Stoicism 

is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno

of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. It is a
philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system
of logic and its views on the natural world. According to its
teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia (happiness,
or blessedness) is found in accepting the moment as it
presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the
desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain, by using one's mind to
understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and
by working together and treating others fairly and justly.
The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the
only good" for human beings, and those external things—such
as health, wealth, and pleasure—are not good or bad in
themselves (adiaphora), but have value as "material for virtue
to act upon".
Alongside Aristotelian ethics, the Stoic tradition forms one of
the major founding approaches to virtue ethics.[1] The Stoics
also held that certain destructive emotions resulted from errors
of judgment, and they believed people should aim to maintain a
will (called prohairesis) that is "in accordance with nature".
Because of this, the Stoics thought the best indication of an
individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how a
person behaved.[2] To live a good life, one had to understand
the rules of the natural order since they thought everything was
rooted in nature.

All things are parts of one single system, which is called

Nature; the individual life is good when it is  in harmony
with nature.
What does ‘live according to Nature’ actually mean?

The Stoics have consistently stated that the core of their

philosophy is to ‘Live according to Nature.’ This phrase has
caused a great deal of discussion and misunderstanding over
the millennia and no less so today.

The word that is conventionally translated as ‘Nature’ is

actually began as the Greek term ‘physis.’ Physis isn’t merely an
object, as in the Natural world, nor is it a State, as in it’s a leaf’s
natural color. Physis is a process, it describes the way in which
things are intended by nature to change and grow. So our first
clarification would rephrase the statement to ‘Live according to
the way things are meant to change and grow.’

The phrase ‘live according to Nature’ is obviously directed at

humans (you don’t have to tell a plant to live according to
Nature, it will change and grow on its own.) Nor does the
instruction mean to tell us to eat, breathe, bathe etc, as these
are all ‘natural’ functions shared with other animals. By using
the phrase, Stoics mean ‘live according to the way human
nature is meant to change and grow.’ So what do we mean by
‘human nature’?

“Our motto, as you know, is ‘Live according to Nature;’ but it is

quite contrary to nature to torture the body, to hate unlaboured
elegance, to be dirty on purpose, to eat food that is not only
plain, but disgusting and forbidding.” Seneca is directing our
choices to align with our physical requirements. By ‘live
according to nature’, Seneca seems to be instructing to reach for
the things which ‘Nature’ has designed humans to desire. These
things include health, safety, community, and other such
things.
.

‘Human Nature’ refers to the condition of a human who is

expressing the very best in his or her development, that is their
ultimate ‘best self’. They are growing and changing in an effort
to reach the ultimate goal for a human being.