion past the original stimuli?

That is something else entirely. If you release them you are experiencing them as they move through, which does not mean you are living without emotion. It means you are doing as I do now- you feel the emotions, but do not hold on to them beyond their physiological reaction.

Originally posted by The1Prettiest1One
Is this thread conducive to peacefulness?

(I don't expect you'll be annoyed if someone already asked)

Another thing I've experienced and observe often-
When people start to realize they can interact with others on the computer,
and be free of any physiological reactions stimulated by the presence of others subconsciously, they realize they have full freedom to choose to feel anything (or nothing) at all.
Like in Matrix?

The way they test that, and begin to really gain confidence in it? By provoking situations where it will be challenged by others, to see how well they can stay detached.

reply to post by The1Prettiest1One

Whether or not I already answered this question, I don't remember. This thread is just about explaining my interpretation of stoicism and questions about my journey through it. On and off, everyday, people have moments where they release and allow their "peace" to flow, even if they are so focused and attached to their daily problems. So I really don't care about bringing anyone to peace because that is their natural state and that is where they'll return no matter how much they fight it by hanging on to emotions...

See, so no contradictions...

reply to post by Bluesma


Because I hold on to no emotions, I can feel the exact moment that the emotion starts to build up and that is what I mean by "release" it is an instantaneous thing. I'm not talking about something bad happening and then getting over it within a couple of days...

Originally posted by Bluesma
The way they test that, and begin to really gain confidence in it? By provoking situations where it will be challenged by others, to see how well they can stay detached.

Ah, hmmm. Got me! The only thing that ticks me off is that I habitually write seemingly ridiculous posts that people ignore and can hardly get engaged in that test. My own stoicism requires honing. A balanced stoic ridiculousness is difficult for me to attain but not for lack of trying. It's always just beyond my grasp, elusive and mocking.

Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by xsheep

 

As I said early, I can listen to techno music without feeling dancy and ecstatic...

Thank you and yes I too can sit detached as though the world was not happening around me ...yet for me this would be seen as suppressing a natural instinct to move with the rhythm and the beat of the music
( if I was so moved to do so)

for instance

I was watching my 1 year old nephew yesterday instinctively begin to move and nod his head to the beat of one of those music making toys he was enjoyingi playing with.

would you say a child does what it does naturally because it has no desire to become or be anything other then what it is?

and also ...Is being stoic a natural way of being?

Originally posted by Open2Truth
reply to post by arpgme

 

Let me show you what apathy is. This is video shows apathy for all to see. This is what can become in a world devoid of emotion. (Warning - graphic video)

Originally posted by arpgme

Well, that's life. People live and people die.

That's your response to seeing a video of a toddler being run over and dozens of adults not bothering to help and strolling by? Truly, your response to watching that is "Well, that's life. People live and people die."?

I challenge every reader of this thread to watch that video and then re-read your response to it.

Thats not an apathetic response. Its inhuman.




(Clarification to reader: Please see my original post to this thread. I embedded two videos - one representing apathy and one representing love. The OP's posted response to me includes my comments and his reply regarding apathy, but in it he shows the embedded video representing love. I corrected this error in my reposting of the quote above. My original post to this thread )

reply to post by xsheep


He was in his peaceful natural state, and then when he heard the rhythm, the happiness/appreciation took over and he started nodding his head.

Again, everyone comes from peace, and everyone returns to it off and on, a stoic knows how to instantly release the emotion to stay their. A stoic chooses his peaceful, natural nature, instead of the emotion.


reply to post by Open2Truth


What's done is done. The past can not be change. People look at old videos and feel "sorry" and it makes them get sad for no reason. An event of the past, a time unreachable and unchangeable. Return to peace and keep walking forward. That is the way of the stoic.