In these troubling times of perpetual man-made conflict and recent natural disasters, let us now embrace the practical teachings of a wise old Stoic called Epictetus.

So why not apply this stoic wisdom daily so to calm our minds and strengthen our wills against all adversity.

As Epictetus advised regarding one who is experiencing trials and tribulations:

Chapter 24

How we should struggle with circumstances

It is circumstances which show what men are. Therefore when a difficulty
falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you
with a rough young man. “For what purpose?” you may say, Why, that you may
become an Olympic conqueror; but it is not accomplished without sweat. In my
opinion no man has had a more profitable difficulty than you have had, if you
choose to make use of it as an athlete would deal with a young antagonist. We
are now sending a scout to Rome; but no man sends a cowardly scout, who, if he
only hears a noise and sees a shadow anywhere, comes running back in terror and
reports that the enemy is close at hand. So now if you should come and tell us,
“Fearful is the state of affairs at Rome, terrible is death, terrible is exile;
terrible is calumny; terrible is poverty; fly, my friends; the enemy is near”;
we shall answer, “Begone, prophesy for yourself; we have committed only one
fault, that we sent such a scout.”

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We Must all Feel Responsible for Change Within Ourselves and the World

Let me start this post with a couple of questions:

What does it mean to be responsible in life?

How can one feel responsible in a world filled with nothing but irresponsibility?

Allow me to give the late Spiritual Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti the opportunity to answer the previous two questions in the following quote,

“And if one sees the truth of this matter, then what is our responsibility? Not only one has a family, wife and children, one has to be responsible for those naturally, but what is your responsibility globally? You understand my question? For the whole of mankind, because you are the mankind, you have your illusions, your images of god, your images of heaven and so on and so on. You have your rituals, you know, the whole business, exactly like the rest of the world, only in different names, they don’t call themselves Christians they call themselves Muslims, or Hindus, or Buddhists, but the pattern is the same. Right?

So when you realise that, what is our responsibility? That is, how do you respond to the challenge? You understand my question? How do you answer? What is your reaction when you feel that you are humanity? This is a challenge – you understand? How do you meet a challenge? If you meet it from your old individual conditioning, your response will naturally be totally inadequate. Right? It will be fragmentary, it will be rather shoddy. So one has to find out what is our response to this great challenge? Does your mind meet it greatly, or with your fears, with your anxieties? You follow? The little concern about yourself?

So the responsibility depends, if I may point out, upon the response to the challenge. If one says this is your responsibility, join – not the League of Nations but some other nations, form a group, do this and do that, that is not an adequate challenge. How do you respond to this challenge psychologically? Inwardly? Is it just a flutter, a romantic appeal? Or something profound that will transform your whole way of looking at life? Then you are no longer British, American, French – you follow? Will you give up all that? Or merely play with the idea that it is a marvelous Utopian concept? Right?

So the responsibility to this challenge depends on you, whether your mind is capable of meeting this enormous human wholeness, this human current.”

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The following excerpt is from an interesting article by Donald B Ardell, who feels that we can all learn to develop our minds and achieve general well-being if we applied practical philosophy at the workplace and to our everyday lives.

Ardell calls upon none other than the iconoclastic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to demonstrate a key concept in his own philosophy on overcoming difficulties toward finding total fulfillment in life: Read more…

You maybe asking, what has boxing got to do with self improvement, wisdom and overcoming adversity?  Well, assuming the guise of a boxer in life brings with it many virtues that any would be philosopher will be proud of.

Who wouldn’t envy a person who has in their possession; courage, determination, and strength of will?  These form the beneficial qualities of a champion pugilist, and are what is needed to stand up against the many difficulties we face daily in our lives.

Difficulties in life can happen to all of us at the best of times due to unforeseeable circumstances and through our own ignorance. Many of these difficulties can be endured or even avoided if we had the heart and foresight to deal with them.

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