The Hardest Stoic Spiritual Exercise and Why It’s Crucial for Happiness
The Key Lies in a Unique Form of Courage
Zeno, the founder of Stoicism in ancient Greece, is said to have begun his studies in philosophy by tutoring under Crates, a cynic. One of the first things that Zeno learned, as a result, was to practice not being ashamed of things that were not shameful.
To reinforce this lesson, Crates apparently had Zeno walk around with a pot full of lentil soup in public places. When he saw that Zeno was embarrassed and tried to keep the pot out of sight, Crates broke it by striking it with his staff. Zeno ran away, mortified. When he did, Crates called out:
“Why run away, my little Phoenician? Nothing terrible has befallen you” (DL 7.3).
And, of course, nothing bad had happened to Zeno. He only worried that other people might think ill of him. And this worrying about what other people thought was something that Zeno eventually learned to overcome.
It’s something that you and I, everyone really, must learn if we are ever going to be happy and live a good life.
Because if you want to achieve that goal, if you want to live a good life, then you need to be (relatively) unconcerned with other…
