Quote:
Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
Here's why I reject this so hard: how can you exist without attachments? Without an identity? I mean, sure, you exist as a piece of matter, but you don't even need to be alive to do that. If you are nothing/no one, care about nothing and no one, why bother even being alive?
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I would say in theory you could exist very easily without attachments. And be much happier too. All the things you believe you need to be attached to would still either be there or not be there, regardless of whether you were attached to them or not
Not being attached to something doesn't mean rejecting it or shunning it. It means taking an indifferent attitude to it.
Extreme attachment leads us to define ourselves by possessions or key relationships with others. So you immediately start to consider what would happen if it/they went away - how would I survive? how could I live? and now you're not thinking about that other thing or person - you're thinking of yourself.
I'm not suggesting Stoics are completely non-attached or without ego. Its just helpful to think about those aspects of our lives for some of us.