Scan barcode
A review by drewmiller_
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman
4.0
Stoicism, Buddhism, and negative capability, several different worlds of philosophy, all reflect a realistic, accepting perspective that lead to a benign relationship to one's existence. From Epictetus to Tolle, those who have declined to chase happiness are those that find it. Embrace uncertainty, mortality, and helplessness, and you will truly overcome the trap of desire.
Martha Nussbaum, on philosophical uncertainty: "To be good human, is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control, that can lead you to be shattered in very extreme circumstances for which you were not to blame. That says something very important about the ethical life: that it is based on a trust in the uncertainty, and on a willingness to be exposed. It's based on being more like a plant than a jewel: sometimes rather fragile, but whose very particular beauty is inseparable from that fragility."
Martha Nussbaum, on philosophical uncertainty: "To be good human, is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control, that can lead you to be shattered in very extreme circumstances for which you were not to blame. That says something very important about the ethical life: that it is based on a trust in the uncertainty, and on a willingness to be exposed. It's based on being more like a plant than a jewel: sometimes rather fragile, but whose very particular beauty is inseparable from that fragility."