Empathy and the Stoic Mind

From the Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday (May 31 entry):

We Have But One Obligation

“What is your vocation? To be a good person.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

The Stoics believed, above all else, that our job on this earth is to be a good human being. It is a basic duty, yet we are experts at coming up with excuses for avoiding it. …[In other words,] “Do your job.”

If you watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em_qw-r6CMg about how Marcus Aurelius responded to a pandemic, you’ll notice that this Roman emperor was guided by empathy. It would have been great to have him at our dialogue session last night.

I thought last night’s dialogue on empathy as a life skill was among the best since we started the series. This morning I have seriously considered expanding the number of hours each week that I devote to practicing the skill, and to dialogue. (If I remember correctly, my high school basketball team practiced at least four times a week.) There would be various ways I could do this. For example, I could set up my own Zoom account and invite one or two of the participants at the Wednesday event to do a break-out with me on Thursday night. There are other benefits for me beyond building my life skills. Without that evening dialogue I tend to be so tired after about 6 PM that I don’t get much done. The dialogue gives zest to my evening and I sleep well that night.

We can learn a lot from the Stoics about empathy. Pay attention to what you can control, they insisted. This is one part of the compass provided in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMNMyLm57VA to help you navigate the stormy seas of your life. We should not get upset about things outside our control.

But there's much more to that second maxim in the video. If we work together and use our imagination, we can control quite a bit. Indeed you might find that by working with others and using your imagination, you can control far more than any Roman emperor ever did.

Is that so far beyond our imagination? Let’s think about it imaginatively between now and next Wednesday.

Toot sweet,

Arthur