◀ Edito

Stoicism

On June 19, 2023

Are you always complaining about missing your train, not being invited to events or being too sensitive? Then this text isn’t for you if you do not want to think about all that! Four centuries prior to this era, Zénon de Kition created a new school of thought : Stoicism. More than two millenials afterwards, stoicism isn’t exactly the most popular philosophy. In fact, you’ll rarely hear someone call you a stoic without it implying that you’re really weird.

Stoicism boils down to one thing : adding a rational layer between you and the world. Can I be a bit clearer, you ask? Sure ! It means trying to discipline the mind in order to have it focused on nature and, by extension, on virtue. The main impact of this philosophy is to progressively learn how to accept one’s destiny, like something on which we cannot really act.

Let’s imagine you’re going to your usual bus stop. Unfortunately, the bus line has been changed and no longer goes this way (rings a bell?). You might feel angry, anxious at the idea of missing your first class of the day, or whatever. The question is in fact : what could you have done to prevent this from happening? Seems like there isn’t much you could have done, in fact. This outcome isn’t something you had control over, therefore isn’t something you could have avoided, unless if you had had a hunch about it.

And there is something else to take from this philosophy : should you have been afraid that this bus line might be shut down, and therefore chosen to always take the RER instead, which is less likely to be shut down?. You would have been living in fear. Why be afraid of something that hasn’t happened yet and that isn’t a consequence of your actions? That’s what Marcus Aurelius could have asked you. And also, is it even relevant to be mad at yourself for not having chosen the RER that morning? You had been taking that bus for more than a year without anything indicating a shut down. Let’s suppose you missed that information about the line being shut down. What can you do now to prevent this from happening again? Moping actually holds you back, and you don’t do what you should actually do : take the train or walk.

Now, imagine that this bus story is now about failing a test, the end of a love story, a loved one’s death… It’s a lot harder to handle. Is the stoic’s answer to “stop having feelings”? No, that’s when the discipline of the mind comes into play. Stoicism isn’t about one not feeling anything, but about how having this discipline can help alleviate the weight of emotions. Basically, a lot of emotions are fueled by guilt. “Why did I do that?” “Why didn’t I do that?“… All those questions aren’t helping you move on from anything.

The stoic is frank, sincere. As Marcus Aurelius once wrote : “Always run in the short way, and the short way is the natural.”.

The real question that arises when reading stoics is, “But living like that must be boring, right?” And it’s not entirely false when we read, for example, Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations”: “The effects of anger are often more harmful than the causes” or “We should not be upset by events.” In fact, one could easily challenge stoic thinking in light of studies on human thought. Some people are more prone to depression, unable to recover without any stoic thought being able to change that.

Does that mean all this is worthless? No, and in fact, there is a part of stoicism within you. You receive tons of information about wars, murders, injustice in the world, and other things, yet are you devastated every day by the fate of certain humans? Stoicism simply tells you that this ability to dissociate that you possess can also be applied to all events that are beyond your control. It doesn’t mean that what happens to you is not unfortunate. Nevertheless, it is a more satisfying resolution than relativism.