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What is Stoic Philosophy?
A quick introduction to a virtuous life.
At face value, Stoic philosophy (or Stoicism) is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens, Greece in the early 3rd century BC. I could be incredibly academic and state that it is a philosophy of personal ethics which is informed by a system of logic in relation to its views on the natural world, but that simply makes Stoicism sound like the same big, broad set of ideas that tends to keep others away from the realm of philosophy in general. So let’s keep things simple: Stoicism, in simpler terms, is the process of meditating on your emotions prior to acting on them.
Anger
Do you ever find yourself in the middle of rush hour traffic? Maybe you’ve been cut off by a vehicle who failed to use a turn signal for the third time. Maybe you had the pleasure of running into the third red light in a row. What is your typical reaction to this? Do you scream expletives at the top of your lungs? Do you nod your head and sigh in disappointment? Or more dangerously, maybe you become passive aggressive towards your spouse or children in the vehicle with you.
Now let’s take a look at social media. How do you feel when you read an opposing view to yours under a Facebook article? If you make a well-written statement under an Instagram post and receive a reply that personally attacks you, how do you react? Do you immediately feel the fire of rage light in your belly? Are you able to control this rage, or do you fall victim to it as you reply with as much venom as you can possibly spew from your fingertips?
Emotions
Emotions are powerful tools. The Stoics knew this as much as we do now. Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher and author of The Enchiridion and Discourses states that “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.” Stoicism is often confused for striving to have the absence of emotions. In reality, Stoic philosophy understands that human emotions are a very real thing. The Stoics teach us meditate on these emotions using a method called mindfulness. To be mindful is, bluntly, living in the present moment rather than the past or future. Understand what you are feeling in the moment. What actions led to the…
