How To Summon A Stoic Principle To See Your Life As Something Beyond Yourself
Stoic philosophy can help you achieve balance through the magic of sympatheia.
When you think back on your life, when have you felt the calmest or most content? When have your worries and fears melted away and given way to a sense of bliss and gratitude?
For some, those moments relate to family and friends: the birth of a child, the tender touch of a loved one, the comfort of having others to rely on when we need a helping hand. For others, those moments relate to achievement: graduating college, rising up the professional ladder, publishing a proud work of art or scholarship.
For me, I have a different common theme behind those special moments. When I think back on the times in my life that I attach with feelings of calm and contentment, they always happen when I submit myself to something much bigger than me, myself, and I.
The Stoics had a word for this: sympatheia, a word with Greek origins defined as the idea that “all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other.”
Like much ancient wisdom, sympatheia can help you find more of those moments where you “forget all your troubles and all your cares” as Petula Clark sang in…
