Finding Peace: Blaise Pascal's Philosophical Advice for Anxiety

[@GeneralPedrowsky]

I find Pascal to be an absolute badass. He defends the importance of becoming aware of one's own existential dread while, at the same time, acknowledging how difficult that is, and the importance of engaging with things that take you away from it from time to time. One of my favorite passages from the Pensées: "So we are wrong in blaming them. Their error does not lie in seeking excitement, if they seek it only as a diversion; the evil is that they seek it as if the possession of the objects of their quest would make them really happy. In this respect it is right to call their quest a vain one. Hence in all this both the censurers and the censured do not understand man's true nature".

[@PedroAugusto-xp4tt]

That is great advice and a great video. Other good one is to focus on what you need to do today. This hit me yesterday when I was feeling anxious. I though about that verse in the Sermon of the Mountain: "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble". I though, "well, I have to take care fo today. What do I have to take care of today?". It was late at nigth. All I had to do was pray and sleep. This isn't to hard to manage. So, my anxiety went away.

[@PhilosophyToons]

I gotta reread the sermon, it's nice

[@ivanovski2451]

keep on going man your videos are good and have a real purpose

[@lorenzocapitani8666]

I find that the best thing against anxiety is the virtue RECTITUDE. Once you satisfied rectitude you have satisfied your obbligations and have no further reason to worry. Rectitude destroys anxiety.

[@grayham_and_eggz]

This is a great channel. Stumbled upon it while looking for a video on Hobbes. Appreciated the "No one seems to care" comment about his work apart from "Leviathan" lol! 🤣

[@Christophe_derBerge-op9zh]

Another quality product from AnxietyToons! Not big on Christian philosophy. Eastern philosophy fits me better. That and Stoicism, of course.

[@PhilosophyToons]

As long as it helps you!

[@baiterfish7901]

I'm with you. Christianity has a lot of solutions to the emotional, psychological, and philosophical problems we face. And after so many decades of people criticizing Christianity it's been really interesting to watch in recent years as people discover and talk more about it

[@PhilosophyToons]

I'd say the internet has been both harmful and helfpul in that respect

[@nurfuis]

I was raised Christian, but I find it impossible for me to believe the way many seem to believe. I have studied 25 years and came to some similar realizations. No matter how atheist and skeptical my beliefs that when something seems impossible to endure or overcome, I am grateful for a sense of faith. Sometimes you simply cannot afford to devote any mental energy towards anything other than a positive outcome. As in a survival scenario or something dire. Faith is a super powerful psychotechnology. And then grace or forgiveness. Repentance and penance. It seems inevitable that we will do something that goes against our own personal or community standards. I guess we wouldn't have them if it was simply natural behavior for everyone all the time. It takes faith to accept some of life's circumstances. And grace to forgive us and others. And that by having faith you can rally people around you to protect your groups morale and the more you can forgive yourself and others the more cohesive your group will be. Just that some believers end up going way too far in what personal and group behavior they will forgive. These are great psychotechnologies but when they start to claim moral superiority it becomes a toxic cult and is a dangerous thing indeed. The practices of faith and grace are somewhat universal experiences for humans in this meta experience. Just don't let anyone control your life with it.

[@ourdivinemouseoverlord3308]

I kinda think your videos are much better with music.

[@PhilosophyToons]

Ah man I'm getting conflicting opinions on this, I might have to make a poll.

[@bowswindle8701]

@@PhilosophyToonsno music please:)) If they really want it they can play it in the back ,whereas we can’t turn it off haha

[@nurfuis]

@@PhilosophyToons I didn't notice the presence or absence of music in a way that was worth noting after having watched many of your videos. Whatever way you do it, it seems to be working for me.

[@allisonseamiller]

Pascal was really bad at gambling. He bet everything on a wager with 1/~4000 odds. In Pascal's wager, since there's about 4000 religions, the odds you pick the right one and get the good afterlife are 1/4000.

[@PhilosophyToons]

I have a video on the wager you can check out.

[@allisonseamiller]

@@PhilosophyToons It's a good vid. Still bad odds to pick one of the 4000 religions in hopes the one you picked leads to a good afterlife. Safer to choose what one believes based on verifiable evidence.