Father Watson wrote:
You ask quite a few philosophical questions on my Q&A so I thought I'd return the favour.
What personal philosophy do you most identify with? What do you identify with least, or the opposite of what you believe in?
Thanks man.
For my self I really enjoy the stoic philosophy, a great philosophy in which you just deal with the world and how it is and with a focus to pursue self improvement (for the stoics the main avenues of improvement are: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation/temperance).
The whole philosophy is full of many great teachings which in my eyes were ahead of it's time when it started. Lucius annaeus seneca of Rome (born in spain) called for slaves to be treat humanely because we all share the same humanity.
here are some of his quotes:
"There are more things, Lucilius, that frighten us than injure us, and we suffer more in imagination than in reality."
"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.".
Many great leaders were Stoics too, the most famous being Marcus Aurelius, who could attribute his success as a leader to the philosophy he was taught and followed, his book Meditations is a great read if you have the time.
I think why I most identify with it is because I see it as the most practical philosophy, it teaches self improvement and how to deal with challenges in life in a non destructive manner, and it allows for you to understand and control your emotions so that things in life don't ruin your life, it is rare in life that I'm ever upset or sad anymore I enjoy most things in life and the "bad" things that happen to me do not bother me.
“We suffer not from the events in our lives but from our judgement about them.”
― Epictetus.
So with that said I think on the other spectrum the philosophy I identify least is Nihilism as I believe it just set you up to be thoroughly disappointed in life and destroys any chance of self improvement and accountability in your actions because to a nihilist things don't really matter and I pity them