Home The order of life and economics The disappearance of objects and the Stoic worldview.

The disappearance of objects and the Stoic worldview.

by admin

The Stoic has great admiration for electricians, plumbers and carpenters who arrive at their workplace with a couple of big toolboxes, get to work and not a single tool is missing! There is no way of knowing in advance what particular pinky-sized blade, screw, bushing or gadget is needed. But when you need it, you take it out of the kit, use it and put it back in the same place. There may be several hundred tools and they are all in order by a professional - how pleasant! Stoically speaking, such a toolbox and tools are good. 

   In our regular kitchen, the scissors, garlic press, salad tongs and sauce thermometer are carefully kept in a different place each time - so they're sought out separately each time. At the same time, you have to try to calm down so as not to call yourself or another member of the family too much. Not particularly pleasant.

  One good way not to find an object is to put it in a place with a background of the same colour, for example a black mobile phone on black trousers, sure success! If they are of the same colour and, more importantly, openly enough on display, you can't look at it. 

   This is precisely one of the core lessons of Stoicism: you don't do anything mindlessly like a zombie, not even put an object on the table. Order is pleasant but order always requires a little effort. It's always thinking about the details, even a little, so that you're always "awake", as it were.

   Of course, you can't always do that, but in principle, the more often you can, the more pleasant life is. More important, of course, are the more fundamental values or appreciations. Life will not become pleasant or good merely by tweaking the details, but it will become better. Something along the lines of the well-known saying that 'flamenco cannot solve the world's problems, but it can help you keep your head up'.

You may also like

Are you sure you want to unlock this post?
Unlocks left: 0
Are you sure you want to cancel your subscription?
-
00:00
00:00
Update Required Flash plugin
-
00:00
00:00