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What ancient philosophers knew about surviving dark times [1]
['Séamus Bellamy']
Date: 2025-06-23
Things aren't so great just now. They haven't been super for a while. It's hard to find new platitudes to mumble to those who seek comfort from us. How many times can you say that it'll be OK or that you'll keep someone safe before it rings hollow as a prom night promise?
Hope is important, but it becomes impotent if it never proves true.
I'm out of suggestions and soothing words. I'm surprised it took so long. Never in my life have I once felt that everything would be fine. Convincing someone I love that it is will break me if I keep the same tact. So, I've turned to a place that has given me some calm as I've worked to mend my mental health: Stoicism.
Heraclitus, a Greek whom the Stoics thought was a good fella, said something along the lines of:
No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
Pop your pronouns in there and you're good to go. Nothing lasts. Not marriage, cancer, joy, or strife. Many considered this to be a dour way to look at life. It's a philosophy that doesn't promise future happiness, peace, or an end to pain. However, it does promise that what is happening right now will come to an end. Tyrants will die. Police states fall. Mothers will not always be killed waiting in line for food. Bigots will fear consequences once again.
Perhaps these horrors will be replaced by others. But the new ones will pass as well.
[END]
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