I once immersed myself in Stoicism. For a year, I maintained an Instagram account with daily posts on the philosophy. I studied the sources thoroughly and memorized quotes as mantras, but I started to feel strange. I noticed that the trend was often twisted and served right-wing narratives, which collided with my understanding.
Creators have weaponized classical wisdom to condemn everything modern, calling it ‘corrupted.’ The next step was to reclaim an imagined golden era based on a fallacy that crumbles under scrutiny. The “Golden Age Myth” has misled humanity for millennia, dating back to the Greeks and Romans. It led people to romanticize the past while their societies descended into totalitarianism and warfare.
Although these distortions persist, nothing stands further from Extremism than Stoicism’s core values: Wisdom, Moderation, Justice, and Courage.
Recently, while organizing notes for a Second Brain project, I rediscovered these five pillars that still deeply define my worldview:
Rediscovering My Stoic Foundations
Nature is My Source
Nature flows regardless of our concerns. By observing it, I learn resilience, patience, and acceptance. Seasons shift, rivers carve their paths, and life adapts, reminding me that I belong to this greater system. Wisdom comes from aligning with nature rather than resisting it.
Evolution, My History
Each of us embodies countless generations of adaptation and survival. By understanding biological and cultural evolution, I place myself within a larger story. Change is inevitable, and gradual progress remains fundamental to existence.
Evidence, My Authority
In our age of opinions and misinformation, evidence guides me. Stoicism values reason, and I base decisions on what can be observed and verified. This doesn’t dismiss intuition but refines it through knowledge. Truth often challenges comfort, yet provides the only solid foundation for lasting wisdom.
Eudaimonia, My Quest
Pursuing a ‘life of meaning and virtue’ anchors my existence. Living well means cultivating wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. It’s a journey without a destination that requires constant reflection and demands excellence in character and action.
To Make the World a Wiser, Better Place, My Mission
If my life serves any purpose, this is it: contributing to a more thoughtful, compassionate world. Whether sharing knowledge or embodying principles to inspire, I seek to shape society through my actions. Stoicism teaches that while I can’t control everything, I can at least influence as an example.
Rediscovered in old notes, these simple yet potent pillars set the groundwork for my satisfied life. Though sometimes failing, I use this moral compass to navigate the uncertain waves of existence. And I welcome you to share yours with me.
7 responses
That was a nice read. Glad you found the value in the philosophy.
I appreciate you took the time to read it, Sean. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing. I have not studied the Stoics greatly, but I agree with your statement about irrational longing for golden eras, which probably were not so golden in many regards.
> I base decisions on what can be observed and verified
I think that perhaps one of the biggest differences between current left-wing and right-wing politics has to do with the types of evidence one takes into account. Left-wing supporters tend to place much higher value and trust in modern science, which is definitely evidence-based. However, more and more of scientific evidence is not something that you can see with your own eyes, but requires specialized tools like microscopes or particle accelerators, and many right-wing supporters seem to disregard that sort of evidence, (when it doesn’t suit their tastes, but gladly use modern technology like smartphones, which is built upon the same sort of evidence from centuries of scientific and engineering progress). Unfortunately, it seems very difficult to reason with the sort of person who takes this sort of view.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Robert! Yes, I once read an exciting piece of Pliny the Old (circa 70 AD) talking about the lost age of Rome and how terrible the generations were getting one after another.
The funny fact is that he wrote it before the empire’s golden age, as History tells us. And was, in fact, criticizing one of the most famous generations that brought folks like Marcus Aurelius and St. Augustine. All much more famous (and wiser!) than himself.
I’ll write about it someday 🙂
Long story short, as we age, we tend to disconnect from younger generations and see reality as an extension of our own experience. We become weaker, we feel pain, regret, and fear. So we mistakenly conclude that “the world is not as fun as it used to be”. The next wrong step is to find someone to make things great again.
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