Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (May 22, 2019)

Hello there,

This week for our guidance, let us continue on a similar mental path as last week and draw inspiration from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations XII 25:

“Cast away opinion and you are saved. Who then hinders you from casting it away?”

We are constantly looking at the world around us and internally making judgments (false judgments) and putting opinions on top of it. Our opinion is often shaped by dogma (religious or cultural), education (good or bad), expectations, and in some cases, ignorance. But if we can try and see things the way they are (as per last week’s exercise) and remove all false opinions and judgments accordingly, then life will just become simpler.

So this week, when you have an opinion (on anything) stop and (as often as you can) look inward, examine the opinion critically and make your own decisions on judgments in an unbiased (as much as possible) manner. As Shakespeare (a suspected Stoic) said, ” there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.“

Looking forward to your personal achievements and anecdotes.

Much love

Anderson Silver

(Author of “Your User’s Manual” and “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”)