Response to Stoicism

As someone who discovered stoicism whilst at the rock bottom and enabled by it, got through quite some shite so far, I have a few things to share.

I admit that it is easy to regard the philosophy as being strictly defensive and on that note, I'll agree but then the philosophy is a tool which enables one to reduce suffering, and therefore it is not about the Dos as much as it is about how to survive the consequences of the donts.

So while it does not shed much light on the problems in the society as a whole or how to solve them, it beams down on the individuals in that society and how they individually function in that society. And at that, stoicism teaches emotional resilience—how not to let external affectations take down the individuals in the society, thereby in essence taking down the society itself.

The philosophy may itself be defensive but in no way does it make one defensive and 'stoic' (what the word means in the dictionary), rather it enables one to recover from blows quickly to then focus on the offence. The recovery is what is in your control, the offence is what is in your control, but the blow is not in your control and there is no point in getting attached to it, emotionally or mentally.

In essence, stoicism doesn't discount the external events, but works on minimizing the unnecessary reaction to those events so that you can focus on taking actions to do something about those events.

There's a quote in stoicism (not sure by whom) but it says that you can't rely on emotions. You can't perceive them as a fuel to drive you forward.

Initially, I did disagree. Being someone who feels profoundly and relied on them to push me, it did not seem practical. But I will say that my understanding since then has broadened. Emotions are temporary. They come and they go. If you make them your fuel, you are subject to emotions and importantly, tied to things which caused them in the first place. What you have then is a cycle of strong drive and desire, followed by a soul crushing crash without any drive or motivation which results due to the expired emotional state.

In comparison, systems are more reliable. Your personal discipline is more reliable, which is subject to nothing external and will compound over time if you succeed in keeping the streak going.

I've consequently shifted my focus from relying on emotions to building systems and disciplines.

"Stoicism is always found guiding on how to endure. It does less to guide one on how to live well."

There's an interesting thing about our reality, that it hinges around suffering. There is no point in running away from it, there is no escape. There is always suffering and it comes in varieties. No matter your quality of life or your class, you have suffering on that level. You and I may not have to suffer about dinner tonight, but we may have to suffer about buying a luxury car. And then there are those who may not have to suffer about buying a luxury car but may suffer about something else.

Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, in his book, Man's Search for Meaning brings the point home for me, it is about finding meaning in your life, it is about finding meaning in your suffering. There is suffering and it is inevitable, but you have to choose what you want to fight for, what you want to suffer.

To tie it all to stoicism, in guiding how to endure, it inadvertently improves the quality of life, it indirectly teaches how to live well.

Lastly, I don't see how stoicism could numb one's sense of wonder.

"Take the baking of bread. The loaf splits open here and there, and those very cracks, in one way a failure of the baker's profession, somehow catch the eye and give particular stimulus to our appetite."

- Marcus Aurelius

That's Marcus above, having his moment of wonder in something as simple as cracks in the loaf of bread.

Marcus wrote Meditations, it was his personal diary but importantly, it was his daily practice. As humans, emotions are an inseparable part of our experience. And the goal of stoicism is not to rid one completely of them, which, I doubt is even possible, but it is about not being carried away too far, having a sense of groudedness in the presence of those emotions.

The practice of journaling in stoicism is about giving yourself reminders, to ground yourself as a response to the incoming emotional reaction. So Meditations is Marcus grounding himself in the face of everything he was facing.

Additionally, because the philosophy focuses on endurance, it says nothing restrictive about wonder and awe, about feeling things which aren't unnecessarily causing suffering.

Take Brain Vault itself. It is our response to the external state of the society that we see. It is in our control to do something about it, and this is how we are choosing to do it—being the change we want to see around.

It isn't my intention to argue here, but to give some perspective. And I may not have covered other things, but only those I thought were relevant. Feel free to give suggestions or your perspective.