This is an idea I had not entertained until yesterday. A
regular reader/follower of this blog and a friend of several years sent me an
interesting email early yesterday. Here is the email reprinted for you.
“Ed,
I subscribe to this free
newsletter and the partial description of Stoicism that follows reflects a
portion of your philosophy of life I feel. Should you wish to explore Stoicism
to add to that philosophy is why I thought of you when reading this. I learned
it is alive and well and practiced and not just an ancient Greek holdover.
Here’s an excerpt (from http://www.caseyresearch.com/node/38505):
A key tenet of stoicism, as
I read it, is that living a happy, contented life requires keeping both your
wants and your fears to a minimum.
On this topic, Epictetus,
who is particularly good at putting his thoughts clearly, had much to say…
"Wealth consists not
in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
"The essence of
philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as
little as possible on external things."
"He is a wise man
who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those
which he has."
The implications and
benefits of "right sizing" one's desires are obvious for someone
living in a society that constantly urges us to buy the latest and greatest in
everything – comfortable golf shoes included – even if it means going into debt
to do so.
That's not to say that
wanting something is wrong, but rather that living your life in a constant
state of desire – say, for the latest model of iPhone – sets you up for
constant disappointment should your desire not be met. In addition, almost by
definition it means you are pretty much permanently discontented with that
which you already possess.
I trust this is of value.
Richard”
I’ve known Richard Rosen and his wife, Eve, for several
years. We met before I began this blog at one of the Veteran Speakers Retreats I’ve
coordinated for the past 11 years. Richard
is the brother of another friend I’ve known and enjoyed working with even
longer, Art Gliner. I’ve known Art for about 30 years. Unfortunately and sadly,
Art has become another victim of dementia and probably Alzheimer’s Disease. I
can’t express how much of a loss it is to all of Art’s friends, professional
colleagues and family for this sharp mind and great wit to no longer be among
us. Richard has taken on the thankless responsibility of looking out for Art’s
affairs and making sure Art is being looked after properly. I miss the Art
Gliner I knew and associated with for so many years and I have nothing but
respect for Richard for assuming this major responsibility.
It’s through this foundation that Richard and I have been
sharing thoughts, ideas and philosophical perspectives on life, politics, the
state of our society and world and other weighty topics. He and I share many
philosophical ideas and I always look forward to an exchange with him. So, when
his email arrived yesterday, though relatively short, I knew there were some
precious gems to mine from it. I was right.
To be perfectly honest, I had never pondered this idea. And
to be even more honest, I knew the word stoic and knew that Stoicism was a philosophy
born in an ancient Greek civilization. I had a very basic understanding of the
philosophy based on the, much simplified, dictionary definitions. I had never
taken any time to delve into the actual philosophy, though. Appreciating
Richard’s mind, there was no way I could dismiss this “challenge” to see how my
own personal philosophy of living free related and compared to the philosophy
of Stoicism. And, perhaps, even more important to me was this question, am I a
stoic?
Okay, don’t think I’m going to let you off the hook that
easy and tell you I am or I am not a stoic. And, accordingly, you’re not going
to be able to discern or deduce whether you may be a stoic from this blog post.
I’m sure you noticed there is a link in the email that Richard sent me. This
link connects to a very lengthy and enlightening blog post by one, David
Galland, managing director of Casey Research, the publisher of the blog.
Richard piqued my curiosity and interest, so I clicked on the link and read the
article titled “The New Stoics.”
So, what did I learn? I learned that, yes, in fact there are
many aspects of Stoicism in my living free philosophy. In fact, as I read the
article, I realized that it touched on just about all of the 12 steps in my 12
Steps of Living Free concept. There is a lengthy list of quotations from the
Greek philosopher Epictetus that really caused me to take pause. Epictetus,
was, in fact, of the third and last formal phase of stoicism. According to my
research it is only from this third phase that there is any complete work or
text still in existence. Very little remains of the first and second
phase. And, of course, like most
things, there is an evolution of thought and so it is with stoicism.
It’s important to note at this point that my 12 steps for
living free are, for the most part, my own invention. That’s not to say that I
didn’t borrow ideas and concepts from other places. I most certainly did. In my
opinion, there is nothing new under the sun, it’s pretty much all been thought
and said before by someone. I simply synergised , synthesized and amalgamated
thoughts and ideas I’ve seen, heard, experienced and practiced in my own life.
Having no real in depth understanding of stoicism, I didn’t realize that many
of my ideas and thoughts originated with stoic philosophies.
So, returning to the questions at hand. Am I a stoic? Are
you a stoic? I can only speak for myself. You’ll have to make your own
determination. As for me, I surely embrace many facets of stoic thought. I’m
willing to concede that. However, in the very limited amount of research I’ve
done since receiving Richard’s email and reading the lengthy article the link
made available to me, I can only suggest at this point that the jury is still
out. There is much more I need to learn and understand about both stoicism and
myself. I find nothing particularly positive or negative in realizing and
accepting that I may, actually, be a stoic. In fact, that may very well be one
of the virtues of stoicism that I haven’t learned at this early stage of my
research.
There is a book recommended in the article that’s available
as a Kindle book. It’s titled, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
(hard cover) A Guide to the Good Life:The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
(Kindle version)., by William B. Irvine. I will be ordering the Kindle version
of the book to add to my reading list. I especially like the subtitle, “The
Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.” That grabbed me right there. And, what do I expect
to find? Truly, I expect that I probably practice a very modernized form of
stoicism. As a pragmatic, non-conforming individual my focus is on leading a
lifestyle as free from restrictions, limitations and irrelevant laws, rules and
regulations as possible, while living in the moment and ultimately experiencing
as much joy and happiness as possible during this brief stay on Earth. I expect that much of my, “modern stoicism”
is based on the early practitioners’ of this ancient philosophy, yet, fully
aware of a much more complicated society with all the pressures and stresses
placed on everyone in the 21st Century.
Indeed, simplicity, less is more, frugality, minimalism,
tolerance, acceptance, releasing all the things we have no control over and
embracing all those things we do and seeking joy and happiness internally
through nature and all that is natural dates back to the ancient beginnings of
the stoic philosophy. But, these tenets are just as modern and rewarding some
2,300 years after Zenos of Citium founded the movement.
I hope you’ll join me in this adventure into a philosophy
that fosters freedom, joy and happiness. As always, I’m open to your thoughts,
ideas, questions and observations. Share with everyone reading the blog through
the comment section below or by emailing me directly. And, again, I send a
special thanks to my friend, Richard Rosen, for raising my awareness, yet,
again.
Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them. Epictetus
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