Stoic sacrifice. Does it exist? Why would a Stoic sacrifice? To what end?

A Stoic is self-sufficient. Not in a defiant way, but in the sense that all good comes from within us and others have nothing to do with it. If everyone's good comes from themselves, and not from others, what need is there to sacrifice? Who is going to benefit from it? Surely, we cannot give our good to others, anymore than they can give their good to us. Yet Marcus Aurelius argued,

We exist for one another. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

How does one reconcile the two? On the one hand, we cannot transfer our "good" to others. On the other hand we "exist for one another."

Stoicism holds that the only true good is virtue (arete) and the only true evil is vice (kakia), everything else falls into the category of adiaphora, or "indifferents." Therefore, what looks like a sacrifice to the untrained eye is actually an act of rational trading: relinquishing a preferred indifferent to secure the only thing that ultimately matters—the integrity of being.

For the Stoics, sacrifice is not loss but a rational act: the relinquishing of what is not truly good in order to preser ve what is—virtue, integrity, and alignment with nature.

We have no reason to look back upon things which are left behind... Whatever you have lost, you would have had to lose anyway when life came to an end, even if it had not been taken from you sooner. - Seneca, Moral Letters, 98

This issue, our contributors expand on this theme.

Stoic sacrifice is letting go of entitlement

True Stoic sacrifice does not demand your life on a grand stage. It demands something much harder: giving up your right to complain about the traffic, the weather, and the people who wrong you. (Shirley Kwosek Sciacca)

Sacrificing for externals is not sacrifice

A person can devote years of effort and sacrifice while chasing something fundamentally external: the approval of colleagues, the preservation of a reputation, or the maintenance of an old identity that no longer fits. From the outside, this kind of exhausting endurance looks indistinguishable from virtue. But the Stoics remind us that an external goal disguised as a noble sacrifice is still just an external. (Andi Sciacca)

Stoic sacrifice is beneficial to the Stoic

Every sacrifice involves a trade. When you sacrifice comfort, you gain discipline. When you sacrifice immediate pleasure, you gain self-mastery. When you sacrifice the need to be right, you gain peace. (Brandon Tumblin)

Stoicism leads to acts of service for the greater good. A sacrifice is a path to building character, and will strengthen your commitment to the virtues of Stoicism. (Karen Duffy & Francis Gaspirini)

A Stoic does not sacrifice for recognition

Ultimately, before sacrificing , ask whether the thing is virtuous and necessary. And when you sacrifice, or think you are sacrificing, just do it and don’t look around for pats on the back or praise. The act is sufficient. (Glenn Citeroni)

Service is not sacrifice

And for those who would tell you that service demands sacrifice, you need look no further to rebut them than this line by Seneca: "It is the essence of spitefulness to say that nothing can be a benefit which does not cause some inconvenience to the giver." (John Kuna)

Stoic sacrifice is not sacrifice

One thing has genuine value as a good, and the other has only the much more limited value something indifferent could have. Would you call that a “sacrifice”? ...The Stoic who chooses rightly prioritizes one thing over the other, but they aren’t “sacrificing” something that’s good, a goodness they then lose, for the sake of a greater or more lasting good.  (Greg Sadler)

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