A Guided Exploration of Stoicism
A Guided Exploration of Stoicism
A collaboration With A Stoic for Any Season
The following is a collaboration between Kunga’s Written Radio and Frank Ó'hÁinle from A Stoic for Any Season. I heavily recommend checking out his work (which can be found here),hopefully it serves to be as insightful for you as it is for me.
Frank Ó'hÁinle: The next few posts in this mini-series will consist of a back-and-forth discussion between us on Stoicism’s general concepts alongside more in-depth points that pique our interest. This discourse has caused me to engage in further introspection and analysis of the philosophy I try to embody in my everyday life. So I hope you enjoy it and look forward to collaborating further with the KWR in the future. In the meantime brew yourself a cup of coffee, survive the daily commute, or just flick through the first in our upcoming mini-series on Stoicism.
KWR: How would you describe stoicism’s central tenets to someone who has never heard of it?
Frank Ó'hÁinle: Stoicism as a philosophy has been in existence since being founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in circa 300 B.C.E. Throughout this time there have been various interpretations of Stoicism right up to the Modern Stoicism movement of which I am an adherent. However, the core principles and doctrine of Stoicism have stayed the same despite almost 2000 years of thought on the issues raised by the Stoics. The core tenets therefore would be as follows:
(1) To accept what is beyond your control
The most famous of all Stoic practices and the crux of most people’s practice of Stoicism in the modern day. The locus of control as it is called, asks people to separate events into two different categories; what I can control and what I cannot control. If you can exercise a degree of control by taking action then you should do so and cease worrying about the event.
A simple example would be a task we have been putting off i.e. work, study, exercise and we begin to worry due to our inaction or procrastination. The individual in question should take action over the points they can control i.e. start studying for the exam, begin the task at work they are dreading, or start training for the marathon. As long as we can exercise control we should do so, it is through our inaction that we worry, and when we begin to take control and exercise our will upon circumstances we realize just how foolish we were to worry in the first place.
Turning to things we cannot control, there is simply no point in worrying to begin with. The event will progress whether we worry or not and we cannot do anything to change this. Therefore we should ask what is the point of worrying in the first place, we are merely robbing ourselves of our enjoyment of the present, with imagined fears of what may or may not come.
(2) To live life according to nature
Now I know what you’re thinking that I’m advocating for you to become climate activists with this one. However, this point differs substantially from saving the Great Barrier Reef.
We are all of us rational and social creatures who make up a part of a greater whole. We are all therefore connected to a universal nature, we should therefore act in accordance with this nature. We should participate in public life, working and striving to better not only ourselves but also the lives of those around us. As long as we stick to that inner purpose working dutifully towards its attainment nothing can happen to us that is not dictated by nature to occur.
This includes accepting the cyclical nature of life and death, not clinging to status or material possessions, and instead striving to live a simple and virtuous life.
(3) Happiness comes through virtue alone
The Stoics believed in a concept which they referred to as Arete or excellence. This was not just excellence in a given field lets say sports or academics, but overall excellence. This term remains tied in with the concept of virtue and under this umbrella falls the terms phronesis or wisdom, sophrosune or self-control, dikaiosune or justice, and andreia or bravery.
To live a virtuous life is the only way to achieve happiness, so we should align our thoughts, beliefs, decisions, and actions in such a way as to practice virtue in all that we do. If we live well, we bring joy not only into our own lives but also the lives of others and as the Stoics believed living well is the only true guarantee of being able to die well.
(4) We are all of us born with the tools necessary to create a virtuous life
A virtue that is capable of being practiced by one man is also available to all men. Therefore the excellence that we view in others lies within our power to achieve, as those who have come before us have evidenced to us. Stoicism has always been an egalitarian philosophy, as evidenced by two of its main adherents Marcus Aurelius the Emperor and Epictetus the slave both being able to live virtuous lives. Although it may be daunting to begin your practice of Stoicism, it is worth remembering that despite the fact we may never become Stoic sages, we are still capable of attaining this feat just by virtue of the fact we are members of the human race who continuously strive to be live a virtuous life.
(5) The elimination of toxic emotions
Stoicism is often misunderstood, as people believe that it calls for the elimination of all emotions, however, this is lowercase stoicism and more closely approximates the stiff upper lip of the British. Rather the Stoics believe that it is vital to eliminate toxic emotions and reach a state known as Apatheia. These emotions include hate, anger, and envy, which serve no true purpose within the virtuous life. Rather we must respond rationally in any given circumstances, analyzing issues and events as they arise. From there our responses will be tempered by Stoic thought, appropriate for the situation we find ourselves in and provide a healthy reaction to what lies ahead of us.
(6) A unified rational self
We must each design our own lives and find harmony between our individual and universal nature, which ties into the tenet of living life in accordance with nature. It is up to us alone to dictate our course of action and to engage in a virtuous life. We cannot be divided against ourselves, nor can we lay the blame at the feet of any other, as Heraclitus once put it, “Character is Fate”.
(7) We are all part of a greater whole
The individualistic viewpoint predicated by the modern world’s obsession with capitalism is truly at odds with the Stoic viewpoint. Each of our lives is interconnected and the concerns of others no matter how distant they may seem play upon our own lives. To lose sight of our place in this greater whole is to lose sight of what makes us Stoics and what makes us humans. In this way, Stoicism mirrors the teachings of the bible, that we should treat others as we would like to be treated. Likewise, we should not dismiss the issues that affect our world and those within it as distant and unimportant, rather the issues of our comrades are also ours as part of this greater whole.
(8) Self-improvement should not be individualistic
Self-improvement should not be engaged with purely based on our self-interest. We improve ourselves through living a virtuous life, not purely for the sake of self-improvement but rather because we make the lives of those around us better through this process. It is within our nature to work with and for others. To do elsewise and focus on ourselves purely for selfish reasons means that we miss the point of being Stoics and rational beings bound up as a part of a greater whole. For what man is a man who does not make the world better, as Balian of Ibellin stated in one of my favorite films Kingdom of Heaven.
(9) Progress is the key, not perfection
Our lives should be bound up in the act of continuous improvement, though we may never get to the end goal that we have set for ourselves the journey is what truly matters. We do our duty irrespective of obstacles or difficulties, though we may fail and falter while there is life there is an opportunity for us to be better. Keep moving, keep fighting and day by day, hour by hour you will be better and make the world better in the process.
So ends the first of our collaborations I hope you have enjoyed, there is much more to come- let us know if there’s any angle that you might want covered!
That’s all from us for now, but stay tuned for future broadcasts,
This has been Kunga’s Written Radio and A Stoic for Any Season,
 | A guest post by
|