Week of Living Philosophically
While I was participating in the stoicism activities for my second Week of Living Philosophically (WoLP), the concept of understanding what is in our power stood out as especially important to the philosophy. Learning about this has been the most helpful part of my experience during my WoLP. Learning how to adjust my actions to focus on what was under my control influenced my approach to all of the stoic meditation tasks for the rest of the week in terms of acting rationally. This concept connects to the idea of self-control and moderation, as it guided how I moderated irrational desires and emotions throughout the week. Emotions are not antithetical to stoicism, as they can still dictate actions in a beneficial way. Instead, it is important to focus on rational emotions that will not lead you to excessive self-indulgence or irrational behavior that is ultimately not constructive and doesn’t positively affect any outcome in a desirable way. This is because Stoicism is not about the absence of emotions, but rather about achieving a fulfilling and meaningful life through rational actions. Consequently, appropriate reactions shaped my approach to the week’s activities, making me reevaluate a lot of decisions I would normally make without much thought.
I incorporated the idea of control into my morning and evening meditations. In the morning, I would consider what was bothering me ahead of my day. Usually, it would involve anxieties about work or other responsibilities. I then considered what I could reasonably do in a day while accepting that I would not be able to complete everything immediately. This helped me set priorities and focus on a few responsibilities at once, managing irrational stress and anxiety. In the evening, I would consider if I had focused only on what I had planned to do, or whether I let myself get overwhelmed with anxieties that I couldn’t control. Writing my thesis through this was interesting, but also helpful, as I was able to accept that other assignments would have to be completed at a later date without feeling too self-critical about this fact. I used this method to stay focused on the task at hand.
After learning about the stoic approach to nature and the natural world, it is easy to see how misconceptions about stoicism became so popular. Considering our place in the universe as a small part of a larger natural system can easily be misconstrued as apathy when, in reality, I think that it relates more to the stoic sense of power and controlling what we can. Rather than acting robotically and without emotion, stoicism is about understanding our individual place in this larger system. Following this, irrational emotions like anger and jealousy seem a lot less important in comparison. This connects to the communal aspect of stoicism and our relationships with other people. I understood this as recognizing that others may harbor these feelings while at the same time being able to accept this fact in a way that doesn’t interfere with your personal relationship in a negative way. I see this as more empathetic than what I had imagined stoicism to be. Again, I think that it is important to distinguish empathy from apathy, as this approach emphasizes understanding among friends as a way to demonstrate caring as opposed to being generally dismissive or disinterested because of a lack of care.
