Stoicism | PHILOSOPHY

The Stoic Philosophy:

Stoicism, a school of thought that flourished in Greek and Roman history of Classical antiquity. It was one of the loftiest and most sublime philosophies in the record of Western civilization. In urging participation in human affairs, Stoics have always believed that the goal of all inquiry is to provide a mode of conduct characterized by tranquility of mind and certainty of moral worth.

Modern Stoicism has a major misconception that Stoics are supposed to indifferent or apathetic to whatever happens. That is grossly incorrect as Stoics are allowed to feel, just that they do not allow their emotions and passions to get the better of them.

There is also a misconception that Stoics are supposed to take all incoming abuse and bullying without complaint or retaliation. That is also incorrect as Stoics uphold 4 virtues known as the 4 Cardinal Virtues.

The 4 Stoic Cardinal Virtues:

Wisdom: The ability to discern right & wrong, good & evil, wholesome & unwholesome. And to use the intellect & knowledge for the betterment of the world.
Courage: The ability to act righteously, even in times of fear. Even when facing death.
Justice: The ability to stand up for righteousness, regardless of the status & power of the oppressor. To act in a fair & just manner, even if the situation is to your disadvantage.
Temperance: The discipline of the mind, not allowing the emotions & passions to get the better of them. Enjoy pleasures, but not indulge in pleasures.

Famous Stoic Philosophers:

Zeno of Citium (334-262 BCE)
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65 CE)
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121- 180 CE)
Epictetus (50-135 CE)

Zeno of Citium (334-262 BCE)

A Greek philosopher who founded the Stoic school of philosophy in Athens around 300 BCE.
He was a student of the Cynic philosopher Crates of Thebes.
Taught in Athens from about 300 BCE.
Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in accordance with nature. It proved very popular, and flourished as one of the major schools of philosophy from the Hellenistic period through to the Roman era, and enjoyed revivals in the Renaissance as Neostoicism and in the current era as Modern Stoicism.
Following the ideas of the Old Academy, Zeno divided philosophy into three parts: logic (a wide subject including rhetoric, grammar, and the theories of perception and thought); physics (not just science, but the divine nature of the universe as well); and ethics, the end goal of which was to achieve eudaimonia through the right way of living according to Nature.

Quotes by Zeno:

The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature.
All things are parts of one single system, which is called nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with nature.
The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature as well as that of the universe.
Why, then, seeing that the universe gives birth to beings that are animate and wise, should it not be considered animate and wise itself?
Wellbeing is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.
Happiness is a good flow of life.
It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.
Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on.
Man conquers the world by conquering himself.
Extravagance is its own destroyer.

Key Takeaways From Zeno:

Accept Reality As It Is

The rational order of nature and that it was useless to go against it. By dealing with what’s in front of you right now and accepting it, you’ll feel more in control of your life.

Practice Self-Control

The best way to deal with adversities was to stay calm and composed. He believed in reason and logic as ideal paths to a smoother life. By better understanding your emotions and yourself, you’ll achieve inner peace.

Expect Less

Expectations lead to misery. He trusted nature. He believed that everything that happened was as it was supposed to be. So, by staying alert yet relaxed, you’ll avoid unnecessary disappointments.

Keep Happiness Simple

Happiness is the goal of life. And to achieve happiness, it’s important to be in harmony with whatever happens and with ourselves. Remember: “Happiness is a good flow of life.”

Do What Is Right, Not What Is Popular

Living with virtue (courage, temperance, justice, wisdom) was enough to be happy. All other external things were distractions. So keep your eyes on what’s right and do it. Avoid drama. Avoid following the crowd.

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65 CE)

A Roman philosopher, a statesman, dramatist, and in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Born in Colonia Patricia Corduba in Hispania, and was trained in rhetoric and philosophy in Rome.
In AD 41, Seneca was exiled to the island of Corsica under emperor Claudius, but was allowed to return in 49 to become a tutor to Nero. When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca became his advisor and, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, provided competent government for the first five years of Nero's reign.
Seneca's influence over Nero declined with time, and in 65 Seneca was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, of which he was probably innocent.
His stoic and calm suicide has become the subject of numerous paintings.
As "a major philosophical figure of the Roman Imperial Period", Seneca's lasting contribution to philosophy has been to the school of Stoicism. His writing is highly accessible and was the subject of attention from the Renaissance onwards by writers such as Michel de Montaigne. He has been described as “a towering and controversial figure of antiquity” and “the world’s most interesting Stoic”.
Seneca wrote a number of books on Stoicism, mostly on ethics, with one work (Naturales Quaestiones) on the physical world. Seneca built on the writings of many of the earlier Stoics: he often mentions Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus; and frequently cites Posidonius, with whom Seneca shared an interest in natural phenomena. He frequently quotes Epicurus, especially in his Letters. His interest in Epicurus is mainly limited to using him as a source of ethical maxims. Likewise Seneca shows some interest in Platonist metaphysics, but never with any clear commitment. His moral essays are based on Stoic doctrines. Stoicism was a popular philosophy in this period, and many upper-class Romans found in it a guiding ethical framework for political involvement. It was once popular to regard Seneca as being very eclectic in his Stoicism, but modern scholarship views him as a fairly orthodox Stoic, albeit a free-minded one.

