WINDSDAY WONDERS
Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell
(@RHCLambengolmo)
Editorial Associate: S. A. Sonnenschein
Vol. 3, No. 19: February 28, 2024
“Let’s Reframe!”
An Invitation to Explore Stoicism
“My Unfolding Journey with Stoicism”
By the Editor
Stoicism is an ancient school of
philosophy founded by the Cypriot sage Zeno of Kition (324-262 BCE) around 300
BCE in Athens, Greece. The Stoic worldview inspired many noteworthy leaders of
Classical antiquity and has undergone a renaissance in the opening decades of
the 21st century as people seek to learn anew from the ancient
Stoics how to lead their lives in accordance with the “Four Cardinal Virtues”
of Stoicism: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude.
Stoicism shares many
intersections with the major spiritual traditions of the world, and it can be
practiced within a variety of religious and secular contexts. The teachings of
Stoicism can help us train our minds to overcome the challenges of everyday
life in the postmodern world, and its practical insights into the human
condition can empower us to reevaluate whatever may befall us (either good or
ill) from a balanced perspective, using simple logic, sound reasoning, and good
old-fashioned common sense.
A well-known prayer from the 20th
century sums up the essence of Stoicism as it has been practiced by people from
all walks of life for 23 centuries:
“The Serenity Prayer”
By Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be
changed; courage to change the things which should be changed; and the Wisdom
to distinguish the one from the other.
Amen.
I first encountered Stoic
teachings during my undergraduate years at the University of Illinois. Majoring
in Classical Philology, with a concentration on the Latin language and
literature, I read proverbs and treatises by Stoic philosophers from the Roman
Republic and the Roman Empire, and I found their contents to be both insightful
and practical. Moreover, after reading the Stoics, I was impressed to find some
echoes of their perennial philosophy embedded in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes
(Kohelet, its author, evidently drank from the same wellsprings of
wisdom as the Stoics). Elements of Stoicism can also be found in 4
Maccabees (a philosophical homily from the Septuagint Greek Bible); in
the Johannine and Pauline writings of the Christian Testament; and in the Gospel
of Mary Magdalene (a fragmentary early Christian text rediscovered in
Egypt during the 1890s and 1940s).
However, it wasn’t until several
years ago, while there was a philosophical colleague working in my department
(let’s call her Sibyl), that I began to have a serious interest in Stoic
philosophy as a whole. As an academic advisor, Sibyl listened patiently to
students as they discussed some of their very challenging circumstances with
her, and Sibyl’s reasoned response to almost all of her advisees was simply
this: “Let’s reframe.” In other words, let’s look at this situation from
a different perspective and see if we can find a solution to these problems by
thinking about them in new and creative ways. That reminded me of Stoicism, which
encourages us to step back, reflect a while, and look at the world around us in
thoughtful, logical ways – similar to the Jedi philosophy from Star Wars
and the Vulcan philosophy from Star Trek.
Although I remain a committed
Platonist (as I have been for the past 35 years!), I have learned a great deal
from the Stoics that has helped me cope with and overcome various challenges
that I’ve had to confront over the last decade or so. I encourage my readers to
explore the following resources (both books and websites) and glean some golden
insights from the Stoics’ vast fields of knowledge and wisdom. Finally, before
you go, be sure to pause for a moment and reflect on some versified Stoic
wisdom in this week’s garland of poetry.
Recommended Resources on Stoicism
Ancient
Stoic Wisdom
·
Distichs (Attributed to Cato the Elder)
·
The Dream of
Scipio by Marcus Tullius Cicero
·
Writings by Philo of Alexandria
·
Letters from
a Stoic by Lucius Annaeus Seneca
·
Orations by Dio Chrysostom
·
Discourses and Enchiridion by Epictetus
·
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
·
The
Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Modern Stoic
Insights
·
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William
B. Irvine (Oxford UP, 2008)
·
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the
Art of Living by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman (Portfolio, 2016)
·
Lives of the
Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Ryan Holiday
& Stephen Hanselman (Portfolio, 2020)
Websites of
Interest
·
https://dailystoic.com/ à The Daily Stoic
·
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/ à Stoicism @ the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
·
https://press.princeton.edu/series/ancient-wisdom-for-modern-readers à Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers (Highly
Recommended Book Series from Princeton University Press)
·
https://traditionalstoicism.com/the-religious-nature-of-stoicism-2/ à The Religious Nature of Stoicism (Insightful Essay)
·
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/kjv/kjv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=2546945 à Ecclesiastes (Kohelet)
·
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=4496061 à 4 Maccabees (On the Supremacy of Reason)
·
https://www.gospels.net/mary à Gospel of Mary Magdalene
In this
image, the apostle Mary Magdalene is wearing a philosopher’s robe while writing
her Gospel. Notice the red egg on the table in front of her – a symbol of the
Resurrection. (Image Credit: Digital artwork created by the Editor.)
“The
Heritage”
By
Abbie Farwell Brown (1871-1927)
No matter what my birth may be,
No matter where my lot is cast,
I am the heir in equity
Of all the precious Past.
The art, the science, and the lore
Of all the ages long since dust,
The wisdom of the world in store,
Are mine, all mine in trust.
The beauty of the living Earth,
The power of the golden Sun,
The Present, whatsoe’er my birth,
I share with everyone.
As much as any man am I
The owner of the working day;
Mine are the minutes as they fly
To save or throw away.
And mine the Future to bequeath
Unto the generations new;
I help to shape it with my breath,
Mine as I think or do.
Present and Past my heritage,
The Future laid in my control; —
No matter what my name or age,
I am a Master-soul!
“If”
By Rudyard
Kipling (1865-1936)
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son.
“Invictus” (“Unconquered”)
By William
Ernest Henley (1849–1903)
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
In the
Hebrew Scriptures, the intertestamental literature of Second Temple Judaism,
and in the Christian Testament, Sophia (Divine Wisdom) is depicted as a
maternal figure who gives theosophical instruction to her devotees. In this
image, Sophia is wearing a tiara, showing her high status in the Heavenly
Court; she is also holding a sacred book, indicating her role as a teacher.
(Image Credit: Digital artwork created by the Editor.)
“A Psalm of
Life” (What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist)
By Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, however pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, — act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God overhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
“Who
Would True Valor See”
By
John Bunyan (1628-1688)
Excerpted
from Pilgrim’s Progress (1678-1684)
Who would true valor see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather.
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.
Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight,
But he will have a right
To be a pilgrim.
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He’ll fear not what men say,
He’ll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.
Diotima
(pictured above) was an ancient Greek philosopher, priestess, and seer who
flourished around 440 BCE. In this image, we see her meeting with her disciples
in the stoa – a covered porch in Athens where philosophers would instruct their
students. The Stoic school, which began around 300 BCE, recognized that both
women and men should study and teach philosophy. (Image Credit: Digital artwork
created by the Editor.)
