On Stoicism

I have mentioned my devotion to Stoicism and the benefits I find in it for the times we live in, so I thought I should say something more about it. I'll just give a bit of historical background first, 'cause that's how I roll, but my aim is more to talk about what I find in it.

 

Stoicism was founded in the ancient Agora (the public square) of Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BCE. From that start, Stoicism boasts some 700 years of continuous evolution, most importantly in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, Stoic teachers spread the philosophy to Rome where it soon became favored by the aristocracy. It remained predominant among aristocrats and intellectuals of the empire for centuries to come, boasting Cicero and the emperor Marcus Aurelius among its adherents. In what can be called its Roman form, Stoicism placed a heavy emphasis on the practical issue of how best to live a serene and ethical life in a world that seems to militate against such an endeavor. In this, the chief figure is Epictetus (c. 50 – c. 135 CE) whose writings form the body of Stoic philosophy that has come down to us.

We can sum up Epictetus' philosophy in just two simple maxims:

-- Only seek to control those things which are under your control.

-- Nothing external to ourselves is under our control; the only thing under our control is how

    we react to things external to ourselves.

There you have it. What makes us miserable is not the events of our world and life, but rather the destructive emotions we conjure in reaction to those events. Overcoming destructive emotions, "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousies" means realizing that such passions are a disturbing and misleading force in the mind, which occurs because of a failure to reason correctly. Life hasn't been fair to me; whatever made you think that life was supposed to be fair? My boyfriend dumped me; isn't this something that happens all the time around the world--what makes you think you're exempt? I'm sick; you thought you had some sort of guarantee of perpetual health? The president is an idiot; has any society created a safeguard against bad leaders? It is not the events that cause us distress; it is our reaction to them that causes us pain. And our reaction to events is the one thing that IS under our control. Some of you may recognize that some contemporary psychological therapies are built on exactly this principle: the work of Albert Ellis, who developed rational emotive behavior therapy (RET), and Aaron T. Beck who is regarded by many as the father of early versions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and many other works of recovery literature also echo these principles. As the common consolatory adage goes: "It's not the end of the world."
 

It's important to realize that, contrary to the common understanding of the word, a Stoic does not attempt not to feel, indeed the Stoic is expected to have very strong feelings. What the philosophy offers is a way not to be overwhelmed by feelings. 

The Stoics realize that though this sounds simple, it is not easy to accomplish. Indeed, the Stoics believed that perfection in achieving this goal is impossible, and the ancient Stoics referred to themselves simply as "those who are making progress" (you may get a whiff of Buddhism in this; you wouldn't be the first to note similarities). Philosophy for a Stoic is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims; it is a way of life involving constant practice and training, an active process of constant practice and self-reminder. What might be called "spiritual exercises" are required. Epictetus himself wrote a short handbook of meditations for this purpose called the Enchiridion (the Greek word for Handbook). If you're interested in Stoicism, this is a great place to start to familiarize yourself. A very accessible translation is on line at https://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html and there are all sorts of translations and editions on Amazon for only a few bucks. Marcus Aurelius himself also wrote a book of Stoic exercises called the Meditations, also widely available. On Stoicism generally, there's Wikipedia, which has a decent entry; likely better is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/).

 

Hope I didn't bore you too much!