Quotes by Seneca:

If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of Philosophy. For the very service of Philosophy is freedom.
And what is freedom, you ask? It means not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance.
Philosophy, however, is the only power that can stir us, the only power that can shake off our deep slumber. Devote yourself wholly to philosophy.
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
The wise man is sufficient unto himself for a happy existence.
No man was ever wise by chance.
If you don't know, ask. You will be a fool for the moment, but a wise man for the rest of your life.
Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve.
The effect of wisdom is a joy that is unbroken and continuous.
A good conscience welcomes the crowd, but a bad conscience, even in solitude, is disturbed and troubled.
He who does not prevent a crime, when he can, encourages it.
We should not, like sheep, follow the herd of creatures in front of us, making our way where others go, not where we ought to go.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
Man is affected not by events but by the view he takes of them.
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution.
We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
It is better to conquer our grief than to deceive it.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.
We die every day. For every day a little of our life is taken from us; even when we are growing, our life is on the wane.
Death has its fixed rule—equitable and unavoidable. Who can complain when he is governed by terms which include everyone?

Epictetus (50-135 CE)

A Greek philosopher.
Born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he spent the rest of his life.
His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion.
Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not simply a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; he argues that we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.

Quotes by Epictetus:

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.
You become what you give your attention to.
Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind.
First, learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don’t act right, shun the action.
Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.
Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.
Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.
Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions.
A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.
Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself.
Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
In prosperity, it is very easy to find a friend; but in adversity, it is the most difficult of all things.
When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”
If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, “He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.
Try not to react merely in the moment. Pull back from the situation. Take a wider view. Compose yourself.
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.
It is a universal law — have no illusion — that every creature alive is attached to nothing so much as to its own self-interest.
A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off.
It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.”
It is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.

Key Takeaways From Epictetus:

The foundation of all philosophy is self-knowledge; that is, the conviction of our ignorance and gullibility ought to be the first subject of our study.
Philosophy is a way of life and not simply a theoretical discipline.
All external events are beyond our control; we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately.
However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.

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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121- 180 CE)

A Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher.
A member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD.
He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

Quotes by Marcus Aurelius:

The first step: Don’t be anxious. Nature controls it all.
He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.
The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly. And be patient with those who don’t.
Someone despises me. That’s their problem. Mine: not to do or say anything despicable.
It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.
You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.
Our life is what our thoughts make it.
Our lives are short. The only rewards of our existence here are an unstained character and unselfish acts.
If it’s not right, don’t do it. If it’s not true, don’t say it.
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
Your responsibilities can be broken down into individual parts as well. Concentrate on those, and finish the job methodically—without getting stirred up or meeting anger with anger.
Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
You’re subject to sorrow, fear, jealousy, anger and inconsistency. That’s the real reason you should admit that you are not wise.
Receive without pride, let go without attachment.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.
When you have assumed these names; good, modest, truthful, rational, a man of equanimity, and magnanimous, take care that you do not change these names; and if you should lose them, quickly return to them.
External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.
Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions.
Stay calm and serene regardless of what life throws at you.
I can control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What is outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand firm.
It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it—not shattered by the present or frightened of the future.
Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.
Everything’s destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So that new things can be born.
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
The world is maintained by change – in the elements and in the things they compose. That should be enough for you; treat it as an axiom.
It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.
It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgement concerning them.
Objective judgement, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance, now, at this very moment of all external events. That’s all you need.
Not to display anger or other emotions. To be free of passion and yet full of love.
A man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.
Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.
Often injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.

Key Takeaways From Marcus Aurelius:

Perception and Reality

“External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.” Our understanding of the world is shaped by our perceptions and biases. By recognizing this, we can approach situations with a clearer mind and less judgment. For instance, in modern life, interpreting a colleague’s critique as constructive feedback rather than personal criticism can foster better relationships and growth.

Control Over Reactions

“Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions.” The Stoics emphasize that while we cannot control external events, we can control our reactions to them. This principle can be applied in daily life when dealing with stressors such as traffic jams or unexpected setbacks. By focusing on our response, we maintain inner peace.

Self-Improvement Over Criticism

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” Before criticizing others, it’s crucial to reflect on our own shortcomings. This introspection fosters personal growth and cultivates empathy. For example, in team projects, focusing on improving one’s contributions can be more productive than blaming others for mistakes.

The Power Of Kindness

“Kindness is invincible, provided it’s sincere—not ironic or an act.” Practicing genuine kindness can disarm hostility and build stronger connections. In today’s social media era, where negative interactions are common, responding with kindness and understanding can defuse conflicts and create a more positive environment.

Detachment From Opinions

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” Self-worth should come from within rather than from external validation. In modern life, this can be applied by not letting social media likes or comments dictate our self-esteem, focusing instead on our values and actions.

Resilience In Adversity

“Be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.” Preparing mentally for challenges helps us face them with resilience. This mindset is particularly useful in customer service roles, where encountering difficult customers can be anticipated and handled with patience and professionalism.

Freedom From Anger

“So other people hurt me? That’s their problem. Their character and actions are not mine.” Maintaining control over our emotions, especially anger, ensures that we remain the masters of our own minds. This can be applied in situations like heated debates or arguments, where staying calm and composed allows for more rational and effective communication.