How powerful is philosophy? The answer presents itself to us, when we read about the histories of political movements, wars, religious strife and societal dogmas. For example, Marxism, that has virtually shaped a large portion of the world, evolved from the thoughts and perspectives of one man, who was himself a reject in many ways – a poor man who had to leave his country to escape his debts, whose handwriting was so terrible that his wife had to write things down for him, and who would have perished economically, had it not been for his best friend. Karl Marx was a bitter person, and for good reasons. But what he thought and wrote, continues to influence nations even today. His vision of a Utopian world, where everyone will be equally treated irrespective of religion, language, talent or wealth, was shared by many. The result – formation of the USSR, followed by the spread of Communism across the globe.
Ideas are indeed more powerful than bullets. We can fight ideas with muscle-power, and no matter how hard we might try to eradicate some ideas from the mind of individuals, it somehow manages to survive in the collective mind of the society. This is what makes philosophy rather important – philosophy helps us organize, declutter and align our thoughts and ideas. A good personal philosophy can help you cope up with your surroundings and circumstances, no matter how severe they are. There’s a story of an American pilot, whose plane was shot down by the Vietcong, during the Vietnam war. When he was descending down, right into the clutches of his enemies, he applied what he’d studied in college – Stoicism. And after his years of captivity, he proclaimed that it was his Stoic mindset that had allowed him to survive the torture inflicted upon them. Despite going through tremendous hardships, he had not mentally broken down.
The Bhagwat Geeta is another example. What Shri Krishna is shown to teach the depressed, weakened and doubtful Arjuna, is actually a combination of various philosophies of ancient India. As it is written in the Geeta Dhyanam (meditations on the Geeta), All the Upanishads are (like) cows, and the Lord Gopalanandana (Shri Krishna) milks them, to produce their milk (essence) that is the Bhagwat Geeta, for the calf (i.e Arjuna himself). The Geeta is in a way the essence of the Upanishads. And this clearly shows us that the right philosophy can guide us along the right path.
In here, however, I’d focus more on western philosophy. This is not because I consider them superior to the schools of Indian philosophy, but simply because western philosophies are much more differentiated from religion, compared to the Indian texts which often form an integral component of the Hindu philology. So, let us begin the first installment in the series, and discover an important Greek school of thought - Stoicism.
Stoicism
Ok, so first and foremost of all, let us start with what I already mentioned above - Stoicism. What exactly is Stoicism? It’s a school of thought that emerged during the Hellenistic period of ancient Greece, following the death of Alexander the Great. The word Stoic originates from the Greek root Stoa, which refers to those pavilions where the first thinkers of this line of philosophy used to gather. Stoicism is in many ways very similar to Buddhism. Both these philosophies attempt to show us a way out of the maze of suffering. However, their approaches vary substantially. Stoicism primarily focuses on the idea of a Self separate from the mind, body and the sense organs. This Self is the true soul, according to the Stoics.
But how exactly does Stoicism answer the critical question – how can we escape suffering? Well, the Stoic view is pretty simple – Don’t be affected by what you can’t change, either positively or negatively. All incidents, events and happenings are actually neutral, according to Stoicism. It’s not like Australia beats India in a cricket match simply to make you feel bad. It was to happen, and it did happen. There’s nothing we can do about it. But what we do have control over, is how we are affected by it. And as human beings, it is our duty to be in control of our minds, rather than allowing it to control us.
Let me share with you all an experience of mine. So, one day I was walking with my mother (who is not much familiar with Kolkata), near the Victoria Memorial Hall. Naturally, she was excited to see it after a long time, and she said things like “Oh! It’s changed substantially!”, and I was glad to see her glad. I started sharing with her the stories of development and newer projects such as the famous Fountain of Joy in the close vicinity. Now, a bunch of guys were sitting under a tree, and almost all of them started laughing and cracking jokes - “Huh, silly villagers! Showing Kolkata to his mother, as if they’ve never seen it! Morons, lol!” and such rubbish. Naturally, I grew angry, and I seriously wanted to go and punch some of them.
But then, I ask you, would that have been a good decision? Not really. My mind was clouded with anger and irritation. But instead, I decided to separate myself from the incident, which is the trick in Stoicism. The event had occurred, there was no way I could change it. I didn’t know those guys, they didn’t know me either. So, just because they’re acting stupidly, should I act stupidly as well? Anger was the emotion I felt at that time, but I decided to stay calm and neutral.
