Philosophy and the many different ideologies that come with it have been practiced for centuries and to this day they are often still studied and even practiced. Hello world, It is your favorite digital babbler and today I wanted to talk to you all about my latest and greatest obsession. Stoicism.
I recently picked up the book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, by Donald Robertson and in the book there is a good amount of information regarding stoicism and its practices. To put it short and sweet for you, stoicism is the practice of controlling one’s emotions in an environment that one usually has no control in. An example of this would be when driving… Let’s be honest, how many times have you driven literally anywhere and had a fit of road rage because other people on the road seem like they got their license in a day and age where horse drawn carriages were the only form of transportation. I’ll be the first to admit that this is something that has happened to me on more than one occasion, and while the screaming and occasional F-bomb feels good in the moment… I ultimately feel foolish for having exhausted the energy in a negative way only for nothing to transpire from it. In the book author Donald Robertson follows Marcus Arelies – known as one of Rome's greatest leaders – in what is part a retelling of his life through the collection of diaries collected after his death and another part that is a fictitious rendition of how the Emperor may have dealt with situations that were presented to him. A very interesting aspect to this book is the practices implemented by the revered Roman emperor: like listening to his enemies and collecting information to counter their arguments as opposed to just simply putting them to death – as was the practice normally followed by emperors of these times. The great emperor also refrained from wearing the garments of an emperor and instead insisted on wearing the clothing of average people. In a time where social status was everything Marcus Arelius was practicing stoicism and these practices coupled with his amazing leadership are some of the reasons why he was seen as one of the greatest.
citizen, matron, curule magistrate, emperor, general, workman, slave
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