Several years ago, I realized I probably no longer believed. Nothing looked different on the outside, but internally, the bottom had dropped out of my world. Eventually, I settled into a steady state of teetering between trying to regain my faith and faking it to get by. My morning devotional times devolved to reading Ecclesiastes on repeat—the only book I could tolerate. At some point, I realized I really wasn’t going back and that, for my own sanity, I had to exit.

Around that time, someone close to me suggested reading the Stoics in the morning, which I did. I found a philosophy designed to be a way of life, a way of making sense of the world, providing community, and doing better. Most of all, I found a philosophy that helped me solve the immediate problems in my life.

When I’d been a Christian, there were several “besetting sins” in my life that I had made no headway on for years. When I started studying Stoicism, half of them disappeared (though that probably had more to do with chilling out instead of perseverating, which is the Christian way). For the other half, I started making serious progress. Coming out of a “pray and wait” mindset was a relief.

When I started trying to figure out how to exit my church context (not high-demand, but relatively intense nonetheless), having philosophy around helped me consider how to balance competing concerns (the need to get out and the need to be good to my family), how to be kind in my speech, how to prepare myself to reduce harm to my mental health, how to keep becoming a better person, etc. Stoicism was super helpful during one of my life’s most challenging times.

Intro to the Series

Last week I wrote about graceful life philosophies, “secular religions,” that help people make sense of a world without conservative religion. I’m planning to explore a few of them here on the blog, in hopes that they’ll be helpful to you.

It’s not my goal to “convert” you or convince you but to inform you. Stoicism is not one-size-fits-all, and I can’t know you like you know you. But having some conscious philosophy of life is essential.

What Is Stoicism?

First, Stoicism (the philosophy) is not stoicism (“indifference to pleasure or pain”). Like Epicureanism, Cynicism, and Materialism, everyday use has taken on a negative, or at least inaccurate, meaning.

Stoicism is a life philosophy aimed at becoming the best human you can be. Humans are rational and social, so to be the best human we can, we must pursue excellence of character first by getting better at thinking clearly, and by practicing living well, especially in the context of the people and world around us. Achieving this excellence of character involves learning three things: How the world works, how to think, and how to act. It also involves active training: How to want the right things, how to choose appropriate actions, and how to feel the best emotions.

This summary is “wrong” because it’s oversimplifying and missing a lot, but I think it’s a helpful start. I’ve purposefully omitted many things that people associate with Stoicism because while they might be recommended practices, they must be practiced in the context of excellence of character and cosmopolitanism. Without the core, they’re just life-hacks.

Why I Appreciate Stoicism as a Deconstructor

Most of all, it’s practical. It’s about being a better person and doing the work to get there without the level of idealism that Christianity has.

It’s also rich. Most of the original texts are long gone. Still, we have a large body of work available to read from across a couple hundred years, not to mention all the work that has followed in modern times. Getting into the Stoics has been an enriching adventure into the world of ancient philosophy. For those of us in the West, it’s had a massive influence on our history… people like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and even the apostle Paul were influenced by Stoicism.

For those that need/want it, it does have a spiritual dimension. The word logos from John 1:1 is a Greek philosophical idea and is used all over the place in Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. It refers to that pervading sense of order and unity in the universe. This idea doesn’t have to be accurate to be helpful, and I appreciate it.

Stoicism helps you come to terms with your own inevitable death and the death of others, which in turn helps free you from many fears.

Last but not least, it’s open to revision. There are core principles that make an idea Stoic, but at the same time, there’s nothing sacred about Stoicism itself. Many philosophers today are working through how to bring Stoic ideas to modern people in light of things we’ve learned in science and a worldview that tries to avoid magical thinking.

Next Posts

I’ll write at least a couple more posts on Stoicism. If you want to hear more, let me know in the comments. Also, let me know if you have specific questions, and I’ll try to answer them.

After that, I’ll be taking on Epicureanism.

Resources

• My summary of Stoicism is heavily inspired by the work of Tanner Campbell and Kai Whiting (through Practical Stoicism) and Massimo Pigliucci (through his many books and articles). I recommend them heartily.
• For books, I can recommend a couple as introductions:
  • The Art of Living, by Sharon Lebell
  • A Guide to the Good Life, by Bill Irvine
  • How to Be a Stoic, by Massimo Pigliucci