How To Think Like A Roman Emperor, Shane Cary, Section 1

Noah Kahan, End of August. I listened to this on repeat while writing this. 

The nature sounds are serene.

    A man wakes up early, brews his morning coffee, and sits in front of a fire while recalling some lessons he picked up from his grandpa, something he did often in the early morning hours. He spent much of his time working his grandad's farm during summers as a boy. The phrases read like proverbs. This particular morning he recalls what his grandpa told him after they learned that the neighbor's son had been killed in a rollover tractor accident; "remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses." The memory follows him as he gets ready for work; he guides his thoughts towards mental images of his youth, his current state, and what he will be like when he is old. Will he be a frail, old bookworm, or strong and reliable like his grandfather? The mental exercise brings with it a deep feeling of gratitude for life and for breathing. Upon opening the closet, he chooses pastel colors and simple garments that have never garnered much attention from others. When he gets to work, a fire of anxiety, chaos, and uncertainty rages as management explains to the staff that the company will be starting a new round of layoffs due to cost restraints. Instead of slipping into the tumultuous emotional current of his peers, he exercises a detached mindset that he cultivated when he was younger, after a series of fender benders that tested his humility and patience. It would be easier to feel anger and fear over the news of a potential job loss, but he knows that work still needs to be done, so he takes a deep breath in, walks to his desk, and starts his long list of work orders. Rumors start to permeate the lunch room; some people get so worked up that they pack their things and quit on the spot just to forfeit the embarrassment of being part of a "reduction in force." On the inside, he can't help but feel worry and doubt about his future at the company, but like all things in nature, he understands this will pass and something new will come from it. He reminds himself of the waves formed by a pebble being dropped into a still pond. As the pebble breaches the surface of the water, the atoms around it are excited and displaced, a series of shock waves ripple through the water, but after a brief moment of disorder, the pond returns to its previous, calm state. The news of downsizing in his company is not personal to any of the workers, just as the pebble does not have any agenda to destroy the peace of the water. Does this man think stoically? The man clocks out of his shift at five along with the rest of his colleagues. Some of them head to the bar to blow off the steam accumulated from a hard day. Some of them appear visibly shaken and sorrowful from the news. The man feels empathy for his peers and allows himself to connect to the pain they are experiencing, but again his grandpa's voice chimes in saying "to be in the process of change is not evil, any more than to be the product of change is good." He comforts his friends with a reaffirming smile and tells them that if they ever need anything he is only a call away. On his drive home, he plays his favorite songs and watches the sky change as massive cumulonimbus rain clouds form thousands of feet in the sky. Murders of ravens retreat to the power lines and rooftops; they sense a storm coming. The lightning in the distance produces a mesmerizing pulsating energy as it cracks through the air. Instead of continuing the remainder of his 20-minute commute, our man pulls off to the shoulder and rolls his window down just enough so he can smell the sweet perfume of the rain shower. He watches nature unfold in a powerful display of energy and realizes that he is not separate from those lightning bolts; he is here on the same planet, breathing the same air and exerting his energy on his environment just like those shocks of electricity. He knows everything will be ok.

    To me, this is what stoicism is all about. It isn't a fad or a practice of taking cold showers, getting Marcus Aurelius tattoos, or committing yourself to an apathetic demeanor that is far above emotion. Stoicism is about engaging with the natural current of life and facing the good and the bad bravely and rationally. The stoics believed that we all possess a capacity to be rational even in the worst of circumstances. The character I created isn't actually remembering quotes from his grandpa. Those quotes are directly from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. In Meditations, Marcus journals his thoughts about life, he critiques himself with brutal honesty, and he describes nature with a reverence and love for the way things happen. In Stoicism, reminding oneself of the impermanence of life is a core practice known as "Memento Mori" in Latin, or "remember that you must die." The practice wasn't adopted to evoke fear or uncertainty, but rather as a symbolic reminder that we have a life to live and that we must try to live it fully and in accordance with nature, not against it. What I mean by "against nature" is to deny yourself feeling or experience in an effort to shield yourself from pain. The character I used earlier in the story sits in the morning remembering what his grandfather taught him about death. In turn, it helps him adopt an attitude of gratitude at the start of his day.

