The Stoic Magazine Library

Are we listening? Once you start observing conversations, you’ll quickly recognize that most people are terrible listeners. 

The Stockdale paradox 

Last month, I was interviewed by a reporter who was writing about the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, what resources Stoic philosophy can contribute, and what has come to be termed the “Stockdale paradox.” Jim Collins came up with that term in his management book, Good To Great, and used it to describe something that isn’t really a paradox in any genuine sense of the term. 

A search for what’s true 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic stunningly upended life as we knew it, we are pointedly challenged to reconsider what is true and enduring, what is worthy and what isn’t, and the daily questions of “Who will I be today?” and “How shall I act?” Our templates for facing each day have been jiggled at best. 

Losing our freedom 

It looks as if we have lost our freedom (temporarily at least). In France, lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic means we can go out to shop for food or for a short stroll around the house, but we cannot visit friends or family or go on the holiday we had scheduled. 

Apart from the fact that virtue is the only good and vice is the only bad, Stoicism is notoriously sketchy on “self-help” steps and details. We know we are called to be courageous, just, self-controlled, and wise.

The ancient Stoic philosophers were very interested in food. They talk both about what we should eat and how we should eat it, if we want to live wisely and gain strength of character. For instance, Musonius Rufus often talked in a very forceful manner about food, on the grounds that food was not an insignificant topic and that what one eats has significant consequences. In particular, he thought that mastering one’s appetites for food and drink was the beginning of and basis for self-control. 

We all face many uncertain times in our lives. But the current pandemic is a time of collective uncertainty, the like of which most of us have never experienced. What has Stoicism got to say in coping with a situation that is so uncertain? Our contributing editor Meredith A. Kunz offers a three-step plan based on Stoic principles to cope with uncertainty. 

Chuck Chakrapani, Editor 

Fear of death is irrational - There’s nothing we fear more than our own death. Yet this fear is irrational, say the Stoics, nothing but rumors from the living.

1. “Things do not touch the soul,” as Marcus Aurelius put it. Rather, we are perturbed by “the opinion which is within [us].” This is very much in the spirit of Buddhism, as we find in the Dhammapada: “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts.” Shakespeare said much the same thing in Hamlet: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” 

The art of showing up - I practice yoga everyday, and probably do it wrong, but I show up and do it anyway, no matter what. It makes me better. Same with Stoicism.

Things will “never be the same again”?

Think of others as yourself - How should a Stoic treat others? Here is a piece of advice from Hierocles:

Never say about anything, “I’ve lost it,” but rather, “I’ve given it back.” … What does it matter to you through what person the one who gave it to you demanded it back? So long as he entrusts it to you, take care of it as something that isn’t your own, as travelers treat an inn. Epictetus, Enchiridion, 11

Kai Whiting sits down with Will Johncock to discuss the wider implications of Stoic philosophy when applied to matters encompassing both collective and individual well-being. The conversation heralds some interesting insights regarding how we think about the relationships we have with each other and the environment.

Dear stranger... the things that seem to stand in our way, maybe they are here for us. Not against us.