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“Stoicism itself in nothing else than one great elaboration on human happiness.”

“You don’t depend on other people or circumstances for a good life. Instead, you possess the inner resources to find joy whatever you are doing.”

The Stoics taught us to lead a virtuous life. But why? The purpose of virtue is presumably to enable us to lead the good life. However, it is quite easy to fall into the trap of feeling superior because one practices virtue, which may not be a virtuous thing to do. The temptation to let others know of one’s superiority can be irresistible.

Stoics believe that one needs nothing outside of oneself to be happy and fulfilled. The moment we say we need something outside of ourselves to be happy – be it wealth, health, power, relationship or whatever – we become immediately dependent on others, on our circumstances, or on some external event happening in a way we would like.

As Covid-19 seems to be winding down, our return to normalcy is once again threatened, this time by the Russo-Ukranian war. What should a Stoic do? Where does a Stoic stand on this?

The portrait of a Stoic

Who is a Stoic?

Humans are fallible. In fact, the Stoics thought that we are so fallible that none of us ever gets to be completely virtuous. They said only a sage can be virtuous and, for all practical purposes, no one ever gets to be a sage.

Many years ago, Maureen, a friend of mine at that time, seemed to be constantly upset and ang ry about the state of the world, especially about social injustices. Wishing to cheer her up, I quoted the following verses from Dhammapada (a sort of Buddhist Enchiridion), hoping that it would calm her down and let her see things from a different perspecive:

Our life is short. When we look back on our lives, we see that ever ything has moved too fast. We are born, get married, bring up children, acquire things, and die of old age or of other causes – all within a short span of time.

The goal of Stoicism is happiness, living the good life. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism defined it elegantly:

Do our lives flow well? Are you fearful?

When artists need inspiration, they turn to muses. A muse can be anyone who inspires them to do their work. It was Edie Sedgwick for Andy Warhol, Marianne Ihlen for Leonard Cohen, and Marie-Thérèse Walter for Piccasso.

Stoic writings are full of strategies to cope with hardships, anger, fear, and other negative emotions. There are many reasons for this. For instance, many Stoics lived under tyranncial rulers. Anyone could be arbitrarily killed or exiled. There was widespread slavery and poverty.

With this issue of THE STOIC, we start our fifth year of publication.