Florian florian

I’ve had a little knowledge of stoicism - or what I thought stoicism was. This book helped me put some of my preconceptions in their right place and gave me a foundation. The chapters were a bit dense for me to digest every single thought while reading, but I feel I have a better understanding now than I had before.

Here’s my rough takeaway: Like any philosophy, Stoicism is a school of thought on how to live a good life. Some central concepts are:

• The dichotomy of control: Don’t worry about things you have no influence on.
• Virtues above pleasure: It is not bad to lead of good life of earthly delights, as long as you never betray your fundamental virtues.
• Mindfulness and mental awareness: Plans don’t work out perfectly; negative things happen - but you are still in control of how you react to these external influences and the curveballs life throws at you.

I don’t think the author explicitly mentions “happiness” all too much in the book, but to me, Stoicism is a tangible mindset to create happiness from within. Then again, “happiness” could also be a “preferred indifferent” according to the stoic idea: Great if you have it, but not worth trading your virtues for. Hm. Food for thought.

Overall, very glad I read this. Good book. May need to revisit some years in the future.

Es gibt so viel aus der deutschen Geschichte, für das ich einfach kein richtiges Verständnis zu entwickeln mag, aber ich probiere es zumindest. Und so gehörte auch das Standardwerk über den Eichmann Prozess irgendwann dazu. Ich kann nicht jeder Facette von Hannah Arendts Rhetorik wirklich folgen, aber dennoch war es gut zu lesen und wirklich interessant. Inwiefern ich nun mehr "verstehe", vermag ich aber noch nicht zu beurteilen.

Das Beunruhigende an der Person Eichmann war doch gerade, dass er war wie viele und dass diese vielen weder pervers noch sadistisch, sondern schrecklich und erschreckend normal waren und sind.