Stoicism... A quality in few but sought by man

I sometimes feel that we are complex beings, capable of much more than we either achieve or demonstrate, and that it is because we tend towards response rather than being more the sum of our qualities, most evident in stoicism, or enduring hardship without complaint, without emotion. It’s a difficult perspective, as it asks of us the virtues of wisdom, courage, justice and temperance, the characteristics maybe of heroes, and maybe we are just too modest to see ourselves of that ilk.

Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium’s four pillars of stoicism are predicated first upon the ability, in wisdom, to display sound judgement by the judicious recognition of good and evil, and having the ability to focus upon what can, and cannot, be controlled, including the depth and compassion, or vehemence, of one’s determinations. Another Greek, Democritus, achieved fame almost three thousand years ago by theorising that “Nothing exists except atoms and space, that everything else is opinion,” so, he was a man ahead of his time, and philosophically he wrote of “not trusting all men, but men of worth, the former being silly while the latter is much more prudent.”

Courage is almost self-evident as a quality to aspire to, and is also recognised as fortitude, standing firm, facing fear, or patient enough to take that backward step as part of a bigger picture, and in being patient, being also resilient. The great Ibn Khaldun, the 14th-century philosopher still influential today, once wrote on the premise that physicality was not a characteristic of the fall of nations, but rather their psychological failings, and that courage, though sustained through physicality, is powerless compared to psychological strength.

Justice, unlike judgement, is cut and dried, and determines right and wrong, and being an essential nature of humanity and the common good, is often manifested as fairness. The morality ascribed to the virtuous makes them inseparable, and the stoic therefore, possessing one virtue, is believed to be virtuous, organic, and whole, albeit rarely expressive. The great polymath Avicenna noted that “Allah would not grant us minds, and then dictate divine laws that defy the mind,” and so doing points to the roles of justice, morality and virtue as essential to mankind.

Finally, temperance, or the gifts of moderation, self-control and discipline, is all about avoiding excess and is the ‘bread and butter’ of the stoical. The Arabic proverb that describes temperance as, “Unlike the stomach, the brain doesn’t alert you when it’s empty,” thus, with subtlety, reminds us of our need for discipline if we are to remain stoical. Or, as humorously identified by Shakespeare, who penned, “Have more than you show, speak less than you know,” a credo by which a great many politicians and business leaders could well emulate as they frequently are ‘hoist by the petard’, of their vanities and desires.

Impulsive and rash behaviour are not stoical traits with, again Zeno, adamant that we have “two eyes, two ears and one mouth,” with good reason. Again, it is those who would lead us, in their folly and haste, grasp opportunism and promise miracles, who would lead us away from our temperate judgements and sustainable opinions. These people, the alarmists in our midst, would have us believe that as soon as we hear them, we must act. However, the humanity within us, our compassionate goodness and our conscientious consideration should be too much of who and what we are to be profited from by shallow opportunism. Averroes, too, believed we all share the same amount of intellect, so it must be a matter of balance then, as he also said, “An army of philosophers could not take that which is wrong, and make it right,” which must be encouragement to trust our inner stoicism, which we must all have, in some measure.