A Guide to the Good Life
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Average rating4.4
One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life. Using the psychological insights and the practical techniques of the Stoics, Irvine offers a roadmap for anyone seeking to avoid the feelings of chronic dissatisfaction that plague so many of us. Irvine looks at various Stoic techniques for attaining tranquility and shows how to put these techniques to work in our own life. As he does so, he describes his own experiences practicing Stoicism and offers valuable first-hand advice for anyone wishing to live better by following in the footsteps of these ancient philosophers. Readers learn how to minimize worry, how to let go of the past and focus our efforts on the things we can control, and how to deal with insults, grief, old age, and the distracting temptations of fame and fortune. We learn from Marcus Aurelius the importance of prizing only things of true value, and from Epictetus we learn how to be more content with what we have. Finally, A Guide to the Good Life shows readers how to become thoughtful observers of their own life. If we watch ourselves as we go about our daily business and later reflect on what we saw, we can better identify the sources of distress and eventually avoid that pain in our life. By doing this, the Stoics thought, we can hope to attain a truly joyful life.
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The definition of “stoic” and the pursuit of stoicism aren't something I was able to differentiate before reading this book. After, though, I realized how much close to home the concepts of stoicism are to strive to behave. It's not often that I encounter a philosophy, or a belief that rings so completely true with my core self.
There were a few concepts that were the most poignant to me. Having a “philosophy of life” is an interesting idea – a way of living. “Negative visualization”- spending time thinking about what could go wrong to appreciate what you have, and be less affected when things don't go your way. The idea of “control” over - things you have complete control (yourself), limited control how over, or no control over – and spending time on those you have complete control over. Asking if you're guided by own values, or following others. There were a few things I disagreed with, but those were usually authors interpretations of the original works, which I more agreed with.
Having used the online alias Dyogenez for 20 years, and having read everything by Diogenes before this, it was amazing to hear such a deep dive into the cynics way of life - and how similar it is to Stoicism.
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