Modern life is lonely – We all need someone to help
Lately I&#x27;ve become more and more convinced that indeed, modern society sucks, or at the very least that I, and people like me, am not well equipped to flourish in it.  I&#x27;m sure some people are though, but I suspect they are becoming the minority.<p>Few days ago I also read Ted Kaczynski&#x27;s essay[1], and it&#x27;s hard for me not to acknowledge how right he is on many points.<p>However, I do believe it is possible to survive all this, and that stoicism is a way.  Kaczynski wrote for instance :<p>&quot;It is true that primitive man is powerless against some of the things that
threaten him; disease for example.  But he can accept the risk of disease
stoically. It is part of the nature of things, it is no one’s fault, unless it
is the fault of some imaginary, impersonal demon. But threats to the modern
individual tend to be MAN-MADE. They are not the results of chance but are
IMPOSED on him by other persons whose decisions he, as an individual, is unable
to influence. Consequently he feels frustrated, humiliated and angry.&quot;<p>Is it not possible for the modern man to accept the drawbacks of modern life, including loneliness, just as stoically as the primitive man was accepting adversity and death?  Whether adversity is man-made or &quot;natural&quot; should not matter for the individual.  From the stoic point of view, in each case it is just an external factor.<p>It seems to me that as long as someone understands what is happening to him, he can make his mind at peace with it, whatever it is.  Was it not after all one of the lessons of Epictetus, that what matters is not so much what happens to us, but how we react to it?  That as long as we are ready for the worst, we can not really be troubled by it?<p>1. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;editions-hache.com&#x2F;essais&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;kaczynski2.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;editions-hache.com&#x2F;essais&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;kaczynski2.pdf</a>