Saturday — Resilience
Today’s morning text is about resilience. The Stoic concept of resilience involves the belief that not many things are actually “bad”. The only bad thing in life is becoming a morally weak or vicious person.
I think that I am a somewhat resilient person. I do get bothered by some things that I can’t control, but I am less likely to let external things affect me than the average person (in my humble opinion).
I think that the Stoic view of “bad” is a little narrow. I would argue that there are more bad things in the world. In fact, using the Stoic definition of “bad”, if being morally weak or vicious makes somebody “bad”, then surely any morally weak or vicious acts they commit are also bad. For example, if I commit an act that is deemed vicious, say, beating up and robbing a homeless man, then surely, since it is a vicious act, it must be deemed bad, if we apply the Stoic definition of bad.
I do agree that, as said in the Handbook, it is beneficial to purposely place oneself into a potentially dangerous or difficult situation, whether that is in reality, or simply by imagining the scenario. I do not go to the extent that Seneca went to, in suggesting that we picture nothing going our way, and expect all the world to come crashing down around our ears every day. I believe that there is a fine line between planning, and starting to catastrophise about everything that could go wrong. It is perfectly acceptable to go out into the world hoping the best from everybody, just as long as you plan for the worst, however unlikely.
The evening text seems to be discussing one’s focus. It says that, if you treat every action as though it were your last, you will never be fickle or half-finish an action, and you will “see how few things you need to master to be able to live a smoothly flowing life.”
To me, this seems like a fairly positive attitude. It is true that you would put more effort into an act if you thought it to be your last, and this is a good attitude to hold whenever you approach any task or labour.
I’m still on the fence about Stoicism. I think I’m inclined to lean away from it, because none of the issues that I am passionate about (animal rights, abortion, infanticide, and the existence of a deity) seem to be a relevant part of it.
We shall see.
