{"id":989,"date":"2017-08-02T01:35:39","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T01:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/?p=989"},"modified":"2017-08-02T01:35:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T01:35:39","slug":"passion-is-not-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/passion-is-not-a-good-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Passion is Not a Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the popular concepts in today\u2019s culture is\u00a0passion.\u00a0<\/em>It is all-too-common to hear voices in our culture argue that finding and securing passion is the end goal of a purposeful life.<\/p>\n

The Stoics disagreed. Why? Because the end goal of Stoicism was a virtuous life\u2014and \u201cpassion,\u201d as understood in their time, was a threat. In fact, the Stoics listed fourpassions<\/em>\u00a0that every philosopher needed to avoid: Distress, Fear, Lust and Delight.<\/p>\n

They believed\u00a0that reason was the antidote to passion<\/a>\u2014whether it was taking its form in envy, timidity, excitement, obsession or pride. The Stoics strove to live \u201cin agreement with nature.\u201d Reason was nature\u2019s best gift, so living by nature meant, first of all, living by reason.<\/p>\n

Self-seeking, cowardice, grief, and all evil emotions can only enter the mind with reason\u2019s permission. The trained Stoic is skilled at holding back.<\/p>\n

What is promised in return is no less than freedom from passion\u2014a word that carried in the classical world nuances of suffering and passivity. With enough practice, the passions can be exiled from the citadel of the self. No unhappiness can touch the well-intentioned man. Banish the passions, and you are proof against misfortune. Banish the passions, and you are independent of the world, the owner of an unshakable contentment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the popular concepts in today\u2019s culture is\u00a0passion.\u00a0It is all-too-common to hear voices in our culture argue that finding and securing passion is the end goal of a purposeful life. The Stoics disagreed. Why? Because the end goal of Stoicism was a virtuous life\u2014and \u201cpassion,\u201d as understood in their time, was a threat. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPassion is Not a Good Thing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/passion-is-not-a-good-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Passion is Not a Good Thing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the popular concepts in today\u2019s culture is\u00a0passion.\u00a0It is all-too-common to hear voices in our culture argue that finding and securing passion is the end goal of a purposeful life. The Stoics disagreed. Why? 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