The stoic Epictetus is supposed to have said, “Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.” When I read up on what Epictetus thought was within our control it’s pretty small. All that’s under our control is our thoughts and opinions. Even our actions are constrained by the external world. So, this freedom he speaks of is internal.
It doesn’t seem to be much. But I guess if you live in a world where there is one Nero and a hundred million Romans without any real freedom you have to take what’s available. And who knows, some of the good emperors were stoics. At least Marcus Aurelius has been presented to us through his writings as one. Maybe he was.
Then what about our world? We brag that we are a free people. And compared to the Roman Empire I guess we are freer. But when I think of the direction, we are headed it’s not that much better and in fact because of the efficiency of our technology maybe eventually we will be more thoroughly enslaved than my ancient forebears on the Italian peninsula. In that case maybe I should consider the wisdom of Epictetus and his world view.
This all came up because I saw a quote that said something like, “Hopelessness is freedom.” I took it to mean that hoping for things that won’t happen is wasting your life. That the better way is to take the situation as you find it and work around it to accomplish what is possible.
This makes sense to me. I waited decades for things to go the way I wanted them to go and it only ever got worse. That’s because I thought that other people believed what I did. I thought that George W. Bush was a “conservative.” Well, maybe he was, by his definition. But reality wasn’t the same for him and me.
Now, Donald Trump seems more like what I hoped for. But Donald Trump isn’t the Emperor of America. He’s not even the boss. He’s just someone trying hard to fix things. I wouldn’t exactly equate him to Marcus Aurelius. I don’t think anyone who spent any time with Stormy Daniels could be considered a stoic. I don’t think he’d even qualify as an epicurean. He’s a well-meaning man trying to fix things by plugging holes in a collapsing dam. Will he succeed, even temporarily? It’s really hard to say.
Stretching the Roman Empire analogy way beyond recognition, the Goths are already over the Rhine and the legions are undermanned and poorly trained. So, things look pretty bad.
Maybe it is time to start looking within to see what can be done to make the best of a bad situation. The stoic viewpoint was an important part of the Christian philosophy that allowed something to survive the wreck of the Western Roman Empire. The Christians couldn’t become legionnaires and defeat the barbarians. But they could become monks and form a nucleus of knowledge and civilization to help the common people survive the chaos of the dark ages.
Maybe we will see something similar. Any help that is going to come in the future might have to come from ourselves. I’m not sure I’d express it as, “Hopelessness is freedom.” Maybe a better way to say it is. “The truth shall set you free.” Facing reality is the best way to make progress. See things for how they really are and you are less likely to be disappointed in how things turn out. Do I feel freer now? Maybe.