Reducing everything to a few concrete steps

Surely, this is not the wisest take from the marketing and communications point of view. If “content is the king” then specificity is the emperor. Particularly today, in the times of the internet and attention economy, we are encouraged to articulate everything in a concrete manner. “Stoicism in 3 steps.” “7 guiding principles for a Stoic-to-be.” “Stoicism: 5 guidelines to follow.” This is the lingo we are used to today. Wittgenstein famously said that all that matters can be said in five words. Today some will say that all that matters must and can be expressed in a concrete manner. Or maybe stronger, that only the concrete even exists.

In contrast with that, I’m happy to espouse a non-essentialist view on Stoicism. It comes from the principles, but it also comes from experience. In my 15+-years adventure of Stoicism I see clearly that different people are drawn to different aspects of Stoicism and driven by different tenets of it. Stoicism is rarely the same for any two persons.

The Stoic orchard

The ancient metaphor was that Stoicism was an orchard  (in which the logic was the fence, the ethics the fruits, etc.). Let’s expand on that: this orchard has many gates and many paths leading to it. For some the Stoic virtues will be the entrance gate. For some it will be the concept of agency or the idea that we are not the same as our thoughts (Marcus Aurelius’ “impressions”, etc.). For some – yours truly included – it will be the dichotomy of control. None of these gateways to Stoicism is less or more viable than any other. They all have their appeal, their allure, and they attract different people. And that is okay!

The Stoic story is one of open debate

This green light comes from the principles, though. The history of Stoicism is not a story of a closed church where dogmas are blindly repeated. It is a story of an open debate, it is a story of ideas and interpretations competing against each other. This alone makes Stoicism so interesting. I put forward my own interpretations but I accept that others may prefer a different way of thinking. Indeed, the only wrong path to Stoicism is to assert that the paths of others are wrong just because they are not our own.

How about discipline as the Stoic essence?

Is all that skirting the question? Am I avoiding the answer? If you press me about the essence of Stoicism I will tell that discipline is probably the word you are looking for. 

Different experiences and different ways lead us to the Stoics, but the one thing we all attain is some sort of discipline. There is really no Stoicism without some form of it, since Stoicism is a practical philosophy. It is applied to life, it is a certain attitude to life (i.e., much more than just an attitude, but you get the picture). And this is something we can’t get by chance!

The only way we can become Stoics is through practice because Stoicism is practice. That practice translates into some form of discipline. Will it be praemeditatio malorum every morning or examination of conscience every evening, that is for everyone to decide for themselves. With me personally, that discipline is inexorably bound to physical training – doing push-ups, running, and so on. The particular setup of the discipline everyone decides on their own, but a certain kind of discipline is a must. 

Only from perseverance comes perseverance

A Nobel prize literature laureate once wrote in a poem that “with gestures I crafted an invisible rope and I climbed it and it held me,” because “only from perseverance comes perseverance.” The latter phrase captures a deep truth about life in general and about Stoicism in particular. All our Stoic powers and strengths, all our virtues, and all our agency come from within. Only we can develop it, only we can employ it. They are our responsibility. And how we exercise this responsibility is – by Dichotomy of Control – our own choice to make.

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