stoicism - alive why

stoicism

philosophers and many others
have long argued the merits of stoicism
but the practice is not easy
and even more difficult if the reason for stoicism is vague

one simple, obvious reason for stoicism is that it results in a better outcome
but proving this is not so easy

but "reason", as in the reason for stoicism
the same as the question "why?" ,
has two components
one is the origin
and the other is the purpose or outcome
the origins of stoicism so far provided miss the point
if they have ever been discussed

the origin for stoicism is that
the alternative to stoicism,
being non stoic or hysterical,
involves submitting to the directives
of an ancient dna survival programme,
so stoicism is to avoid being subject to an old dna programme

dna provides multiple paths to contentment
but leaves us to choose the direction and speed of the paths we will use
this leaves the possibility of choosing paths and speeds
that conflict with eachother

these conflicts are of two types

one, where our path or speed chosen interferes with the paths of others
and the other:
where we have two paths for ourselves
but these paths conflict with eachother

(for most of us our contentment relies partly
on those around us also being content.
so, alongside our own contentment we want others to be content)

with multiple paths every day
and good intentions often behind them,
eg looking after friends or children,
the sense of urgency and confusion can overwhelm.

when paths conflict it ends that
we can feel confusion in choosing and thus discontent
and if at least one of the paths has failed
our innate setup is to feel discontent at one failure

knowing that the source of all these drives
is powered by dna's mandate for survival

gives the real and indisputable reason
why not to become overwhelmed.

dna has not yet reached, by selection,
the level of our development,
where we  are innately able to mediate all emotion
(and maybe selection is not moving that way at all)

all emotion is inevitably directly related
to the desire for contentment
and the avoidance therefore of discontent

it is innately in our neural networks
that we are not always successful
in managing emotions.
that is: emotions are dominant,
when we sense failure at reaching contentment we despair:
our desire for contentment is ruthless
this has worked and been chosen by survival.

the fact that  various members of present and past human cohorts
suffer(ed) from these conflicting paths to contentment
with the resultant high risk of failure
and this then results in:
suffering
mental illness
drug abuse
and crime,
which are dna's punishments for not reaching goals
has not been enough to select this problem out
by  non survival
just because various members of the cohort suffer
from failing to reach contentment
and then either suffer or become mentally ill, drug abusers or criminals'
does not stop the survival of dna.
many from all these groups procreate very successfully.

nor do these problems stop the search for contentment
in fact they probably make the search more powerful
because there is a greater sense of desperation
which is helpful for dna survival

the final point that cements the issue is
this neural system is what has survived

it is one where emotions are dominant,
and the ability to be able to mediate emotions is minimal

dominance, durability and inscrutability are the characteristics
needed for a survival programme.

selection may solve this as humans come to see how dna
uses emotions as  a brilliant, human control programme.

brilliant especially in as much as most humans are
blissfully (?) or otherwise unaware of this

the knowledge that a dominant, inscrutable, durable
neural programme bent on survival of dna
(and which has inbuilt, inevitable glitches that cause serious problems)
is what ordains all emotions
and therefore ordains all thought, words and deeds by all humans
makes it reasonable to understand and forgive
the failings of ourselves and others in managing emotions.

that is what the forgiveness of religion is intended to address.
the above approach explains it in a method based on fact