Few words about Stoicism*


According to TED, Stoicism was created by Zeno of Cyprus (sic) a long time ago in Greek and the doctrine was based on virtue, tolerance and self-control (Citium). Today, Stoicism is colloquially associated with a person that is able to become calm under pressure or to avoid emotional extremes.
Originally, more than just an attitude, Stoicism provided a conception of the Universe called Logos, where everything operated as a web of cause and effects. In other words, the Logos was a rational structure of the Universe. If the world operates this way, so we don’t have control over the events but we need to know how to approach them.
Instead of thinking in an ideal world, we need to face the world as it is supported by the cardinal virtues: wisdom, temperance, justice and courage that are responsible for our self-improvement. According to Seneca, “Sometimes, even to live is an act of courage”. However, the personal improvement is not self-centred, but is a way to change the others.
Marcus Aurelius, whose some works influenced Nelson Mandela many centuries later, also practiced Stoicism to deal with wars in his time. Mandela, after released for a long time in jail, preached peace and reconciliation, because the injustice of the past couldn’t be changed.
Epictetus, another exponent of Stoicism said: “We suffer not from the events in our lives but from our judgment about them”. This saying indicates that we need to change the way we see the things in our life and have inspired some modern psychologies like self-help movements and logo therapy. With this teaching probably one can fill his life with meaning, even in bad situations.

(*) A digest of Stoicism that can be find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9OCA6UFE-0&t=89s.

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