Stoic Harmony

The philosophy of Stoicism originated in disaster, as befitting a Weltanschauung that views matters external to the mind, even matters such as material abundance or sudden destitution, as things of negligible worth, at least in comparison to the qualities of the mind, irrespective of how apocalyptic such matters may be for our earthly fortunes. The Stoics would approve of Hamlet’s declaration that “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” One’s perspective determines the view.  This is not to say that the Stoics did not prefer wealth over poverty, or health over illness, for the Stoics believed that virtue was necessary for happiness, and health and wealth can be advantageous in the practice of virtue. Ill health and material poverty exert pressures that can weaken the practice of virtue, particularly the latter when life offers such abundant evidence of those of least virtue prospering and enjoying a life of plenty and privilege. Yet the Stoics believed that not only is virtue necessary for happiness, virtue is sufficient for happiness, and thus so long as one practiced virtue one attained happiness even in the absence of health or in the circumstance of material want.

Zeno of Citium (c.334-c.262 BCE) was the founder of Stoicism, the name of this enduring philosophy deriving from Stoa Poikile, or Painted Porch, the famous site in ancient Athens, and the location from which Zeno taught his philosophy. Zeno, so the story is told, was driven to philosophy by the event of a shipwreck, which redirected him to Athens, and once there, he discovered at a bookshop the work of such philosophers as Xenophon, and thereupon enamored, inquired of where to find the likes of Socrates, and was told to follow Crates of Thebes, who happened to pass by at that moment. He became a pupil of Crates, a Cynic philosopher who gave away all his money and lived in poverty in Athens. Hence out of the disaster of a shipwreck did Stoicism emerge.

Stoicism’s influence has been profound and enduring, and in the present day, Stoicism garners a substantial audience amongst the general public, with many popular books being written whose intent is to capitalize on this present interest, and the internet is home to a substantial number of blogs touting the life-enhancing benefits of Stoic teachings. Stoicism is far richer and more complex than many of these sources suggest, and an immersion in the complexities of Stoic thought, presented in the three main areas of ethics, physics, and logic, requires sustained study, and there are numerous book-length works by philosophers well versed in Stoicism. If one engages with the more serious works on Stoicism, one soon comprehends that Stoicism is far more than this common conception of Stoicism as a philosophy that instructs us to suffer bad fortune without complaint, and desires we fortify ourselves with select Stoic sayings that we might become unconquerable ‘warriors’ and somehow triumph in life.

To grasp the core instruction, the essential view, of Stoicism, then the word harmony serves best this end. The Stoics saw the universe as complex, but harmonious, with the universe existing and operating through a rational principle, an ordering reason that is not a supernatural entity, but can be understood as the harmony of the universe itself. The universe, so deemed the Stoics, is perfection, and is a living thing, and therefore, as a perfect living thing, must itself be god. The great 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza would use the expression Deus sive Natura (God or Nature), for Spinoza’s metaphysics was much influenced by Stoic philosophy, and since he held that there is only one infinite, eternal substance, God and nature are interchangeable. As Spinoza wrote in Book IV of his Ethics, “Nature herself is the power of God under another name, and our ignorance of the power of God is coextensive with our ignorance of Nature.”

The Stoics strove to comprehend the order of the universe, for they held that to achieve virtue one must endeavor to align one’s thought and one’s behavior in accordance with the harmonious ordering of the universe. Human beings are as much a part of nature as any other thing in existence, and whereas humans have the power of reason, then human beings are obligated to employ that reason in comprehending nature and nature’s laws, and in living in accordance with them. And whereas all humans have the power to reason, then all human beings have the capacity to live a blessed life, i.e., a life in harmony with nature. For the Stoics, practicing virtue was how one attained eudaimonia, which is that state of being of human flourishing and a live well-lived, and hence human happiness requires virtue. For the Stoics, practicing virtue required endeavoring to replicate the harmony of the universe within oneself, an effort that requires nothing outside of oneself, and therefore the best life for a human being is available to everyone, irrespective of whether one wallows in material wealth or whether one barely has enough to survive, whether one has the privileges and the power of an emperor, or one endures the indignities and the obligations of a slave. As the Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote, “Nature intended that no great equipment should be necessary for happiness; each of us is in a position to make himself happy” (On the Shortness of Life).

