Stoicism Gives You Permission Not To Care

Ancient philosophy in times of apocalypse

Caleb

Oct 01, 2024

Welcome to The Stoa Letter, the newsletter on Stoic theory and practice.

🏛️ Theory

The newest apocalypse is not up to you.

The next drama doesn’t need to involve you.

Stoicism gives you permission not to care about irrelevant things outside of your control.

It’s true – Stoicism is a social philosophy. It’s not for people who want to completely isolate themselves. The ancient Stoics urged people to fulfill their duties and play their roles well.

But once that is done and you’ve done your part, you can let go.

This message is especially relevant when we’re online. Marketers and influencers post to incite our passions: anger, anxiety, lust. A simple visit to any news or social site puts one’s Stoicism to the test.

But if you ask me what is the good for humans, I cannot say to you anything else than that it is how you make choices with respect to impressions.

Epictetus, Discourses 1.8

Some feel pressure to be in it. To be caught up. Sometimes they are right. But most of us don’t need to be as plugged in all the time. We can return our focus to our communities and the reality that is right in front of us.

There’s no need to let our lives be run by other people’s stories.

When you have been compelled by circumstances to be disturbed in a manner, quickly return to yourself and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts; for you will have more mastery over the harmony by continually recurring to it.

Meditations 6.11

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🎯 Action

When you become distracted today, return to the task at hand. Remember Marcus Aurelius’s mantra.

Quickly return to yourself and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts; for you will have more mastery over the harmony by continually recurring to it.

🔗 Resources

📖 Chris Gill and Brittany Polat’s newest book Stoic Ethics just came out. They always do excellent work, I'm looking forward to reading it.

🎧️ Michael Tremblay spoke with author Brigid Delaney about the role of Stoicism in her life and her experience with the wellness industry (Brigid is the author of Wellmania, now a Netflix show).