What is a Stoic Indifference?
A Stoic Response to Sufferings of Life
The resources of the world are scarce and are depleting every passing day. There is more demand than supply, more sick than hospital beds, more hungry than food on the planet, more job applicants than jobs, more homeless than homes and more pain than pleasure. However, one thing is ubiquitous and that is the suffering. Everybody, from rich to poor, big or small, suffers one way or the other in this world. Some suffer less and some suffer more but the total amount of suffering remains unchanged. It is an infinite resource that has no limits. All the relief efforts for alleviating the sufferings which includes work, play, relationships, and entertainment are temporary and only provide a momentary escape from the suffering. A lot has been written and a lot has been philosophized and yet there is always need for more to tend to our existential wounds and for the consolation of our souls.
The topic of suffering has been so crucial that it has resulted in origination of major religions (e.g. Christianity and Buddhism) and has been the burning topic for many schools of philosophy. However, stoics have the most pragmatic approach for dealing with sufferings. Stoics divide the material things, events, and circumstances into two major categories: Good/Bad and the Indifferent. The virtues are good and are to be pursued, the vices are bad and are to be avoided and the rest don’t matter in living a good life.
1. The Stoic Virtues
The core of stoic teachings lies in the concept of human nature, which they equate with ‘reason’ and therefore, all the lessons, advice and practices are for the preservation, cultivation, and strengthening of reason. In this way, stoics propose four fundamental virtues that ought to be present in a person of good character. These four virtues are: Wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice.
1.1. Wisdom
“Reason is your own rightful treasure. Would you trade it for power, praise, or pleasure? Those things may seem good for a time, but they are worthless next to the rational soul within you.” — Marcus Aurelius
The wisdom according to stoics is the practice of reason in discerning between good and bad. This is the internal compass that guides an individual for navigating life. Every action must be checked by reason for its usefulness and effectiveness in attaining a better life. If our actions lead to temporary pleasure at the expense of long-term dissatisfaction and misery then it is better to forgo those actions. In this way, all the material goods, e.g. power, pleasure and fame which come at the expense of loss of reason are to be avoided.
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own” — Epictetus
Another crucial aspect of wisdom is to discern between what is in one’s control and what is not in one’s control. This distinction helps one not waste time and helps alleviate unnecessary suffering when misfortune befalls upon a person. Our actions, beliefs and opinions are in our control, but the responses, successes or failures are not in our control. A lot of what happens in life can be attributed to fate.
1.2. Courage
Courage is the tenacity of a person to withstand the harshness and atrocities of life. It is the resolve that makes one stand against the injustice, adversities, and sufferings. A stoic understands the harshness of life and its unfairness and yet stands fast in practicing what is good.
“There are misfortunes which strike the sage — without incapacitating him, of course — such as physical pain, infirmity, the loss of friends or children, or the catastrophes of his country when it is devastated by war. I grant that he is sensitive to these things, for we do not impute to him the hardness of a rock or of iron. There is no virtue in putting up with that which one does not feel.” — Seneca
Being courageous requires overcoming fear which is natural human emotion. It is not that a stoic can’t feel fear because it is a natural reaction to an uncertain or dangerous situation however, a stoic quickly gets past the initial involuntary reaction towards fear and lets reason take control once again. The most common things that evoke a fearful response in a person are death, pain, and loss. These things are neither good nor bad and are inevitable so, a stoic person should move towards the goal regardless of their presence.
1.3. Temperance
“Pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.” — Seneca
For a stoic to practice reason and stay on the path of goodness, it is important to understand the concept of temperance. It means one should do what is necessary. This doesn’t mean one should be lazy and not perform the duties, but it means one should always know what is enough to accomplish the task. This adherence to moderation allows stoics to keep peace of mind and gives freedom to practice reason.
“‘If you seek tranquillity, do less.’ Or (more accurately) do what’s essential” — Marcus Aurelius
Surprisingly, this concept of temperance is very similar to the concept of Amor Fati which stoics believe and practice. Fredrik Nietzsche, often considered as a strong critic of stoicism writes about this concept and relates the essentialism as something which makes things beautiful.
“I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who makes things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth!” — Fredrik Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s acceptance of the concept Amor Fati regardless of his other doctrines which conflict with it, is a good example of why we should not blindly follow all the teachings of a school of philosophy but use reason to determine what is good for ourselves and everybody around us.
1.4. Justice
Justice in stoicism is a different concept than legal meaning of the term justice. Stoics believe that humans are part of a bigger whole which they call nature and therefore, they stress that humans have a duty towards their fellow humans in society.
“The natures of all things are nested within nature as a whole. When you reject what life gives you, you place yourself in opposition to nature — including your own nature — and so harm yourself.” — Marcus Aurelieus
This concept is important in building communities and equal societies. This doesn’t mean that stoics don’t understand the individual differences and not value them, but they focus on the bigger picture which demands the surrender of the individual differences in pursuit of common good and alleviation of suffering.
“A commitment to justice in your own acts. Which means: thought and action resulting in the common good. What you were born to do.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.31
Although the word “common good” has become a cliché in the western societies and have lost its true meaning but what it means is that individual doesn’t exist in isolation. One is born in a culture with a preset physical traits and abilities which is one’s fate, and this fate is also the fate of that organism in totality, with which it has been evolving for centuries. So, every action that an individual makes to better its own life, or the lives of the ones surrounding the one, it makes up the fate of the whole.
2. The Indifference
“My soul has power over my body and mind — it controls my thoughts and actions. But it can’t control external events or the thoughts and actions of others. Moreover, my soul has power only in the present moment — it can’t change the past or know the future. So, it is indifferent to those things.” — Marcus Aurelius
Stoics believed that there are things in life which are neither good nor bad in and of itself but their use can make them good or bad. In this way, wealth, fame, reputation, power, health, pleasure, and success are not good on their own but if acquiring these things results in one being able to practice virtues more effectively then these should be pursued.
Similarly, poverty, infamy, weakness, sickness, pain, failure and death are not bad in itself but if these things come in the way of practicing the stoic virtues, then these can be considered as bad.
“Exert your efforts within your sphere of power, and be indifferent to everything else. (By ‘indifferent’, I don’t mean apathetic, but accepting of all that Fate gives you.)” — Marcus Aurelius
In other words, everything that is external and not in one’s control should be considered indifferent because dwelling on these things can only bring more misery for the individual as well as the whole of humankind. However, they are not to be avoided either, if fate or fortune grants one with anything that falls under the category of indifference then one should take it whole heartedly.
3. Final Thoughts
Stoics leave us with a valuable treasure of wisdom that is timeless. These lessons, principles and guidelines can be a torch while navigating in the darkness and sufferings of life. The stoic indifference is something that we all need in our daily lives. However, we should not forget what is the real meaning of the term indifference. It is quite easy to equate this as apathy which is unfortunately the natural response of the modern world, but the stoic indifference is completely opposite of being apathic and not caring what goes on in our lives or the lives of the others. In fact, a good stoic practitioner should care about their actions and their impact on the humanity.
