Is it better to live a life following a set of philosophical

Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

>>9125249
what did he mean by this?

>>9125239
Better for whom?

If you wanna be happy stay the fuck away from philosophy

>>9125272
If you want to be content, steer yourself towards Stoicism.

>>9125249
This is a retarded sentiment.

>>9125277
I agree. It's fun to fall off the wagon and go insane but Stoicism is all you need.

>>9125239
The form of man is the philosopher-king. Philosophical novelty is the only achivement worth making.

>>9125277
>>9125284
>Stoicism
>the Nihilism for meek people
no thanks, I think I'll (actively) pass on that one (as a result of my own doing)

>>9125239
Depends on the person desu

>>9125283

Indeed, the sentiment is backwards. It's far better to reign in Heaven than to serve in hell.

>>9125254
he mean that you off yourself and back to >>>/reddit/books with it

>>9125297
Stoicism is not Nihilism, anon.

Best of luck to you with whatever philosophy (if any) you end up following, though.

>>9125319
Redpill my on Stoicicim

I tried reading Meditations and it was fucking terrible. Basically said that nothing matters but we should be responsible and well behaved even though we all end up dead regardless.

Explains why he raised a freak show son that fucked up Rome...

>>9125239
you can't live a life free of philosophy or even a life free of religion. If you think you are, you are probably getting cucked by unexamined and unacknowledged ideology

>>9125319
It indeed isn't. Instead, it's Nihilism for _meek people_.
That you can't understand the difference is indicative of something. ;^)

>>9125332
ignorance and rejection are not the same thing

Define "better"

>>9125335
Nihilism for [insert group here] is presumably still a version of nihilism, otherwise it's no longer nihilism for [insert group here]. If you'd like to explain how/why stoicism is a form of nihilism, I'm willing to listen.

>>9125328
Aurelius' Meditations are a simplistic and high-level introduction to Stoicism, and aren't really representative of Stoicism itself. His main 'contribution' to Stoicism was the idea that it doesn't matter whether or not it's providence or atoms that make up the universe, which is, I suspect, where you're getting "nothing matters" from. Stoics preceding Aurelius accepted divine providence as a given.

I would give Epictetus a shot - he is a better source than Aurelius.

Does choosing to live a life without philosophy or religion mean choosing to live a life without purpose?

>>9125355
>presumably
don't presume stuff, anon.
nihilism attempts to solve the fact that nothing is meaningful by letting you create your own destiny, stoicism presumes that you've already let other people create your destiny for you and are waking up to this way too late to do anything about it, and attempts to solve that fact by asserting that oh well nothing was meaningful anyway

clearly there's only a small tonal difference between the two philosophies and it is measureable in a single dimension along a spectrum of meekness

>>9125390
>stoicism presumes that you've already let other people create your destiny for you and are waking up to this way too late to do anything about it, and attempts to solve that fact by asserting that oh well nothing was meaningful anyway

This is incorrect. Stoicism neither asserts that other people create your destiny, nor does it assert that nothing was meaningful anyways.

It instead asserts that you *always* have control over your response to the external things, and that your response to external things is profoundly meaningful.

>>9125239
why are you here asking about how to live your life? that's something you decide on your own

>>9125355
Thank you, I will read him.

Any other good Stoics to start with?

>>9125239
What should it matter just bUrself

>>9125255
M'whom*

>>9125399
>are you trying to say that I'm "crazy"??
>no, we don't use that term around here
ok f a m

>>9125402
Epictetus is probably the best source of extant distillations of Stoicism. There are some fragments of his teacher Musonius Rufus around too. Seneca is worth reading as well.

>>9125254
>>9125283
>>9125304
I'm startled that no one knows Paradise Lost's most famous line.

File: Green_Highlander_salmon_fly.jpg (3MB, 3504x2336px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 3504x2336px

>>9125422

>>9125239
just live

>>9126758
WOAH DUDE

If you don't read philosophy then you are being cucked by whichever random philosophies are visibly embedded in your culture.

It is better to live your life as an actor within an literary movement context. I, for one, live an imagist lifestyle.

>>9126758
HOLY FUCK.

>>9126793
This. You're going to be cucked no matter what you do. Might as well review all your options.

>>9125272
thisthisthisthis

>>9126758
Holy......I want more............

>>9125239
yes

>>9125249
Okay, Lucifer.

>>9125249
>follow a few rules, and if you follow them you can live an eternal blissful afterlife
>don't follow those few rules, you have a bit more fun on the Earth, but you'll end up in literally the worst place in existence FOREVER

Nah, it's better to serve in Heaven. Fuck Lucifer.