Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (June 20, 2021)

Hello there,

Following last week’s exercise, there was a great discussion on hierarchy and how we can reconcile the equality of all with the hierarchy we see as almost necessary around us (and throughout our history). Let’s get things started with Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations II 1:

“My city and country, as Antoninus, is Rome; as a man, the world.”

Let us never forget our school sees the superfluous construct (we call society) as being the root of many evils including our internal angst and anxiety. This, we learned from our older cousins (the Cynics). And when Zeno began his tutelage under Crates, this was exactly the starting point. 

But Zeno did not find escape from pain and society as a viable purpose for life (Epicureanism), nor did he find sitting outside society, criticising it while looking in (Cynicism) as adding sufficient value to his life (this is quite the oversimplification of all three and the timeline is not linear – however, if this interests you there are many more interesting details you can learn about the beginnings of our school!!!). 

So Zeno took the lessons from the Cynics and 1) understood the superfluous nature of human society; and 2) Recognized that we are, in fact, connected at a much higher level since we are all gifted this unique level of consciousness. This unique connection, which also allows us to communicate with our ancestors (anthropology, written records, etc.) and dream about the future, is what connects us in the human community! 

The Cynics will have you focus more on the human community and tear down the human society (fight the establishment!…the message has echoed through the millennia). The Stoics, however, felt the right thing to do would be to “fight the system from the inside”. And the pain and effort it takes to fight the system (up to and including one’s own life) is absolutely worth it if one can bring value to our species and our world (yes this does sound very Utilitarian, but our school predates John Stewart Mill by about 2000 years).

So for this exercise, take some time to define the split between the human society vs the human community. This will help you better identify choices for actions that are truly virtuous (i.e. make the world a truly better place). If I use myself as an example, in the human society, I am a CPA, a father (yes in that order…as far as society is concerned that is), a coach, a homeowner, a neighbour, etc. Note that these all come with a rank (in my case as a whitish male in North America who has significant technical training, these ranks tend to be higher up in the human society). Buuuuut….I live and operate in the human community. In the human community, I am just a limb that is part of the whole. This is where we are all equal. And I use my rank in the human society to HELP the human community.

I hope this gives you some ideas on the line which separates the two. This distinction really will help you make better decisions with your time, which in turn, will help you feel better and sleep better at night. So it is a worthwhile exercise.

A simple analogy regarding our school’s stance on the human society vs community is that we choose to play this game (which we see for the vile veil that it is) in order to help the other players along. In the game itself we may have differing hierarchies, however, the players themselves are all equal human beings at the core of it. And although we would prefer this societal structure NOT to exist so we can get back to finding happiness in our nature, we accept that we will not be able to change society in our lifetime. We can only make small changes around us, one moment at a time one, one good decision at a time. So we play “the game” that is society and do our best to help the community along the way.

Anderson Silver (Stoicism for a Better Life)