Comments on: Easter Reading http://www.uglychart.com/2008/03/10/easter-reading/ Beauty is in the eye of the shareholder Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:18:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Tom http://www.uglychart.com/2008/03/10/easter-reading/#comment-36163 Tom Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:41:09 +0000 http://www.uglychart.com/2008/03/10/easter-reading/#comment-36163 None of this would happen if everyone was a Buddhist! J/k. None of this would happen if everyone was a Buddhist! J/k.

]]> By: Tyro http://www.uglychart.com/2008/03/10/easter-reading/#comment-36162 Tyro Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:44:42 +0000 http://www.uglychart.com/2008/03/10/easter-reading/#comment-36162 Thanks for the link. In a follow-up, I tried to use Epictetus instead of Marcus Aurelius in the hopes that it would inspire some people to follow-up and read some of his work. Epictetus strongly influenced much of Aurelius's work and I think Aurelius even quoted Epictetus a few times. I'm not sure that I would consider myself to be a stoic, but they have some great insights. They were writing in a country that had basically dominated the world and the people had unprecedented access to wealth and leisure time. The people were asking "what is the point of life" and trying to understand why they weren't happy/satisfied despite having "everything". The parallels to our own culture should be clear, and the answers that these philosophers gave are as relevant and meaningful today as they were when they were written. It's pretty surprising, isn't it? Powerful stuff, no doubt. Thanks for the link. In a follow-up, I tried to use Epictetus instead of Marcus Aurelius in the hopes that it would inspire some people to follow-up and read some of his work. Epictetus strongly influenced much of Aurelius’s work and I think Aurelius even quoted Epictetus a few times.

I’m not sure that I would consider myself to be a stoic, but they have some great insights. They were writing in a country that had basically dominated the world and the people had unprecedented access to wealth and leisure time. The people were asking “what is the point of life” and trying to understand why they weren’t happy/satisfied despite having “everything”.

The parallels to our own culture should be clear, and the answers that these philosophers gave are as relevant and meaningful today as they were when they were written. It’s pretty surprising, isn’t it? Powerful stuff, no doubt.

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