Dear friend, 

It is unlikely that we will ever meet but I want you to know that, according to Stoicism (the philosophy I follow), I can call you, a complete stranger, my friend. That remains true even if I am dead! Which I might be, especially if you open this bottle two hundred years from now (check the date above)! 

In case you are wondering why I can call you my friend, or even family, it is because we share a fragment of the universe’s soul in common. Through that fragment emerges a desire to know and rationally observe the Divine (let’s call it “God” or “the logos.”) No matter who or where you are, we will always share this common bond. 

That said, if you prefer a more agnostic or atheistic interpretation, you might say we share a propensity for reason and that reason causes us to look for universal patterns that help us understand and react rationally to the world around us. It’s not really my cup of tea to put it that way – but each to his or her own! 

One of my favourite messages from the Stoics comes from Hierocles, a contemporary of the Roman Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Hierocles drew a set of concentric circles that looked tidier than the scribble I did for you to the left (sorry drawing is not my strong point). He said that we should start with the circle of the “self” and pull each successive outer circle back onto the previous one, until we recognise that all of humanity is us and that we are all of humanity. 

In 2018, my team and I added to these circles the outermost circle, which we called “Earth” or the “environment.” This update reflects the planetary level community and our obligations towards it. Virtue does not exist in a vacuum. It is a product of the choices you make and the relationships you cherish here on Earth. 

Above all, dear friend, I wish you well. 

Kai 

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Kai Whiting is a researcher and lecturer in sustainability and Stoicism based at UCLouvain, Belgium. He Tweets @kaiwhiting and blogs over at StoicKai.com

 

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