Word: epictetus
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Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, has become popular only in recent years. It traces its remote origins in part to the teachings of a Greek philosopher, Epictetus, a former slave who developed a science of happiness. Perhaps the best-known expression of Epictetus' philosophy is the Serenity Prayer, attributed to the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous: "God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference...
...Harvard, however, deserves something of a defense. Wolfe's A Man in Full makes extensive reference to stoic philosophers such as Epictetus, whose writings emboldened James Stockdale during his imprisonment. Given the choice between humiliation and death, which should one choose? Humiliation for you, death for me, responds the stoic, because you would even consider the question. The stoics--the ultimate men--never allow their wills to be affected by the world around them. They do as they please, regardless of consequences. This obviously constitutes not only strength of character but also insanity...
...EPICTETUS Tom Wolfe borrows from him, and 1st century Stoic's books are rereleased. Luckily, no royalties...
...conservative intellectual who quoted the Stoic philosopher Epictetus to the press last week ("A life not put to the test is not worth living"), Stockdale has spent most of his post-Vietnam career in a succession of academic and think-tank jobs. He has taught at the Naval War College and Stanford University, and was president at the Citadel. Since 1981 he has been a fellow of the Hoover Institution, an independent conservative research center that is located on the Stanford campus. Stockdale also served on the board of the ultra-right-wing Rockford Institute in Rockford, Illinois, from...
Part of his reading was this passage from the Enchiridion, a manual for Roman field soldiers by the philosopher Epictetus: "It is better to die in hunger, exempt from guilt and fear, than to live in affluence and perturbation." It was a lesson Stockdale would draw on repeatedly after parachuting from his crippled A-4 jet and landing in North Viet Nam on Sept...