Stoicism Won’t Save You
3 Major Problems With Stoicism
Lately, stoicism is really catching on with public, with the likes of Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferris promoting it as a life philosophy. Many people, especially young men, find solace in embracing the teachings of this age-old philosophy.
Books written about stoicism present it as a way to self-mastery and happiness, and while some of the things this philosophy teaches are great, it has some serious issues.
Here are 3 major problems stoicism has:
1. Lone Wolf
The idea of self-sufficiency is highly promoted by stoicism, you should be completely independent, and if you’re not, then you become a lesser being because of it.
“Your duty is to stand straight, not be held straight.”
— Marcus Aurelius
Now, I’m not against being able to stand on your own, I’m against going full independent, because at the end of the day, no man is an island.
According to this article, trying to be hyper-independent can be a trauma response.
2. The Dichotomy of Control
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
— Marcus Aurelius
Stoicism seems to acknowledge the existence of things we can control and things we can’t control, it’s missing something crucial though, the things that we can’t control but can influence like world peace.
This black and white view of the world seems to turn a blind eye on certain issues that, on the surface, seem like they are not our responsibility.
It ignore that it is indeed our responsibility to try and influence these things to get a more favourable outcome.
3. Reject Attachement
I understand that stoicism doesn’t advocate for being an emotionless stone, what it does advocate for however is not having any worldly attachements whatsoever.
I understand that being attached to your material belongings is bad, since none of them stay with you after death.
However, for you to be a true stoic, you should eliminate all kinds of attachements — objects, places (your country), and even people.
It advises people to neve get attached to anything, and to treat everything like it’s a disposable object.
Final Thoughts
I’m not saying stoicism is all bad, it has good aspects to it, the point I’m trying to make is that we should be conscious about what we follow.
We should critically analyze the ideas of stoicism, reject the bad ones, and keep what improves our lives without compromising other sides of it.
