Bite-sized New New-Stoicism, ep. 7

And so here we are at last: This is where the rubber meets the road!

I'm sure you're wondering, "Yeah, but how can anyone possibly do anything to act rationally all the time, avoiding the Four Vices, and aiming for the Four Virtues?"

Oh, you weren't thinking that? Well, I'm gonna tell you, regardless.

It's not as complicated as it seems. In fact, it's actually very simple. You want to act right all the time, in every situation, both at home and at work, whether you're alone or with company?

DO YOUR DUTY, FIRST. ALWAYS.

See? It's easy piecey, lemon squeezie.

Granted, it might be a little bit difficult. Oh, alright, I'll admit, yeah, it's pretty hard, 'cuz the body wants instant gratification, and the mind sometimes is weak. Or distracted. But if you aim at the Four Virtues, doing your duty above anything else allows you to side-step many of the pitfalls of irrational behavior.

Also, in order to modify your behavior so that your wants start aligning with your values, you need to be introspective, and approach every day as an opportunity to learn how to view your individual life from the perspective of the Four Virtues.

There are some tools which I will explain with more detail in later episodes, but I want to name them here, so that you can start thinking about these things.

Every day, in every instance, you have to approach the things that life throws at you with skepticism, reminding yourself to feel apathy, so that you can achieve happiness. Those words in italics do not mean what you think they mean, but I promise I'll explain later.

In the meantime, go and do your duty, first, always, and you will notice how very little time you have left in the day to get in trouble.

See y'all next time!