Stoicism and Spirituality

Last month I came across a quote from Seneca and started my exploration of the Stoicism. Seneca(1st century AD) is one of the chief philosophers of Stoicism, whose literature is still available to us. Apart from him, there are other important philosophers - Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius (whose Meditations is a classic book). Epictetus' Enchiridion, which means literally a Handbook, is really very nice, short and crisp book which provides a great introduction to Stocism. 

I was very impressed by Enchiridion and found that it had very good tips which can be useful to me in my spiritual progress. Some of the important points which I would like to inculcate are as below:

• "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things" - This is as simple and truthful as it can be. Very straightforward and will force us to think, when we're sad, angry, anxious etc due to anything. We need to analyze the things/situations and understand that our anxiety/anger etc is only because what meaning we're making out of the situation. A famous example given is that when somebody insults us, it is we who have it in our power, as how to react to it. If we give the insult too much importance, it causes anger/frustration and if we do not, we stay calm. Food for thought. Another way of stating this would be, "it's not that Event -> Reaction but, Event -> Judgement of the Event -> Reaction". And this judgement of the event part is what can be totally in our control. We need to practice and take control of this part.
  
• Externals - There are things which are in our control (opinion, aim, desire, aversion) and things which are not in our control (body, property, reputation, office). So whenever something unpleasant happens, analyze, if there was something in our control or not, if not, just say "I have nothing to do with this", i.e. I cannot spend more time ruing about it, as it was not in my control.

An example was given, as to what Stoics think about life. It said, life is like a complex game, where we need to play with virtue, our principles, give our best in whatever our business is, however, we need to understand that in this complex game, a lot of part is played by "chance". Hence, whatever may happen, be not worried about what is the result of your actions, as that is not in our control (See 2nd principle above), and is due to "chance" and stay calm and happy.

 

This seemed very much like famous verse from Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna says to Arjun,  

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

So, the plan is to take these small teachings and start applying them in life. I hope to journal my progress on this and various other things regularly, to stay on track and to stay committed!

References:

Enchiridion: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45109/45109-h/45109-h.htm#c4