Yessyca Rivera

PHIL 1000

Stoicism - Marcus Aurelius

 We are continuous told that life happens no matter what, and things will occur outside of

our own control. Many people will have a rough day or unfortunate things happen in their life

and begin to curse to the world for their own bad luck and victimize themselves because it’s the

easier thing to do. For the Stoics it’s not about what happens to people and who has it worse,

rather it’s about how a person reacts to what has happened to them.

Marcus Aurelius was appointed Roman Emperor when he was forty years old, and had an

obligation to deal with uprisings and barbarian invasions along the frontiers. He didn’t have the

most glamorous life, dealt with the deaths of four of his five sons and rumors that his wife was

unfaithful to him. He was loved by many Romans for his mercy and kindness and never had any

foulness to speak on behalf of anyone's name. From all the troubles Marcus Aurelius dealt with

he studied and practiced Stoicism. He would write letters to himself as a form of outlet. One of

his writings said,

“Only attend to thyself, and resolve to be a good man in every act

which thou doest; and remember… Look within. Within is the

foundation of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.”

(Soccio, 2016)

Marcus had a duty to fulfill to the Roman Empire, and spend his last days still involved

with the military. He was alone and things were difficult for him to endeavour. One would think

that a life like that would be miserable and lonely and ask why things happened that way. Marcus

on the other hand, never held anger or resentment for his circumstances. He found his peace of

mind and solace in philosophy, where he dedicated his life and soul to. That is how he wrote
Meditations, a journal he wrote for himself which is now one of the most know philosophy books

based on Stoicism.

Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy that teaches virtue, tolerance and self control.

Philosophers from the past who practiced Stoicism believed in a web of cause and effect.

Everything results in from another fracture of the universe, nothing happens for no reason.

Everything happens for a reason. It is easy for some people to believe that they may have bad luck

in certain things in life and begin to blame everything else on other people or on non existent

factors. If a person doesn’t is late to work, they would get angry and say it’s the universe’s fault

for putting obstacles in their way resulting in them making them late. If a person is heartbroken

they will feel sad and begin to blame the other person for not showing as much effort or loving

them enough to stay around. This generation lives off of making themselves feel good about their

misfortunes in life by victimizing themselves and blaming other universal factors. One of the

biggest lines people will use to explain their unhappiness is, “I can’t do anything with my life

because I don’t get paid enough to do something” or “I can’t dedicate myself to what I truly want

to do because I don’t have enough time in my day”. They would much rather blame the universe

to make themselves feel good rather than face the truth and learn to grow from it. The reality is

that everyone has the same time of day, same hours minutes and seconds to do what each choses

to do. Everyone has more control over things they decide not to take responsibility over, but get

mad or upset over the things that they don’t have any control over. This is the teaching of Stoicism,

to take everything bad in your life and use it to your advantage. Take control of what can be in

your control, and accept what’s out of your control.

Logos is the rational structure of the universe. We may not always have control over the

events happening around us or in our lives, but we always have control over how we approach
things. If life is structured a certain way, a Stoic doesn’t spend time imagining or hoping for a

different life, they come to terms with the way life is already and deal with it while pursuing self

improvement. Self improvement comes with the help of four Cardinal Virtues, starting with

wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to navigate difficult situations in an informed and calm manner. To

think things through good before making any decisions. It’s like the saying that goes, “Never make

a permanent decision on temporary emotions”. Next is temperance, the practice of self restraint.

So often when placed in difficult situations we lose our own temper and begin to react quickly

without giving things time to settle in. Then comes justice, treating others with kindness and

fairness even if they don’t show the same kind of energy. Just because a person acts or treats us a

certain way doesn’t mean we should lose sight of our own principles and begin to do the same.

Energy that is placed into the universe always comes back around no matter what. If we show

everyone kindness and treat everyone with fairness we wouldn’t have greed, liars and so much

violence in our society. No matter what comes to us, we should never give in and give up our

power to let it have control over our emotions to change our own kindness. Lastly comes courage.

Courage means to face challenges daily with integretting and clarity. We should always practice

to have a clear mind for everything before facing some of our own obstacles.

Every person has their own story in their life that they believe to be unique and different

than others, when it’s most likely not. The true value and difference from each individual is how

they react to those obstacles in their life. The real challenge is taking everything the way that it is

and being able to pursue a self improvement path. Seneca once said, “Sometimes even to live is

an act of courage”.

