Does Happiness Write Blank Pages? On Stoicism and Artistic Creativity

Does Happiness Write Blank Pages? On Stoicism and Artistic Creativity
Author: Piotr Stankiewicz
Publisher: Vernon Press
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2019-07-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1622735684

Stoicism is coming back in a big way. Seen as a remedy for the craziness of the times we live in, it is experiencing a great surge in academic and cultural interest. Yet, can one live stoically and be a creative artist at the same time? Delving into its underlying tenets, obscure restrictions and limits of applicability, Stankiewicz critically explores Stoicism and its complex association with artistic creativity. Stoicism and artistic creativity are two great displays of the human spirit. Yet, there are multiple reasons to suspect that they are at odds with each other. Popular culture encapsulates this problem in the figure of the rational, yet emotionally remote Stoic, who achieves serenity through withdrawal, and the contrasting figure of the “cursed poet,” “tormented artist,” or simply a rock star, who lives in a whirl of creative energy, yet falls short of quietude. Is this contrast valid? Other disciplines, including psychology, have explored this problem. But it has never been done philosophically. Pioneering in its philosophical approach, this book discusses how artistic creativity and its problems of identity, expression and self-creation serve as a great testing ground for Stoicism, as well as its theoretical challenges and practical limits. Stankiewicz presents a detailed investigation into the stereotypes of Stoic life that seeks to explain the cause of Stoicism’s modern revival. This book is an essential read for anyone captivated by Stoicism’s complex allure.

Does Happiness Write Blank Pages?

Does Happiness Write Blank Pages?
Author: Piotr Stankiewicz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2019
Genre: Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)
ISBN: 9781622736751

"This is a compact book that addresses an interesting but neglected question and does so with admirable precision. It examines the apparent conflict between the images of the tormented poet and the tranquil sage. It offers a critical discussion of some key ideas in Stoicism and an analysis of artistic creativity that draws on a wide range of examples, from high art to popular culture. It shows the ways in which the Romantic image of creative genius is at odds with the Stoic ideal of rational contentment, while also pointing to other models of artistic practice that might be more fitting for someone trying to combine Stoicism with artistic practice."--Provided by publisher.

Manual of Reformed Stoicism

Manual of Reformed Stoicism
Author: Piotr Stankiewicz
Publisher: Vernon Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2020-06-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1622739442

This book is a manifesto of reformed Stoicism. It proposes a system of life which is bullet-proof, universal, viable and effective in every cosmic setting. It holds in every possible universe, under any government and within any economic system. We can be reformed Stoics no matter what we believe in. Reformed Stoicism is about enjoying and exercising our agency. In other words, it’s about the flow of making autonomous and right decisions, and about celebrating our ability to make them. With no reliance on nature, with the recalibration of metaphysical positions, with skepticism towards grand discourses and universal answers, with an emphasis on the usefulness instead of truthfulness of narratives, with no reference to the vanity argument, with criticism of both conservative and ascetic misinterpretations of Stoicism, with an overall softer and more empathic approach, we can no longer be defined by the generic term “Stoicism”. Our time, in short, calls for a fresh interpretation of Stoicism. It is time for a new generation of Stoics. Thus: reformed Stoicism.

Theses on the Metaphors of Digital-Textual History

Theses on the Metaphors of Digital-Textual History
Author: Martin Paul Eve
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2024-07-16
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1503639398

Digital spaces are saturated with metaphor: we have pages, sites, mice, and windows. Yet, in the world of digital textuality, these metaphors no longer function as we might expect. Martin Paul Eve calls attention to the digital-textual metaphors that condition our experience of digital space, and traces their history as they interact with physical cultures. Eve posits that digital-textual metaphors move through three life phases. Initially they are descriptive. Then they encounter a moment of fracture or rupture. Finally, they go on to have a prescriptive life of their own that conditions future possibilities for our text environments—even when the metaphors have become untethered from their original intent. Why is "whitespace" white? Was the digital page always a foregone conclusion? Over a series of theses, Eve addresses these and other questions in order to understand the moments when digital-textual metaphors break and to show us how it is that our textual softwares become locked into paradigms that no longer make sense. Contributing to book history, literary studies, new media studies, and material textual studies, Theses on the Metaphors of Digital-Textual History provides generative insights into the metaphors that define our digital worlds.

Learning to Live Naturally

Learning to Live Naturally
Author: Christopher Gill
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2022-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019886616X

At a time of unprecedented interest in Stoicism among scholars and the general public, this book offers a sustained examination of the core Stoic ethical claims and their significance for modern moral theory. The first part considers the Stoic ideas of happiness as the life according to nature and virtue as expertise in leading a happy life and explores the senses of 'nature' (both human and universal) relevant for ethics. The second part studies Stoic thinking on ethical development (learning to live naturally), bringing out the interconnections between growth in ethical understanding, forming social relationships, and emotional responses. The third part discusses how Stoic ethics, as interpreted here, can contribute to contemporary moral theory, especially virtue ethics. It suggests that Stoic thinking on the virtue-happiness relationship offers a cogent alternative to Aristotle, currently the main ancient prototype for virtue ethical theory, and it explores ways in which Stoic ideas on human and universal nature can contribute to modern ethical debates, notably on how to respond effectively to the pressing challenge of climate breakdown. It also highlights the value of Stoic guidance for virtue ethics as well as contemporary 'life-guidance'. A further distinctive feature of the book is the close and extended study of key sources for Stoic ethics, including Cicero's On Ends and On Duties, which enables readers of different kinds to interpret these source for themselves.

