Stoicism orbits around the fact that life is complicated. Stoicism is about suffering and misfortune without showing it or letting it drag you down. Stoicism is about being calm without any emotion. A stoic doesn’t show what he or she is feeling and accepts what is happening.
what need is there to weep over parts of life, the whole of it calls for tears
Seneca
The idea centers around those who have cultivated self-control and virtue to bring positive change in others. Many great people were influenced or inspired by stoicism. For example, Tim Ferris, Simon Sinek, and even Nelson Mandela.
Mandela was greatly inspired by the writings of Marcus Aurelius. The latter was one of the most extraordinary emperors of ancient Rome. While Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for fighting for racial equality in South Africa, he was able to find a lot of guidance and comfort in the writings of Aurelius.
Modern-day Stoicism can help us
There are two different aspects of stoicism that can help us. The first one is anxiety. When you are anxious about something, some people want to cheer you up and tell you that everything will be alright. A stoic hates this approach because it gives us false hope and disrupts our inner peace. They believe that hope will lift you up higher but eventually hurts you even more in the process. Marcus Aurelius wrote a remarkable and eye-opening book about this and is considered one of the fathers of stoicism. He lost a lot in his life and was able to remain positive.
Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life
Marcus Aurelius
A stoic darkly reframes anxiety. It might be horrible. I might get fired or end up going to prison. But we will be okay. ‘We are each of us stronger than we think,’ Aurelius implied. One will get through it. Seneca’s rather dark but clear statement was that if there really is no other way out, suicide is always an option.
Can you no longer see a read to freedom? It’s right in front of you. You only need to turn over your wrists.
Seneca
The four Cardinal Virtues
The four cardinal virtues of stoicism are there to improve oneself. The Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas adopted the four stoicism virtues in Natural Law Theory as ‘essential goods. Aquinas added three more to his beliefs: Faith, charity, and hope. Therefore, it is focused on virtue. The name implies four cardinal virtues: wisdom, temperance, justice, and courage.
I Wisdom
To be wise is the quality of having experience. For instance, it allows one to judge with a good sense and to have prior knowledge. Practical wisdom is the ability to navigate through complex situations in a logical and calm manner.
II Temperance
Temperance is being able to control yourself. Stoicism describes it as an exercise of self-restraint and moderation in all aspects of life. The Bible says that whoever is slow to anger has a great understanding.
III Justice
justice is treating others with fairness even when they have done something wrong. It is a concern for genuine respect for people. Therefore, it is the quality of being just: equitableness, righteousness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.
IV Courage
We are struggling every day with challenges. We must strive for clarity and integrity while solving or dealing with these problems. According to stoicism, having courage is strength in the face of pain and grief. To withstand it without difficulty.
Zeno of Cyprus: the Stoic foundation
Once there was a wealthy merchant whose ship got destroyed which was filled with supplies. His man’s name was Zeno. At that moment, Zeno had lost everything. This happens in Athene around 300 bc. The first thing Zeno did was walk into a bookshop and his eyes fell on a book by Socrates. He asked the shopkeeper where he could find one of these ‘philosophers’ and he was on his way.
The origin of Stoicism
After a few years, Zeno started his own ideology and educated his own student about his findings on ‘stoicism.’ This ideology includes virtue tolerance, self-control, and remaining calm under pressure. Stoicism isn’t about creating an ideal society but rather o how to cope with it. He believed that every action is within a web of cause and effects, which are jumbled together in a web of consequences. Zeno called this: ‘logos.’
Epictetus: A Remarkable influencer of Stoicism
Epictetus was an enslaved person who was a significant influencer of stoicism. We should value a calm mind. For instance, can achieve this by the way we think. One shouldn’t force himself and instead start by acknowledging and watching your own judgment. We should not be distressed by things that we simply cannot control. Therefore, we should focus less on things outside of our control. What happens around us is not essential. What is important is how we deal with it. Therefore, we should focus on our own thoughts.
We suffer not from the events in our lives, but from our judgement about them!
Epictetus
If you want to know more about how you can beat your SWS, see this article: ‘Sine Wave Syndrome‘. above is a summary of all different types of philosophies if you want to learn all about them. Knowing all kinds of philosophy may aid you to enhance your ability to solve problems, can help you to improve your communication skill, persuasive powers, and writing skills. Knowing different ways of thinking helps you to relate to something in your life which provides you some sort of clarity that will make you feel better overall.