Stoicism is the practice of self improvement and acceptance. It’s not an easy stage to get

to in life and not the same journey for everyone. The Stoics believe that only people who have
cultivated self control and virtue within themselves can bring positive change to others. And that

virtue is an inherent feature of the world. This is what brings and creates great leaders in the world

that the people need. Because a Stoic is an honest person that will always view things the way they

are and not try to make it seem a different way or try to sugarcoat them into a different perspective.

A Stoic has a different view within life, they don’t view things always as such an optimistic way,

but rather view it in a very realistic way. They becomes comfortable with the things that make

them uncomfortable in order to be mentally and emotionally prepared for anything that life brings.

Many people still have some trouble coming into terms of that, and would rather avoid confronting

certain situations in their life just so they don’t deal with the uncomfortableness that it can come

with.

Stoicism for many people can be viewed as a form of meditation and self practice for

personal growth. It’s a development of self control to overcome destructive emotions. To be able

to clear inner judgement and have peace of mind isn’t something that is so easily achievable, which

is why it takes practice and patience. This is why it’s seen as a meditation form for some people.

It’s a personal practice that helps achieve the peace of mind and no suffering from obstacles to

form a new way of life and come to terms of where their life is. This philosophy is so powerful

that it begins to shift the things happening in life and the kind of energy. Once a person reaches

this inner peace and state of mind, they begin to have more knowledge of the world around them.

Being able to distinguish their own personal feelings from their actions is a big part of Stoicism.

It’s quite easy to let everything that’s happening to us take control over our emotions and get the

best out of us by reacting carelessly and with no control. This is such a common mistake among

us as humans. That we don’t think with our heads, we think with our hearts. We so often say we

have big kindred hearts and that’s why we become very emotional about the things that happen
and allow our peace of minds to be interrupted with sadness and destress. Although it’s in our

human nature to have and show emotions, it’s not the best idea to use that as our form of

empowerment. We should all be practicing Stoicism.

Stoicism has been an incredible philosophy that has carried on for many years, influencing

many great and powerful people from leaders to activists. One very famous person that was highly

influenced by Stoicism is Nelson Mandela. During Nelson’s 27 year imprisonment he studied

Meditations, the book of Marcus Aurelius wrote on Stoicism. During this time he was struggling

and fighting for racial equality. Once he was released from prison he was influenced by Stoicism

to advocate for peace and reconciliation. Stoicism is about dealing and coming to terms with the

present and the reality of the world and be able to learn from it to practice inner peace and virtue.

Nelson Mandela believed his people can learn from the injustice that was happening, learn to

accept it and change in a manner of peace in order to get any real fair changes. Instead of holding

any grudges or resentment against his unfair treatment, he allowed himself to accept the terms of

his reality and seek inner peace in order to improve himself and his wisdom. Because the injustices

in the past couldn’t be changed, Nelson believed his people could come to terms with them and

change them in the future to seek a better future for themselves and everyone.

Stoicism is an important philosophy that influenced many for many years, still highly

influential amongst many people today. There are some people who are still unaware of this

philosophy but it’s important to always view things in a manner of always having to learn from

life. There is never enough that we already know. Stoicism has been accepted and developed into

other philosophies, people making Stoicism a part of their own life and adapting it to their on

believes to reach greater knowledge and tranquility. Many other famous philosophers have also

adapted Stoicism to their own life and teachings, one being Epictetus. He once wrote, “We suffer
not from the events in our lives, but from our judgement about them”. This is a very important

message because it speaks on behalf of how the things happening within our lives aren’t in our

control and we can’t try and force something and frustrate ourselves with. It’s not always the

situation that makes us feel defeated, it’s usually our own feelings we have towards those

situations.

Marcus Aurelius has been a highly influential philosopher due to his own personal history

and teachings that have marked many teachings to this day. He is an example of what a peaceful

and fulfilling life can look like, irregardless of the circumstances happening within his life. It’s an

example to follow that shows that the things happening within our life isn’t what defines us a

person. Rather it’s how we learn to accept and still seek inner peace and happiness within

ourselves, how we chose to react and live our life.

Resources:

Soccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of Wisdom: an Introduction to Philosophy. Cengage Learning,

2016.

Saunders, Jason Lewis. “Stoicism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3

Feb. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stoicism

“Stoicism.” Stoicism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy,

https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_stoicism.html