Stoicism Crash Course
If you've heard of Stoicism recently and don't know what it is or know what it is and need a refresher - this is the article for you. Plus some examples of stoics in the modern day.
Born Jewish, surrounded by a world of Christianity, befriending Muslims, exploring atheism and choosing Stoicism. It wasn’t until a close friend of mine said to me, based on a decision I had made, that I was very stoic. Not knowing what this was I didn’t think of it much. Almost a year had passed when I found myself in a bookstore searching for the famed dystopian novel, A Brave New World — Aldous Huxley.
Next to the end-of-the-world section I was browsing in, was philosophy. Maybe strategically placed? The book that caught my eye was the only book that looked different from the rest. It was a hard covered thick black book, black lettering that you could only read with the reflection of the light — Letters from a Stoic — Seneca Recognising the word and really wanting to add this cool looking book to my shelf, I bought it.
On the car ride home I flicked through some pages of Seneca’s book. Short chapters of only a few pages, sometimes only 2 pages per chapter. I read one of the short chapters. So few words. So much wisdom. It was a lot. A lot to think about. A lot to ponder over.
🎂 Wisdom Is Born 🏛️
The name Stoicism originates from the Stoa Poikile where Zeno of Citium and his disciples gathered. Uhh, btw, a stoa is a covered walkway in Greek Architecture. It’s basically a roof supported by a number of columns. Zeno was a wealthy merchant that managed to lose all his goods in a shipwreck near Athens. With nothing to do, he started reading in a local bookshop some work by Socrates. Inspired by this, he further explored philosophy in Athens leading to the creation of Stoicism.
Referring to someone as stoic these days can mean that the person may be able to remain calm under pressure, avoiding emotional extremes. Rather than trying to create or pretend we live in an ideal society, the Stoics will deal with the world as it is. We may not have control over the worldly situations surrounding us, but we can control how we approach these events. Rather than just an attitude towards life and whatever it throws at you, Stoics pursue self improvement through 4 virtues.
Wisdom
Logically navigating complex situations in an informed and calm manner
Temperance
Self restraint, self discipline and self control
“Pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments”
— Seneca“Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realise how unnecessary many things are. We’ve been using them not because we needed them but because we had them”
— Seneca
Justice
Treating others with fairness even when they have done wrong
“What is not good for the beehive, cannot be good for the bees”
— Marcus Aurelius
Courage
The ability to retain strength of character and our morals in the face of the fear and desire not to do so
It’s best to think of each virtue at a time rather than all at once. Philosophy takes a lot of mental power to get through. It’s not something you can learn all at once. Much like any religion, you cannot just read the book once and understand all that it is. That black book that started my Stoic journey is still only half read with plenty of notes covering its pages. I go back and forth reading, learning and re-reading.
💭 Stoics you’ve actually heard of ✍🏼
Nelson Mandela
After 27 years in prison for being born the ‘wrong’ colour and disagreeing with the poor treatment of those around you, you may come out a little pissed off with all that time lost. Putting it into perspective for myself, that’s currently longer than I have been alive. Instead of unleashing havoc on his once oppressors, Nelson Mandela decided to forgive and unite a nation.
Bruh. That’s stoic af!
Whilst Mandela never openly mentioned being stoic, although in my research it was mentioned that a copy of Meditations — Marcus Aurelius was apparently snuck into his cell, he sure did preach stoicism well.
I feel I owe a lot to Mandela. I was very fortunate to grow up being surrounded by so many wonderful cultures. As a skateboarder, I would go to the skatepark and every religion and skin colour would be there. I will soon be back in South Africa and I very much look forward to reconnecting with some of my old friends again.
Theodore Roosevelt
Walking out of the Gilpatrick Hotel en route to giving a speech, Roosevelt was rushed by a fanatic in the crowd who shot him. Fortunately for Roosevelt, the speech he was about to give was a long one and the parchment on which he wrote it was thickly folded and in his overcoat. The bullet was slowed due to the speech and Roosevelt had a few more moments left on this planet. His team rushed to his aid and wanted to get him to a hospital but Roosevelt wouldn’t have it.
Roosevelt insisted on giving his speech instead. Walking onto the the stage, hushing the audience he said,
“I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot — but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”
Roosevelt prepared his whole life for a moment like this. Living for the challenge, he thrived in the midst of them after years of building his body and mind for the occasion.
When we are faced with a situation gone wrong, instead of pulling a 180 and looking for the exit — take a deep breath and say to yourself, “It’s gonna take a whole lot more than that to stop me”. Turn the moment into something others will remember you for and if it’s not that kind of situation, turn it into one where YOU will remember your own bravery.
Viktor Frankl
A family member of mine recently recommended me the book Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor Frankl. The book is a description of life in Nazi death camps and the lessons Frankl was able to pull for his spiritual survival. He argues that the avoidance of suffering is impossible but we can choose how we cope with it, find meaning in it and move forward with renewed purpose.
Logotherapy is based on the stoic principle that we can harness our will-power to fill our lives with meaning even in the most bleak of situations. Frankl’s belief is that humans are motivated by something he called a “will to meaning” — the desire to find meaning in life.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Viktor Frankl
⌛ This Ends Another Article My Friends 🏁
I’ve dedicated this season of my life to finding out a little bit more about myself. Something everyone should do, preferably sooner rather than later — but if you’re like me, later works too! Stoicism has helped me a ton. It’s helped me formulate my thoughts a little more clearly, look into subjects I find interesting, genuinely pursuing things of interest and surrounding myself with people that have the same energy I do.
I am by no means a perfect stoic — not even THE STOICS were perfect stoics. At the end of the day we are just human. We all have flaws and issues. Self development should be our pursuit, with the guidance of whoever and however we think we can best achieve it.
Thanks for reading. If you have any feedback or questions, I would love to hear them in the comments below. Like and subscribe for more! I really hope I have been able to teach you something today, if not — tell me in the comments!
Cheers 🤙