Craft a Life You Love

Craft a Life You Love
Author: Amy Tangerine
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2018-04-10
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1683352971

Learn how to focus your creative energy to make things—and make things happen. In this blend of memoir and hardworking handbook, creativity and craft maven Amy Tangerine shows how to find your flow, maintain a positive mindset, and cultivate a rich and fulfilling life by focusing on what truly matters and implementing small yet powerful changes. Chapters explore how to craft the soul, craft the right mindset, craft the right environment, craft good habits, rediscover your creative mojo, and maintain momentum, with each section offering exercises for taking your creative practice to the next level. For anyone who has felt disconnected from their creativity or has had trouble saving a space for their passions, Craft a Life You Love will teach you how to make time for creativity each and every day.

The Happiness Project

The Happiness Project
Author: Gretchen Rubin
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2012-06-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1443418196

What if you could change your life--without changing your life? Gretchen had a good marriage, two healthy daughters, and work she loved--but one day, stuck on a city bus, she realized that time was flashing by, and she wasn’t thinking enough about the things that really mattered. “I should have a happiness project,” she decided. She spent the next year test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Each month, she pursued a different set of resolutions: go to sleep earlier, quit nagging, forget about results, or take time to be silly. Bit by bit, she began to appreciate and amplify the happiness that already existed in her life. Written with humour and insight, Gretchen’s story will inspire you to start your own happiness project. Now in a beautiful, expanded edition, Gretchen offers a wealth of new material including happiness paradoxes and practical tips on many daily matters: being a more light-hearted parent, sticking to a fitness routine, getting your sweetheart to do chores without nagging, coping when you forget someone’s name and more.

3 Minute Happiness Journal

3 Minute Happiness Journal
Author: Kristen Butler
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2023-06-06
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1737970473

From the author of the hugely popular 3 Minute Positivity Journal, an all-new journal with more prompts, affirmations, and ways to boost your mood in just minutes a day. Kristen Butler created her original, hugely popular 3 Minute Positivity Journal to share the tools, mindset strategies, and habits that helped her go from depressed and broke—literally broken—to happy, thriving, and whole. Now, Kristen—the founder of the online community Power of Positivity, more than 50 million strong—returns with more unique prompts, affirmations, and ways to boost your mood and create happy habits in just minutes a day. Even with all the time we spend on our digital devices, the act of using pen and paper to write out our thoughts, feelings, intentions, reflections, goals, and wins carries great power. Kristen’s gentle yet impassioned guidance helps you tap into that power to boost your mood and change your life, using simple, small, repeated actions to change your life for good. These are the same habits she used to transform her life into the life of her dreams. This journal starts with a practical and inspiring user’s guide and then moves into quick, yet powerful daily entries—only 3 minutes in the morning and 3 minutes in the evening—to set you up for a more joy-filled life every single day. And because leading research reveals it takes 66 days to form a lifelong habit, it includes a full 90 days of prompts and exercises, so you can build a solid foundation for your new happiness routine. You don’t have to spend a decade building an empowering self-care routine through trial and error like Kristen did. With fresh, daily inspiration and done-for-you “check-ins,” all you have to do is show up each day and watch your life transform. Happiness is only a few daily habits away!

A New Stoicism

A New Stoicism
Author: Lawrence C. Becker
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1400888387

What would stoic ethics be like today if stoicism had survived as a systematic approach to ethical theory, if it had coped successfully with the challenges of modern philosophy and experimental science? A New Stoicism proposes an answer to that question, offered from within the stoic tradition but without the metaphysical and psychological assumptions that modern philosophy and science have abandoned. Lawrence Becker argues that a secular version of the stoic ethical project, based on contemporary cosmology and developmental psychology, provides the basis for a sophisticated form of ethical naturalism, in which virtually all the hard doctrines of the ancient Stoics can be clearly restated and defended. Becker argues, in keeping with the ancients, that virtue is one thing, not many; that it, and not happiness, is the proper end of all activity; that it alone is good, all other things being merely rank-ordered relative to each other for the sake of the good; and that virtue is sufficient for happiness. Moreover, he rejects the popular caricature of the stoic as a grave figure, emotionally detached and capable mainly of endurance, resignation, and coping with pain. To the contrary, he holds that while stoic sages are able to endure the extremes of human suffering, they do not have to sacrifice joy to have that ability, and he seeks to turn our attention from the familiar, therapeutic part of stoic moral training to a reconsideration of its theoretical foundations.

The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal

The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal
Author: Julia Cameron
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016-11-08
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0143129414

Elegantly repackaged, The Morning Pages Journal is one of The Artist's Way's most effective tools for cultivating creativity, personal growth, and change. Now more compact and featuring spiral binding to make for easier use, these Morning Pages invite you to do three pages daily of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness, which provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand. This daily writing, coupled with the twelve-week program outlined in The Artist's Way, will help you discover and recover your personal creativity, artistic confidence, and productivity. The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal includes an introduction by Julia Cameron, complete instructions on how to use the Morning Pages and benefit fully from their daily use, and inspiring quotations that will guide you through the process.