A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the New York Theosophical Society on Stoicism & Theosophy. I would like to continue with some further information on the subject.
The Stoics believed that stressful and dangerous situations provoke a scared reaction or an angry one. Or we shut down, paralyzed by the events.
The Stoics called these impressions that we form in response to bad news or stress phantasia.
The Stoics were quite sympathetic to these reactions. They understood them as natural, and largely out of our control.
Stoicism is not a philosophy showing you how to stop that. Stoicism is about is what to do next. What to do after, how we choose to respond.
“Do not be afraid of your difficulties.Do not wish you could be in other circumstances than you are. For when you have made the best of an adversity, it becomes the stepping stone to a splendid opportunity.” ― H.P. Blavatsky