Pyrrho: Part Two

Matthew Bennett

Section 6

Blog Post 2

Pyrrho: Part Two

            If all of humanity followed Pyrrho’s philosophy on life, never trusted their senses, and always doubted everything then there probably wouldn’t be that many of us left. He was fortunate enough to have friends by his side to always save him from any real harm. So, if we all took his advice there wouldn’t be anyone around to save us from ourselves and whatever trouble we found ourselves in. Our instincts may not be completely reliable, but we shouldn’t just ignore them. Being sceptical is part of philosophy. Pyrrho just happened to take it to an extreme level. More modern day sceptics use this to try to get closer to the truths in this world and find out what we do or do not know about life. I firmly believe that to a certain extent we should all be just a little bit sceptical of certain things throughout our lives. But, I definitely would never suggest taking it anywhere near as far as Pyrrho did to where a team of friends need to watch your back at all hours of the day.

           As of right now I can’t say that I have one single favorite philosopher. However, I have found a philosophy on life that I do share with Epictetus. Epictetus is a very well-known Stoic. Being a Stoic is recognizing that we are responsible for what we think and feel. We are the ones that choose how to respond to situations that occur in our daily lives. If something is happening that is out of your control there is no need to worry or fuss over it. It’s all about keeping a calm state of mind and accepting the things that you cannot change and moving on from there without letting it all affect you. The way a person feels after something happens to them or a loved one is completely up to them. Emotions can get in our way and distract us from achieving what we desire.

            My own personal experiences that have led me to a similar way of handling situations come from the time I spent in the United States Marine Corps. Early on in my enlistment I learned that no matter what I did I was not able to change certain things to make them easier on myself and others. I also learned that it was more harmful to me and the Marines around me to allow myself to be mentally frustrated over these things. So, I had to find a way to shut down my mind, and still be able to react to certain situations and scenarios without letting any of my emotions come into play. This new way of thinking took some getting used to, but with the high amount of stressful situations I was in while being deployed, or training, I was able to adapt rather quickly to it. I see it now as easy as flipping a switch. In some cases, emotions are important and should be shown. But, whenever something has happened that I can’t control I am able to flip that switch and not be bothered by anything emotionally. It is a difficult thing to explain and I understand that a lot of people are not able to achieve this kind of mind set. It has helped me overcome very stressful moments of my life that include life-or-death situations, a run of bad luck, and everything else that is out of my control. It is important though to never completely shut out your emotions altogether because then you’d just be a mindless robot that didn’t feel anything emotionally.

First Installment- http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2 016/04/pyrrho.html