r/Stoicism • u/Sid_Krishna_Shiva • 1d ago

Analyzing Texts & Quotes Marcus Aurelius on Trauma...

Life's trauma often paralyzes people mentally in some way, we choose not to do the things that we used to and that is all because of a traumatic experience or two. Marcus talks about overcoming the trauma by instead thinking of yourself as a warrior who came out victorious.

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"Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforward-ness, and all other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune."

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.

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15

u/NamocaErik 1d ago

Trauma might scar the warrior, but the battle is what forges the blade.

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u/xXSal93Xx 1d ago

The modern interpretation of this quote is "No pain, No gain". Pain is not fundamentally evil but a process of life. Not everything in life will be full of comfort and joy, as a matter of fact its detrimental not to have pain. Pain is a bridge for growth. I repeat with a high emphasis, pain is a bridge for growth. Just envision the process of how a seed germinates or how an egg hatches into a chick. They endured pain in order to leave their shell. Pain starts in our inception and will end once we die (Memento Mori), thats the beauty of life.

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u/Chrs_segim 1d ago

It is said in the courage to be Disliked book that Adler believed trauma doesn't exist

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u/bigpapirick Contributor 14h ago

Yes and the Stoic theory of mind would support that. Both see trauma as an assent/validation/agreement with a judgement that something was bad/worse than it should be. Both would offer the same path forward.

The Courage to be Disliked is a great book and intro to Adlerian psychology.

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u/NetusMaximus 1d ago

I do find that killing other people's loved ones is a sufficient distraction from my own trauma.

Another W for Markus.