This is the methodology of Stoicism – to control our emotions. And the Stoics employ several tactics to do that. Some of these are:
1. Mentally isolating yourself from the incident
In most cases of anger, resentment, pain, sorrow or shame, we cannot control the negative emotions simply because we see the entire incident from the perspective of a participant. But once we raise ourselves above the incident, and look at it from the perspective of a neutral observer, we begin to break free from the clutches of emotions. “He’s insulting me! I must break his nose!” here, the predominant feeling is anger. But wise is he who can control his anger, by staying aloof - “Ok, so he thinks he’s insulting me. But he’s doing so only because he means to feel a momentary sense of pleasure by falsely assuming himself to be superior to me”. This is easier said than done, but it’s a start anyway. We aren’t supposed to bite a dog back, in the case it bites us, right?
2. The A-B-C-D-E model
This is essentially a psychological topic, that results from empirical psychology. However, it’s quite similar to Stoicism, and helps us understand and simplify the Stoic methodology of not reacting to emotions. Say, someone insults you. That is A, or the Activating Event. It triggers a response in you, thanks to B or Belief. Now, C or Casual Response comes into effect. You immediately feel anger towards the person. Then, it must pass through D or Decision, which is the most crucial part of this model. And finally, E or Execution (the reaction) is generated. So, in the above case, for example, those guys mocked and insulted me, for no apparent reason. That is A. Now, I believe that getting mocked is bad, since I feel somehow lessened, or inferior in my own eyes, if I don’t react properly. Now, the casual response or C is the anger that is generated. I feel like punching the face of the guy. But before executing it, i.e going to the step E, there’s the step D, or decision-making. I have to decide wisely, because if I don’t do so, what’d be the difference between me and them? Therefore, we must take the decision wisely, and take as much time as we want, before moving to E from C. D should take the maximum amount of time, because it is a voluntary process. |
| Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a great later Stoic |
3. The concept of Orientation
Ok, so how should we decide? We don’t know which decision is correct. Then, what should be the guideline for that? This is where the Stoic concept of Orientation comes into play. Orientation is, to put it simply, the way a thing should act. It’s like the innate purpose of something, whether it’s living or non-living. For example, the orientation of a dog is to behave like a dog. No one would be amazed if a street dog is found scavenging through garbage. But if you or I do that, won’t people around us be surprised? Certainly, they’d perhaps call the cops immediately, or guys from the asylum, or both. Naturally, the concept of orientation is seen to work here. The primary purpose of a human being is to act like one – to be guided by reason rather than emotions. Let’s face it, we’re the only creatures we know of, who can successfully apply complex reasonings to build civilizations capable of flying beyond the planet itself! And we haven’t done that just by behaving like animals. Animals have emotions too, but what they don’t have, is the power of higher reasoning – to remain neutral and justify the utility (or futility) of their own emotions. So, what’s the unique feature that separates us from the animalkind? Intelligence, and its products. Therefore, our orientation must be to apply intelligent reasoning, before we take a decision. When someone insults you for apparently no reason – either there is a reason that isn’t apparent to you at the beginning, or the person is acting like an animal. In either case, it’s not your duty to go and thrash him, right?There was a great Stoic philosopher, going by the name Epictatus, who was a slave for most part of his life. So, one day he was brutally beaten by his master. When he was asked “How do you feel? You were so badly beaten today”, he replied “I feel nothing. I wasn’t beaten, my body was beaten. The body bled and winced in pain, but how could I feel it? I am not my body!”. Think that’s too preposterous? Well, there’s another story, of the great Bengalee reformer (and one of the pioneers of Bengali Renaissance), Ishwarchandra Banerjee, more popularly known as Vidyasagar. Once, he had to be operated on, and there was no anaesthesia. So, he asked the doctor to do it, while he would be chatting with his friend. After a while, when the operation was over, Vidyasagar said “Ah, it’s over already? I didn’t feel a thing!”.
These are pretty extreme examples, most certainly. We can’t definitely ignore physical pain, especially when it’s rather excruciating. But we can always shield ourselves from mental pain. Just because your boyfriend/girlfriend has cheated you recently, it doesn’t mean you’re worthless. It’s simply that the guy/girl is a moron, and wasn’t worthy of you anyway. You can’t change the world, but you can always change how the world makes you feel.
So, we’ve seen how Stoicism helps us cope with our surroundings. The most basic things are these, once again:
1. You can’t change most events, but you can change how you feel towards them.
2. A human should always behave like one and employ intelligent decision-making, before taking any action.
3. The Self or the true ‘You’ and ‘I’ are separate from our bodies, minds, intellects and sense-organs.
4. All events are neutral, because nothing is inherently bad or good. It’s just the response we’ve towards them, that categorizes them as good or evil.
5. Neutral contemplation, alongside objective analysis, of events are important.
In the next parts of this series, I’d love to discuss more about some other schools of philosophy, that too are interesting – together they teach us one thing, how to live well.
NOTE: I originally posted this article as a part of my ongoing series on Mission Sharing Knowledge. You can find the same thing posted over HERE
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