The Stoic meaning

What would an Ancient Stoic mean were they to instruct us to “live in harmony”? What would living in harmony look like? Harmony with what, exactly?

Harmony in Hellenistic thought didn’t relate to a certain measurement, arrangement, or ratio. Instead, it was a word that captured the calm we can all feel rush over us when something just – to borrow from pop culture – vibes. Harmony exists in a beautiful archway that frames a serene lakeside cottage when looked through at the right angle. It exists in the way planets move around their suns, too. Relevant to humans, it exists when we align with our nature – when we fit into our own skin, so to speak, like a glove. 

If a Stoic asks us to live in harmony, they’re asking us to fit into nature the way we’re meant to fit into it – they’d be asking us to, here’s that word again, vibe with Nature.

Living in harmony with nature

But, beyond being an interesting directive, this encouragement is fairly useless. “Live in harmony with nature. Get your vibe right.” Okay, cool, Grandad Zeno, but how exactly do I do that? Where’s the actionable advice to follow this esoteric wisdom?

There doesn’t appear to be any in the convenient form of a “5 ways to” or “3 tricks for” practical and actionable checklist – but that’s not surprising. Stoicism is really old. Listicles, life hacks, and productivity tips weren’t on the ancients’ collective radar. They are, however, on our collective radar today. So let’s see if we can’t derive “3 ways to be more Stoically harmonious” from antiquity’s dusty old suggestion to “Live in harmony with Nature.”

1. Spend time out in nature

Certainly, a natural first step to being more in alignment with Nature is to spend more time in it. Schedule some time in your week to observe, appreciate, and contemplate the beauty and harmoniousness of Nature. Go camping, lay in a hammock, go to the beach, climb a tree, do anything that forces you to confront wild and wooly nature. This will help you get reacquainted with all the non-human stuff around us. 

2. Start a garden (or join one)

An appropriate next step might be learning to work with Nature (as a material). Nothing is better at forcing you to do this than the choice to attempt to draw food from the earth. Start a small garden in a window box, or a corner of your backyard. If you don’t have those spaces available to you, join a community garden and volunteer to grow the tomatoes or zucchini (these are easy to grow, and a good starting point for your yet-to-turn-green thumb). If you don’t have a community garden in your area, then go buy a plant and pot it. There’s some way to grow something in or around your house. Find it. 

3. Contemplate and incorporate what you learn

To be a tomato plant requires a certain set of behaviours and responses. What is the human equivalent of this? When you water a seed, what happens? When you care for a sapling, what happens? When you maintain a healthy environment for an apple tree, what happens? In all these cases, you know that something positive and preferred happens when you act as a shepherd to things in nature over which you have influence. What might happen to you if you water yourself, care for yourself, and maintain a healthy environment for yourself? And what about others? When you water, care for, and maintain a healthy environment for others, what happens to them? Ask yourself what watering a human looks like – and caring for one, and maintaining a healthy environment for one. Answer those questions, then go and do those things for yourself and others.

These three ways aren’t the only three ways to live in harmony with Nature, but I reckon they’re a good start.

Tanner Campbell hosts the Practical Stoicism Podcast and is the author of the upcoming book, What Is Stoicism? (New World Library, Fall 2024), which he co-authored with Kai Whiting. For more information, go to http://tannercampbell.net.

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