[sourtrident]

Funny how Silicon Valley and ancient Rome both use Stoicism to justify ambition rather than avoid it. Sort of reminds me of yoga retreats for CEOs - I mean, mastering inner peace while negotiating billion-dollar deals feels suspiciously like having your philosophical cake and eating it too.

[nine_k]

Japanese medieval samurai studied zen for the same reason: it gives you the peace of mind, the skill of concentration, and the contact with yourself that help noticeably when you don't have time to contemplate, as in a sword fight. (May have other benefits, too, but this seemed to be the evolutionary selection driver.)

[sdwr]

If you are average, your thinking and emotional processing are basically done for you - you have tons of examples of people dealing with every challenge you face (in media, in your immediate surroundings).

The people who need those internal resources are the people on the edges of the bell curve - those with no control, and those with (ostensibly) tons of control.