1.12.24 Oikeiôsis

that's a hard word to remember how to spell... oikeiosis is like one of the main or core ideas (or, closely related to) of stoicism/stoic philosophy that i guess helps understand our priorities and our connections to the world and the people in ours. below is a drawing i made of the circle of compassion - very common picture to see when your looking at oikeiosis..obviously 'modernized' or 'reimagined' because im pretty sure nowadays most people whod know what oikeiosis is wouldnt be in a tribe and whatnot. just certain words and stuff.

stoicism itself (founded in the ancient agora of athens by zeno of citium somewhere near 300 BCE. ) is the belief that the point of living, purpose of life (and the practice of virtue) is to perfect the soul and to achieve eudaimonia which is a well lived life. mainly in ancient greece and ancient rome if you couldnt guess by the name. back to the mention of virtue, the stoics practiced the four cardinal virtues everyday of their lives to achieve..well as mentioned, eudaimonia. and theyre known to preach/teach that virtue is the only good for humans while external or material things..are neither good nor bad in themselves, but are for 'virtue to act upon'

so back to the main idea, oikeiosis, back to the first paragraph where its basically that..its a way we can learn to understand things, grow empathy and compassion for others, what we prioritize, ect. the stoics used this to grow morally, and it was part of what it even meant. of course it begins with caring for yourself, as humans we have the tendency to put ourselves first and make sure we get the best. and also, this goes a bit in 'stages' i suppose so there, that was the first stage. and now to the next one..caring for the people around us. our family mainly, but friends too. again..as humans, were not only inclined to care for ourselves but for the people we obviously *care* about and love. as we grow we can think more sensibly and rationally, so our care grows onto (or expands) to other people. with more social connections, obviously this leads to more than family, but to friends, classmates, countrymen, neighbors (of our land, cities, countries, ect.) and more. and now to the third, oikeiosis grows into a recognition of our place within the cosmos..meaning that we understand that our person is part of something more and larger, promoting 'a life of virtue' and harmonizing with nature, ect.

oikeiosis (as in the term) originates from a greek word 'οἰκείωσις' which can be translated to multiple things, such as 'natural affection' or 'affinity.' or, oikos which is words such as 'household' or 'family.'