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Stoicism in a time of crisis: how Marcus Aurelius can help
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The Meditations
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the last famous Stoic philosopher of antiquity. He faced one of the worst plagues in European history.
During the Antonine Plague, he wrote a book, known as The Meditations, which can be viewed as a manual for developing the mental resilience skills required to cope with a difficult situation.
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The dichotomy of control
Because Stoics believe that true good resides in a person's character and actions, they would focus on what they can control, not what they can't.
What happens to you is never directly under your control, but your thoughts and actions are. Hence, It's not events that upset you but instead your opinion about the events.
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The cause of our distress
Our judgment that something is really bad or even catastrophic causes our distress.
It's not the new virus that makes us afraid but rather our opinions about it.
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Fear
A common slogan of stoicism is that fear does us more harm than the things of which we’re afraid.
Even if you have a 99% chance of surviving a global crisis, worry and anxiety may be ruining your life. Fear surrounding you moves into the core of your being and can destroy you if you let it.
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Confront the risk
During hard times, you may have to look at the possibility of your own death. But avoiding to look at this is the most popular strategy nowadays.
The Stoics believed when you're confronted with your own mortality and understand its implications, you can change your perspective on life dramatically. We should accept both sickness and death as part of the common lot of humanity.
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Stoicism explained
- In any and every situation—no matter how bad or seemingly undesirable it is—we have the opportunity to practice a virtue.
- Stoics like to refer to the phrase amor fati–loving the things that happen to us.
Cultivate Stoicism in your life
Stoic philosophy can be cultivated as a practical philosophy:
- Seeing the good in everything that happens around us, not feeling hijacked or negatively affected by fate and life events.
- Treating life as an experiment, not being overly attached to things, people and decisions.
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Live Every Day as If It Were Your Last
Death doesn’t make life pointless, death makes life worth living. Sometimes the discussion about the meaning of life serves no purpose besides distracting you from the answer, which is found...
Food as a Test Of Self-Control
Although eating food is pleasurable, digesting it is our main purpose. We should eat to live rather than live to eat.
To practice this principle, one can eat plain foods without sauces or try intermittent fasting.
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What is within our control
Stoicism asserts that we don’t control and cannot rely on external events, only ourselves and our responses.
Turning obstacles into advantages
At the very root of Stoicism there is a very simple, though not easy, way of living: Take obstacles in your life and turn them into your advantage, control what you can and accept what you can’t.