Stoic philosophy is rich and complex, far more so than is represented in the plentiful popular books and numerous blogs championing the many useful life lessons Stoicism might offer to the individual open to the view that a rewarding life is not a life devoted to maximizing physical pleasures. The Stoics did not believe that pleasure, even physical pleasure, was harmful and to be eschewed, but did insist that virtue, and hence wellbeing, not be sacrificed or undermined in the desire for pleasure. The Stoic need not avoid what gives pleasure, but as well must not feel cheated or deprived in its absence. The Stoic should have the exact same attitude and outlook whether pleasure is abundant or pleasure is scarce. Achieving such indifference to all things external is perhaps an impossible attainment for any human being, and indeed Epictetus, the former slave who is now known as one of the great Stoic philosophers, is purported to have said “By the gods, I would love to see a Stoic. But you cannot show me one fully formed.” Why would Epictetus of all persons have made such a declaration? Well, if there were such a being as a fully-formed Stoic, then that individual would be as indifferent to his or her circumstance whether being tortured on the rack or being pampered by beautiful attendants on a tropical beach. Such a being has never existed.

The Stoic is not a stone statue, not an insensate being, and does suffer pain and does feel pleasure. Perhaps encouraged by the expression “he is being stoic”, applied to one displaying no evident sign of suffering or disturbance in a painful or troubling circumstance, it is a misconstrual of Stoicism to understand the Stoic as someone unfeeling or unresponsive, or as one who somehow so suppresses, or is in such control of, his or her reactions to pleasure or to pain that the Stoic is understood as someone less sensitive than the non-Stoic. As Seneca, the ancient Roman (Stoic) philosopher advised, “We remove from there not the sensation of pain but only the name injury, which cannot be sustained with virtue intact” (On the Constancy of the Wise Person, 16.1). What the Stoic does achieve, through the use of reason, is exemption from much of the suffering that results when one misjudges as good what is not, and the disruptions and distortions that occur when one fails to discern unhealthy from healthy passions.
None of us can wholly avoid misfortune, for there is much in life we can little influence, but for the Stoic, we always have control over the most important thing in life, which is our virtue. Our virtue determines our attitude towards the vicissitudes of life, for our virtue, claim the Stoics, depends on our wisdom. The wisdom the Stoics, and other ancient Greek philosophers, honor was practical wisdom, which they called phronesis. Such wisdom enables sound judgment and correct determinations of the proper actions in each situation. Practical wisdom overrides passion, and thereby enables our rendering decisions that not only are right in respect to being most efficacious, but also right morally.

Wisdom is one of the four cardinal virtues championed by the Stoics, the other three being courage, temperance, and justice. For the Stoic, courage is fortitude, for with fortitude, one is capable of enduring life’s “slings and arrows” without drowning in a caustic brew of despair, self-pity, or bitterness. For the Stoic, courage, then, is not an absence of fear but the presence of proper perspective, that is, proper perspective on what is truly harmful and what is not, and this proper perspective enables us to accept with dispassion the circumstances of our fate, when fate cannot be altered. Courage is choosing, no matter the misfortune one suffers, not only to endure with patience what one must, but also to continue to face circumstances with benevolence and with industriousness. Stoicism, it should be understood, is not quietism, and the Stoic is obligated to resiliently engage fully in his or her life, and to do so no matter one’s material and social status, no matter whether one enjoys plenty or one endures deprivation and hardship.

Temperance, or moderation, is a virtue readily associated with Stoicism, for what is moderation but self-control? Indulging excessively one’s appetites, be it for food, for drink, or even for self-criticism or self-pity, is hardly a wise choice, and thoughtful regulation of one’s impulses and cravings, and (as in all matters) using reason as one’s guide, is a surer path to a life well lived than is an undisciplined, intemperate indulgence of what offers immediate satisfaction and pleasure. The Stoic does not, as is commonly assumed, eschew or disparage pleasure, for the Stoic is free to enjoy what pleasure is available, but the Stoic maintains proper perspective on that pleasure, and does not sacrifice virtue to pleasure. Once whatever is providing the pleasure passes on, as all things do, the Stoic does not mourn its loss. Always the Stoic endeavors to be satisfied with what is within his or her reach without sacrifice of virtue.

Justice may not be a concept commonly associated with Stoicism, but in truth, the great Marcus Aurelius judged justice as the highest of the virtues, for without justice, what use the other virtues? To grasp why justice might be viewed by the Stoics as the highest virtue, what the Stoics fully intended by the idea of justice must be understood. For the Stoic, justice was not a term mainly confined to justice under the law, but had a wider application, a community-wide importance, for a sound society requires citizens that act justly to one another. Indeed, Epictetus gave us an early version of the golden rule, for he advised that “what you yourself wish not to suffer, do not cause others to suffer.” Justice, then, is inseparable from virtue.

An essential idea from Stoicism is that it is the individual who determines what is of value in life, it is the individual who must render moral judgments, and by these judgments determine the quality of a society. It is the use of reason that forms a harmonious and healthy psyche, and therefore the use of reason is the foundation of a healthy and harmonious society.

