Becoming Stoic (Or Suffering To Be)
Self Discovery by Enduring Pain & Suffering
Life Is Suffering
Buddhism’s first noble truth tells us that life is hard and that pain or suffering is real. It is real enough that almost no being on earth can deny that it is not.
Stoiciscm
The ability to endure life’s suffering is grounded on the recognition and understanding that You (as an individual self, capable of agency) have control on how you react.
The choice is two-fold. You can choose to deal with the suffering by understanding Your Self. Or you can choose to deal with the suffering by behaving or reacting To The World. Quite literally, you choose to control your Self or your choose to control your Circumstance.
Stoicism, is to learn to control Your Self. It is to learn your own nature in recognition of how you behave in a world of suffering.
It is understanding the choices presented before you, both from your internal thoughts and emotions, to the external circumstances surrounding you, and recognising (or at least teaching your Self to choose) the Right or Benevolent pathway to reduce or endure suffering for the prize of a higher goal.
Being Stoic is to endure the spectrum of pain and suffering — because you hold your Self to some higher principle of Moral Good. Through self discovery and analysis of what you are capable of being (both good and evil), within the safety of your mind, that you can “practice” making the right choices despite the chaos Life can throw at you.
You learn to to remain Calm, despite the pain. You cultivate the Strength not to complain or at least have control of your emotions. This is not just a form of will power. It is just as equally meditative, thoughtful and considered.
Dealing With Problems Stoicly
In the West, we are taught a scientific method. We are taught about Cause and Effect. We see the world and we run experiments from an early age through to adulthood. Our view of the world is shaped by the outcome of these experiments in a complex weave of indoctrinated beliefs and external circumstance.
If suffering were to exist, it comes from outside of our Self.
Thus the burden of change (and therefore the source or experience of our pain and suffering) runs the gamut of external factors: the world, the country, the environment, the government, the economy, the company, the police, the sellers, the buyers, the guy down the street, the gossip next door, the bullying brother, the talkative sister, the mother, the father — but never yourself.
The Stoic, in spite of it all — understands that the alleviating of suffering is to first understand your Self and all your imperfections. By choosing between strategies that reflect on previous behaviours and our proclivity for malevolence — we can avoid poor choices (ie. those that increase suffering and pain for ourselves and those we care about).
The Stoic makes this determination calmly, or at least without losing control of his emotions — not that you are not affected by them, but IN SPITE OF your emotions, you are able to keep a clear vision of the BEST choices possible because you Know Thy Self.
We learn to be Stoic by taking Small Steps:
- Cultivating Self-Awareness
- Periodic Meditation
- Journals or Writing
- Studying the Great Stoics & Philosophers & Psychologists
My Influences
The Great Stoics:
Marcus Aurelius
Epictetus
Seneca
Modern Philosophers:
Professor Jordan B Peterson
“Maps of Meaning“
“12 Rules For Life An Antidote To Chaos”
His YouTube lectures and his books have been pivotal in understanding the psychological framework for myths and archetypes, lessons from 20th Century conflicts and political ideologies.
Ryan Holiday
“The Daily Stoic”
“The Obstacle Is The Way”
Simon Sinek
“Start With Why”
“Find Your Why”
“Leade
