The Stoic Universe
There’s no “how to live” without a “why”
At one moment the universe we inhabit is beautiful, ordered and nurturing, at another moment it can be coldly indifferent, even menacing.
For the Stoics the universe (Kosmos) was both at the same time: perfectly ordered and imbued with divinity, yet indifferent to our mortal wellbeing. This perculiar view of our world profoundly influenced the Stoic idea of living the good life.
Stoic ethics are a path well-trodden. Given the rise of popularity of the ancient philosophy in recent years, many people are aware of the principles of Stoic ethics.
The most basic tenet of Stoic ethics is: you cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your response. It is through Roman writers like Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius that we have come to know these principles. Our knowledge of Stoic ethics is extensive. What is lesser known is why the Stoics held these ideas.
The lesser known aspects are, however, just as fundamental, since they form the basis of Stoic thought. The primary texts of Stoicism, written in Greece hundreds of years before the Roman Stoics mentioned above, are lost. It’s for this reason that the most famous Stoics of ancient times are lesser known in today’s world.
