The 10 Stoic Keys To A Psychologically Healthy Life
Stoic philosophy is one of those that has lasted the longest and best: since its appearance in the Hellenistic period at the hands of Zeno of Citium, it became one of the most important schools of thought of the intellectuals of the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire, and today has experienced another resurgence of popularity in societies of the Western world.
The truth is that this philosophical school contains many interesting ideas that can be “rescued” and applied to the current world, even though more than two thousand years have passed. Let’s see what they are, in this summary of the Stoic keys to having a psychologically healthy life
These are the main Stoic keys that you can draw inspiration from to develop a psychologically healthy way of living life.
1. Happiness justifies itself
For the Stoic person, happiness is the ultimate goal of life, and is equivalent to virtue and wisdom. In this sense, we do what makes us happy with nothing more than happiness as our ultimate goal, and this is the ultimate moral goal. The meaning of life is to be happy, and nothing more: neither leaving offspring, nor winning wars, nor gaining the acceptance of the whole world. In this sense, You shouldn’t have to look for a practical justification for everything you do
2. Recognizing one’s own ignorance is a form of knowledge
Another of the Stoic keys is that knowing how to detect our ignorance brings us closer to wisdom, although technically wisdom and ignorance are two opposite states. The person capable of detecting that their beliefs have vulnerabilities and gaps in knowledge is better equipped to improve their situation, and in turn his way of interpreting things is more in line with reality compared to someone who repeats falsehoods over and over again in a dogmatic manner. In this sense, the influence of Socrates is noticeable, decisive in the thought of the first Stoic thinker, Zeno of Citium.
3. Mind and body form a unit
The Stoics created a deeply materialist philosophy, and pointed out that in reality there are only bodies, those with the capacity to have effects on the physical things that surround them and at the same time to be affected by those things. In this sense, from this perspective the “soul” is a corporeal element. Therefore, enjoying mental well-being involves enjoying physical well-being, and you have to take care of yourself in both ways
4. Destiny exists, but it is not morally relevant
From the Stoic perspective, it is absurd and totally counterproductive to obsess over the concept of destiny, since, by its very definition, we cannot and should not position ourselves before it: what should be, will be. That does not mean that we should sit back and wait for everything predestined to happen around us, because on our plane of existence, we are beings endowed with reason and, therefore, with ability to choose between different options and establish plans To deny the latter would be to deny reality, given that it shows us time and time again that being rational beings is not the same as not being rational beings; The difference exists and is very relevant.
Another of the principles of Stoic philosophy is that knowledge, by the fact of being knowledge, is stable and immutable; If we think we know something but when we come into contact with new information we are forced to rethink those beliefs, it is because we never had knowledge in the first place. But, at the same time, for the Stoics, becoming a wise person involves going through these experiences several times in which we cling to a mirage of knowledge, and we must accept them with humility, since we learn from them: reveal our biases
6. We must be fair to everyone, without falling into relativism
For the Stoics, ethical commands must be applied equally to everyone; Failure to do so would imply entering a vicious circle in which we are constantly looking for excuses to treat others differently based on our preferences.
This means that we must avoid both falling into moral relativism (the belief that the simple fact of living in different societies or cultures implies having to adhere to totally different ethical ideals), and falling into discrimination based on the spirit of revenge against who has hurt us in the past. It is a way of seeing things that has been called “Stoic cosmopolitanism.” and that can create a series of social circles around us in which reciprocity and equanimity are respected, something that also benefits us and our mental health.
7. A happy life is free of passions
That is one of the most controversial Stoic ideas from the perspective of Westerners of our times, but it should be noted that for the Stoics, passions are actually impulses; psychological processes that go against reason. These are characterized by destabilizing the person’s progress towards happiness, because they make them give in to certain experiences without taking into account a global vision of the situation and the journey that has led them to that moment. So, passions lead us to “forget” what really matters to us of what we are willing to apply continued effort and discipline to, and they are not exactly equivalent to what makes us feel motivated and involved in something that adds meaning to our lives, but rather the opposite.
Another of the fundamental Stoic principles is based on the need to strengthen our temperance, understood as the capacity for the influence that worldly pleasures have on us, those disconnected from the path that leads us to be virtuous/happy.
This does not have to mean tormenting ourselves by thinking over and over again about what we should not do, even if a part of us wants to do it; As for Stoic philosophy, rationality goes hand in hand with maturity, His way of facing temptations is not based on self-punishment, but on rationality: which in theoretical and practical terms brings us closer to virtue. For example, limiting our exposure to what tempts us is a perfectly justifiable way of not falling into passions and, at the same time, of not constantly suffering from it.
9. Courage does not mean not suffering from fear
We should not martyr ourselves for feeling a fear that we believe has a part contrary to reason, among other things, because this would make us feel more vulnerable, distressed, and fearful. The important thing is not to let fear paralyze us in those situations where what is needed of us is to face a possible source of danger, showing courage.
10. Wisdom is created through experience: you have to go out and learn
For the Stoics, we are not born wise, or even rational ; Both things are built through a process of psychological maturity. And, by the way, this implies learning from the interaction with the environment and the assessment of the stimuli captured by our senses; Not everything is based on introspection.
