Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (January 31, 2021)

Hello there,

The past few exercises we focused on facing difficulties and challenging our externals to that end. I would like to drive the idea home and round it out from another angle with some words from Seneca on Providence:

“Without an antagonist, prowess fades away… good men should take whatever befalls in good part and turn it to their advantage. The thing that matters is not what you bear but how you bear it.”

I love this quote because it so succinctly summarizes the Stoic approach that we have been discussing for the past few weeks. The thing that matters is not what you beat but how you bear it. I feel like I haven’t much to add to this as Seneca’s words are clear, to the point and self-explanatory. We can only be virtuous if we be virtuous. So stop looking around you to find virtue, as it can only be found inside you. It doesn’t matter what happens or what challenges you face, but it only matters how you deal with it.

So for this week’s exercise, identify areas of your life where you think you are being challenged by fate and the universe and make an action plan on how best to deal with it. End result may not be preferable compared to an alternate reality where you didn’t have to deal with this issue, but the fact of the matter is, there is one reality and in that reality you DO have to deal with that issue. So dealing with the issue is (for a lack of better words) a non-issue. How you deal with it…not that you have some control over. So take control and be virtuous.

Anderson Silver