The significant gulf that exists between modern, popular Stoicism and what the Stoic philosophers believed and taught is formed by the erroneous understanding of Stoicism as a philosophy that requires something like steadfast unresponsiveness to pleasure or pain, particularly the latter. We are being ‘stoic’ when we manifest placidity in the face of suffering, is the common modern view. In actuality, the Stoics had complex views on emotions, and there is disagreement even today on just what various Stoics believed regarding emotions, and in what ways and to what degrees, for example, the views of Zeno on emotions differ from that of Chrysippus, with the former being the founder of Stoicism, but the latter being one of its most significant proponents. From a broad view, Stoics understood emotions as cognitive, and therefore not – or at least not wholly – as irrational forces over which we lack control. For a Stoic, emotions involve judgment, and this being the case, emotions involve voluntariness, and therefore are governable, if one has the awareness to do so.
 
The Stoic, then, does not view an emotion one may be experiencing as something automatic, something instinctive and outside of the individual’s control. Yes, each sane individual will have a deep and immediate response to the appearance of an imminent tiger pounce, but that response is not fear as the Stoics understood the term. For the Stoic, the movement from the initial experience, whatever that experience may be, to that of an emotional response requires assent, in that we assent to the initial impression, and thereby experience the emotion of lust or fear or suffering, or some other response, as dictated by the stimulus. If we are in a state of lust, we have assented in that we have misjudged, and consequently we experience lust because we have judged something good and desirable that is neither. We experience fear because we have an expectation of harm, but this expectation is not rational, as the expectation is the result of a misjudgment, and consequently we fear the loss of something that is not of true value, or we fear the loss even when the loss cannot be avoided. We can never experience fear over the loss of virtue, because we lose our virtue only by our own choices. For the Stoic, emotional suffering is never rational. Yet because the Stoic views lust and craving as irrational and resulting from misjudgment does not mean that the Stoic never experiences joy or elation, for the Stoics endorsed reasoned elation of the sort that derives from proper judgment of the worth of virtue, and hence the Stoic justly rejoices in its attainment. Though the Stoic views fear as misjudgment, the Stoic does endorse reasoned, rational caution concerning things that are harmful. For the Stoic, reasoned, rational caution is not fear.

For the Stoic, then, the ideal state is that of apatheia, which is best translated as equanimity and not indifference. If one attains the state of apatheia, one is not callously indifferent to all external circumstances, but rather one is liberated from unhealthy passions and hence one is free to find enjoyment in those things of the highest value, which are right reason and virtue. Emotions, therefore, are not shunned or dismissed or disparaged, but achieving equanimity requires giving assent to what is healthy and declining assent to what is unhealthy. Hence one’s attaining or not attaining apatheia is voluntary, for failure or success depends on judgment. Perfection is not possible here, for humans are flawed, but if we desired to attain apatheia, then we must continually strive to comprehend our misjudgments on what is good. By realizing our misjudgments and seeking correction, we aim ever closer to the mark, for then we grasp that emotional disturbance is the consequence of misjudgment, and that equanimity is found in declining assent to these misjudgments. It is in the act of withholding assent to unhealthy passions that the Stoic frees himself or herself from emotional suffering and turmoil and establishes a liberating equanimity that enables a clearer view of what is truly of importance and what is not, and such a view is essential to virtue.

Another misconception concerning the Stoics is that they were somber souls, seeking by their philosophy to endure the tribulations of life, rather than to relish life. In truth, Stoics sought and valued happiness, but they believed that happiness was not obtained through pleasure but was found in wisdom. With wisdom, we apprehend that which is under our control and that which is not, and therefore we do not generate for ourselves much misery by worry, fret, and fear over the latter. The Stoics were determinists in that they believed that the universe is fixed, for the Stoics understood the totality of all existence as inseparable from God, and whereas God is the perfectly rational being, how can the universe be understood as other than divinely ordered and therefore unchanging?
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Yet, as discussed, the Stoics insisted that human beings are free to adopt the right attitude towards events, and render judgments, and thus human beings in truth are not wholly determined. The Stoics are thought of as never having satisfactorily resolved this contradiction between determinism and free will, but their legacy is profound and enduring for good reasons, and they insisted that even if we cannot alter out destiny, we can always free ourselves from emotional travails by discerning what is of true value and what is not, and through this use of our reasoning faculties we can refuse to give our assent to the harmful emotions that are generated by misjudgments as to what is within our control and what is not, and what is merely meretricious and what is truly rewarding. If we do so, then we eliminate the sources of disruption and affliction in our lives, and we thereby achieve, or at least approach nearer to achieving, apatheia or equanimity, the blessed state of wisdom esteemed by the Stoics as the only means to an authentic and lasting happiness.