In society today there is a common understanding that true happiness can never be achieved. Moreover, that the purpose of life is to suffer and to work until death. This thought raises many questions about the steps to take in order to achieve true happiness. The struggle to answer these questions goes above and beyond minds because humans are made so distinctly that the definition varies from person to person. But if true happiness is in fact achievable, it will be attained only when we are one with ourselves, with what we produce, and with the people that surround us.
Stoicism was established in approximately 300 B.C.E by Greek philosopher, and mathematician, Zeno, and included philosophers such as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. (Soccio 196) The Stoic school of philosophy taught of the soul and how to become enriched with inner peace. The Stoics, and specifically Epictetus, believed only attempting to control what was personally controllable, while accepting fate to be the controller of what was personally uncontrollable, could bring peace to the soul and mind.(Soccio 196) Further belief included that what happened, did so for a reason, and the control of one’s fate belonged to God. Stoic theories on human nature additionally included the struggle of good versus evil, and how it related to human interactions. Stoics concluded that “nothing that happens can be wrong or bad, since everything that happens is part of God’s rational plan”. (Soccio 201) Therefore; it cannot be said that a person is evil based on his or her actions since, according to the Stoic philosophy, a person’s actions are uncontrollable, but instead fated, and being they are fated by God, they cannot be evil. It is accepting of this evil as being fated, that ...
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... growth, and death. It is necessary to understand the course of nature and the cycle of life and why they are unstoppable. Birth, growth, and death are part of the cycle of any human life and we must become one with ourselves, with what we do and create. It is also important to understand that suffering will always be an essential part of the human soul, but if true happiness is achievable, it would be when we are one with ourselves, what we produce, and the acceptance that suffering is an essential part of true happiness.
Works Cited
Delbanco, Nicholas, and Alan Cheuse. Literature : craft and voice. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Soccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of wisdom : an introduction to philosophy. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Xenophon. The Memorabilia; Recollections of Socrates. n.p., n.d. Classic Reader. Web. 12 November, 2013
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