34. Stoic Grief

Stoic Grief. The Stoics were strict and harsh. (For us?)
As a rational human being they believed you would not give into sadness. The essence was to move on. Let the death affect you as little as possible. If a child dies have another one, if a wife or husband remarry.

The Stoics believed that life was to be spent preparing for your loved ones death. So that when the death actually happened you accepted it as an inevitability. The Stoics thought that social relationships and love were essential: and part of being human. It wasn’t to be inhumane. But more to be prepared for the reality of death.   

So they are not saying no grief – but less grief due to the work done through a lifetime of reflection. The Stoics believed in mental preparation. A life of studing their own bereavement reactions. So the grief is less. The idea of our loved ones at any age being taken from us is real. Building resilience against the unpredicatbility of life is a life of being present in the awareness of death.

Perhaps this says more about us in this time. We deny death. Money, insurance, medicine all fool us into thinking death is not going to happen to us or those around us. We are in a time of denial. Marketed and protected against the idea of death. We are happy to live in denial. We think it is easier. We try to eliminate ours and others suffering. Protected from predators we dupe ourselves into thinking we are safe.
The thinking behind the Stoics philosophy is we are not safe. We never have been.
This is the purpose of life.
Life is dangerous. Life is unsafe.
Stoic Grief. 

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