Simple Stoic Advice
On control and letting go
On control and letting go
The beautiful thing about Stoic philosophy is the advice contained within it is just as applicable today as it was when it was first written all those many years ago. We can learn a great deal from interpreting the advice provided and using it to our advantage as we go throughout our own lives.
Today’s quote comes to us courtesy of Epictetus, Enchiridion, entry 27:
Quote
“Just as a mark is not set up in order to be missed, so neither does the nature of evil arise in the universe.”
Advice
One of the keys to Stoic philosophy is understanding the Dichotomy of Control, that is, the separation of what is and is not within our control. Epictetus believed in this so greatly that it permeates through all of the surviving work that is attributed to him.
His student, Arrian, who is the one who documented all of Epictetus’ lectures, opens the Enchiridion with this very sentiment:
“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control. Under our control are conception, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything that is our own doing; not under our control are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything that is not our own doing.”
Entry 27 harks back to this concept. In Stoic philosophy, the idea of hitting one’s target is discussed multiple times with Cicero himself remarking:
“Take the case of one whose task it is to shoot a spear or arrow straight at some target. One’s ultimate aim is to do all in one’s power to shoot straight, and the same applies with our ultimate goal. In this kind of example, it is to shoot straight that one must do all one can; none the less, it is to do all one can to accomplish the task that is really the ultimate aim. It is just the same with what we call the supreme good in life. To actually hit the target is, as we say, to be selected but not sought.”
We can do everything within our power to succeed at hitting the target, but if we do not hit the target, is anything inherently bad about that?
The Stoics would say no and, if we do see it as bad, then we need to check our value-judgments about what it means to hit the target. Our job is to control what is within our power.
Within our power is spending the time in training, controlling our breathing, holding the bow correctly, and properly releasing the arrow. But we do not control the wind or nature, we do not control what happens once we send that arrow off to, hopefully, hit the target.
So the Stoics would argue that if you believe that hitting the target is bad, then you are not properly understanding life. Nature commands and controls life. If something like the arrow does not hit its target, it is because nature deemed it so. You had no power over this.
Our goal is to do everything we can within our own power. Everything else is outside of our control.
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