Member-only story
How To Live Life In A Cool And Stoic Way
Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it. — Epictetus
At some point in our lives, we’ve all wondered about whether or not we are cool. What is “being cool” anyway?
So there’s this amazing book by oldie basketball star Walt Frazier, Rockin’ Steady’s the name. He describes his life and what seems to be a philosophy in itself about how to be cool. There are tons of jewels in the book, so if you have time to read it, go ahead, it is a good book.
It is profoundly related to Stoicism as well.
Stoic philosophy allows you to be a winner all the time. The most important thing in your life, according to Stoic philosophy, should be your will, and the capacity to control your reactions and desires. Because of this, you can live in a way in which nothing brings you down (that’s the idea).
You always win because you do not desire anything outside your will, nothing external. Sure it’d be nice to have a nice car or a big fancy house, but those things are not paramount for your happiness for the simple reason that they are not under your total control. It’d be better instead, and also more rational, to desire to become a man, that through his actions, is able to get that kind of stuff. Praising more his capacities than the stuff in his life.