    Earlier while I was writing this, I was looking for a better word than masochist to describe someone who enjoys pain, and in the search I found the word stoic. This is probably the most repeated misinterpretation of Stoicism that is oftentimes spread on the internet and in pop culture. In the book How To Think Like A Roman Philosopher by Donald Robertson, he states that,

"People often confuse 'Stoicism' with 'stoicism' (i.e., having a stiff upper lip) often think that it's about suppressing feelings like anxiety, which they view as bad, harmful, or shameful. That's not only bad psychology, it's also totally in conflict with Stoic Philosophy, which teaches us to accept our involuntary emotional reactions, our flashes of anxiety, as in-different: neither good nor bad." (Robertson, 67)

The stoics were not gluttons for punishment, emotionless psychopaths, or sigma males. However, they did not shy away from emotional or physical discomfort. Robertson writes that in his youth, Marcus Aurelius was inspired by the famous founder of cynicism Diogenes, because of his unorthodox approach to comfort and materialism. Therefore, Marcus "adopted the dress of a philosopher and began training himself to endure hardship. However, his mother argued that sleeping on a mat like a legionary on campaign was inappropriate" (Robertson, 53). Embracing discomfort and hardship is a principle of Stoicism, and is actually how the philosophy began in the first place. Zeno, the founder of stoicism, famously lost all of his belongings and riches during a storm that capsized his ship while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. In one stroke of nature, Zeno was forced to start his whole life from scratch. He first studied under Crates of Thebes, a leading cynic philosopher, and learned to reject the material comfort and social conventions that once gave his life purpose. Eventually, Zeno developed his own philosophy and it later became Stoicism, named after the Stoa Poikile, where he taught that a good life was achieved through virtue, logic, and living in accordance with nature.

    When faced with a terrible day at work, the man from earlier has a choice to make: does he join in on the fearful frenzy of coworkers, or does he try to find some clarity and rationality in the situation? I chose to model the character after a stoic approach that Robertson describes in the book. He writes that "the Stoics were also known for contemplating the hypothetical character of an ideal Sage, or wise person." For me, the character I am writing about is a stoic sage in an abstract sense. He chooses to view the unstable situation at work through the eyes of nature and it calms him, and grounds him back to reality as a result. This is not to be confused with disassociating, however, because the character still allows himself to feel anxiety and connect with his perturbed friends regardless of his internal emotional state. It isn't just helpful to oneself to remain rational and clear headed in the face of adversity. It also helps those around you, because you can serve as a strong support for them.

    At the end of the story, the guy pulls to the side of the road to watch in awe as the sky erupts into a thunderstorm. This represents a Stoic's deep appreciation for nature and for art. While some may see a thunderstorm as a damp inconvenience to life, stoics would view the occurrence through a lens of beauty, and as a reminder of their small place in the vast, powerful universe. French philosopher Pierre Hadot described the stoic exercise of imagining yourself from a third-person perspective, first from right above, then slowly scaling back until you are a small speck in the cosmos, as "the view from above" in his 1998 publication of What Is Ancient Philosophy?. This stoic exercise puts our lives into proper perspective and can actually alleviate a lot of the mental struggles that plague us. Robertson notes that early pioneers of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) Albert Ellis and Aaron T. Beck "cited Stoic philosophy as the inspiration for their respective approaches" (Robertson, 9). Robertson, who is a trained psychotherapist, says that when treating things like social anxiety he tries to target the underlying value that a person attaches to a certain outcome in a conversation. So if he is working with a client that gets really nervous talking to someone they think is really important, he will challenge them to assess why they think that particular person is above them. This exercise is very similar to Stoic philosophy because, "according to Stoic philosophy, when we assign intrinsic values like 'good' or 'bad' to external events, we're behaving irrationally and even exhibiting a form of self-deception" (Robertson, 69).

Stoic Therapy Session

    Some people might argue that Stoicism is too simple. It does not account for the myriad of human experiences, and to expect a person to have the discipline and emotional temperance to look at their emotions from an objective perspective all the time is ludicrous and unrealistic for a lot of people. Others might say that the non-stop, "look on the bright side" attitude about facing adversity could just be a form of toxic positivity. These arguments are not without some serious truth. I think Stoicism is one of the best forms of philosophy in existence, not just because it provides robust protocols for so many different challenges faced by all people, but because it focuses on nature and reality in a way that is artistic and profound. That being said, it cannot cover the entire scope of human experience, and therefore might not be the best thing for every person. Additionally, when utilized with a dogmatic mindset, like anything, I think stoicism can become overly solution focused and insensitive at times. By "solution focused" I mean people not taking the time to acknowledge the often irrational and ugly aspect of controversy before immediately rushing to offer a solution. If we are hyper fixated with rationality, I think it is possible to skip over the emotional side of things too quickly. It is probably true for some people that, in order to function in life, they have to adopt irrational viewpoints at times.

    To address one of my discussion questions, "What purpose does Stoicism have in your everyday lives," I believe that Stoicism helps ground me to nature and allows me to look at life through a confident and hopeful lens. The Stoics have the saying "Amor Fati;" I have been using this one a lot lately, especially during finals. It means "love of fate." In order to manage my test anxiety, I remind myself that I have done everything in my power to prepare for this test and that now I must accept and welcome my fate. This may seem dramatic, but it sure does work.

    All in all, it has been a blessing to share Stoicism with all of you. I cherished the ability to spend my mornings this semester discussing and reflecting on life's questions, and I have enjoyed taking this class with all of you very intelligent and thought provoking people. I hope to see you guys around campus and say Hi!

I posted this past midnight, sorry about that. 12:04am 05/03/26