[Dialogue] Stoicism

[Jim]

Maybe stoicism is another form of facing reality in which we stop 
pretending all is well and going to get better some day.  I have been 
following many scientists and philosophers as they try to account for 
global warming, massive pollution of our precious water and degradation 
of our living space and the pending energy crisis.  Some think we are 
only in a natural cycle of Earth's processes, Some think we still have 
time to pull ourselves out the situation if we only rely on the human 
way of solving such situations especially through innovation and our 
desire to succeed, and some see an end to everything that our species 
will be.

 From my own perspective that has been instructed by a very special 
person, William Catton, who authored the book _Overshoot_, I understand 
that humans have been able to create living space that has far exceeded 
the Earth's carrying capacity.  Fossil fuels have allowed us to over 
populate the Earth by at least 5 billion more beings than can be 
sustained in the future.  Fossil fuels have also allowed us to use up 
most of its resources including arable land and potable water.  As a 
species, we use an estimated 10 planets the size of Earth which is 
totally unsustainable.  Many scientists believe we have gone beyond 
several tipping points especially concerning climate.  The atmosphere is 
gaining massive gigatons of carbon dioxide and many other green house 
gasses each year and that what we have put up there will last for 
several centuries.  The future temperature will definitely exceed CoP-26 
projected 1.5 degrees C and by the end of this century may be 3 or more 
degrees higher.

As we deplete our enormous energy supply that has made our current life 
of comfort and free time possible, life will become very difficult and 
unpleasant for those of us who are accustomed to the great American 
Dream.  Our children and grandchildren will certainly experience life's 
resources comparable to what was only available hundreds of years ago 
and a climate of droughts and floods and unbelievable strong weather 
patterns.

Here is where I probably show my stoicism.  I have a thought that has 
allowed me to say yes to what is occurring.  I believe that one role 
sentient beings have in this world is to replenish our biosphere with 
millennia of lost carbon dioxide.  Carbon dioxide which was plentiful 
millions of years ago and allowed great life forms to populate this 
planet.  Humans may go extinct but life will still flourish in our 
wake.  Thus, we give back to our planet that, which if lost completely, 
would cause all life to perish on a frozen world

Didn't we also have a saying: "Always going through it, never going under"

Jim Baumbach

On 1/20/2022 6:27 PM, Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via Dialogue wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I need help with an idea I’m trying to sort out. If you have the time 
> and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following:
>
> Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a 
> relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There 
> is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that 
> internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I 
> want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a 
> degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative 
> light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded 
> form or were we looking at it in its original sense?
>
> regards
> Dharma
>
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