What were the lessons of the Stoics, why were they critical in Admiral Stockdale’s survival as a POW, and what can they tell us today? In my last article I mentioned both the Stoics and the fundamental question that Hannibal Lector quotes from the writing of Marcus Aurelius. When Thomas Harris wrote the character, Dr. Lector, he created him as a forensic psychiatrist. His job was to understand human nature and to use that understanding to help solve crimes. He used his background to explore the mind of humans, and, as such he studied the constants in human nature which led him to Marcus Aurelius.
At the time that Marcus Aurelius wrote “Meditations” he was, effectively, king of the world. The Romans were the dominant force in the known world, and Marcus Aurelius was the ruler. He undoubtably was familiar with the philosophy of the Stoics and his writings reflect their influence. The usefulness for us looking back at the writings of the ancients is the understanding that those behaviors that he observed were just that, constants. Human nature does not change.
Before going much further, the Stoics would have viewed the world with a series of rules. It might be helpful to explore some of them a bit:
– Stoics do not argue with nature. It is the height of folly to argue with things that just are. It is cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and it is useless to be upset about those things. It is also nature that humans have certain characteristics, they behave in a consistent manner. For instance, to be shocked that some people want to control others is to ignore human nature.
– Because you cannot change nature it is up to man to find good in himself. The first place to make change, and the first place to put effort, is in being a better person in your own actions.
– It is imperative to understand relative importance. A good man is never absorbed in trivia. Those things that are of ‘first importance’ are where you should spend your energy.
– Your mind must be used to remove any obstacles to action. A good man acts. While another individual might obstruct actions, they cannot remove your will to act, nor can they affect your mind unless you allow them to do so. A trained mind will not allow this to happen and will adapt itself to obstacles.
– Teach those who are less skilled than you are, help them to improve their minds, and always remember that kindness is there for when they cannot be taught.
– Want as little as possible, be disciplined in attending to your very limited needs, and mind your own damn business (those were not Marcus Aurelius’ precise words).
– Recognize that you have the power to influence others and that is a great responsibility, because you can influence them toward good or bad.
– Do not live for praise, if you have been rejected by Nature today why should you worry about what Nature says of you tomorrow? Do not argue about what it is to live an honorable life. Live one.
– Each day will be met by obstacles, ignorance of good and evil, and indifference. Remember, that is man’s Nature. But since you can perceive the nature of good and nobility, you can live in that way so you will not be implicated by those that do not. And you cannot be angry at the person who does not live that way because you are both part of creation and therefore cannot be separated. It is nature’s law that we live together, and to be irritated by another is to allow that willful obstruction on your part.
– If you reject your own sense of injury, then that injury is no longer.
– Keep focused on your goals and stop looking for the black marks in others as it is nature’s law to have those marks.
– When confronted with a great difficulty do not think of great trial you face, but rather that to bear this trial worthily is, in itself, an honor.
– To deprive yourself of wants is to grow in goodness.
– Learn from everything. The mind grows best when all experiences are examined methodically and accurately. To what end does this serve, what is its worth in the universe, and to man.
– When you lose control, get it back immediately. Do not remain out of control any longer than absolutely necessary and by doing this you will master your self control.
– “It lies in my own hands to ensure that no viciousness, cupidity or torture of any kind finds a home in this soul of mine, it lies with me to perceive all things in their true light and to deal with each of the mass as it merits.”
– “Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations. This you can do, if you will approach each action as though it were your last, dismissing the wayward thought, the emotional recoil from the commands of reason, the desire to create an impression, the admiration of self, the discontent with your lot.”
If we think about our culture today, we can see how far we are from these goals. But we can also see their wisdom and we generally know from our own experience how true they are, even as we might just see one or two at a time in the form of a meme on Facebook.
Hannibal asks of Clarice, “Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?
Clarice responds- He kills women.
Hannibal- No. That is incidental. What is the first thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing?
Clarice – Anger. Social acceptance. Sexual frustrations.
Hannibal – No. He covets. That is his nature.
Hannibal’s point is that the nature of the man whom they seek is not what he does, but what he thinks, that which drives him. That is his Nature.
What drives man?
What drives us?
What drives you.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: AFNN_USA
Stoicism is absolutely important in western philosophy. I suspect it underpins the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I would love to find evidence that the founders read Aurelius’ Meditations as part of their Greek classes.
I think Stoicism is at the core of Freemasonry as well. Several of the founders were Freemasons. After the Revolution, I suspect Freemasonic lodges became training grounds for new citizens of a free country.
Growing up around Freemasonry, albeit not having become one of them myself, I think you have a pretty good bead on it. In the road to and during the Revolution, the Lodge Halls were among the few safe places for planning and coordinating, and also would have been a Neutral Ground backchannel for negotiating prisoner exchanges and such–I recall at least one American officer who avoided being hauled in because both he and the British officer who had captured him were Masons and that fraternal obligation was deemed the higher loyalty. Back in the early days of this site, Mike had springboarded off an observation I had suggested that many of the Founders were actually motivated into Revolution despite knowing they could and probably would lose all they held dear because of that Masonic sense of “service to a Higher Power and trying to build the Grand Design on earth even though it can never be completed”–hence the Unfinished Pyramid in both Masonic symbology and the nation’s Great Seal as depicted on the one-dollar bill.
There is a specific phrase* that when a Freemason utters it, any Mason who hears it is obligated to immediately drop everything and render whatever aid he can because that man is either on Lodge business or facing imminent death/similar extremis–this fact also disproves the “Vast Masonic Conspiracy” lunatic theories, because many of this country’s most bitter political feuds have been Master Mason on Master Mason–either Truman or MacArthur could have brought the other to heel with that one simple phrase, and that they did not is testament to how seriously a Freemason worthy of the title takes his oath and his craft. Admittedly I may be biased because after my grandfather died his Lodge brothers closed ranks and watched over my family out of that shared sense of “when a brother falls, you see to his widow and orphans as you’d want for your own.”
*Though I was taught this, I will not repeat it as a simple matter of respect. As they mentored me, my grandfather’s Lodge brothers allowed me to see a lot more “behind the curtain” than most outside the craft ever get to, and while I am not one of them I guard the secrets and even “borderline” insider material I was entrusted with as though I were–and that exposure to Masonic teachings and thought was invaluable in putting my head back together on multiple occasions.
I am Freemason, although no longer active. Unfortunately, Freemasonry lost a lot of its direction with the Morgan Affair. It nearly disappeared and when it came back seemed to be more about networking than stoic virtue. Having said that, there are lodges where the tradition of virtue and stoicism still prevail. While the Fellowcraft degree is not the final degree, I think some of the most important parts of Freemasonry are communicated in it. During his lecture to the new Fellowcraft, the Master of the Lodge says, “Tools and instruments of architecture, and symbolic emblems most expressive, are selected by the Fraternity to imprint upon the mind wise and serious truths; and thus through a succession of ages, are transmitted unimpaired the most excellent tenets of our Institution.”
If you are interested, one of my old papers, The Beehive as a Focal Point for Masonic Meditation is available at http://www.themasonictrowel.com/Articles/Symbolism/general_files/the_beehive_as_focal_point/the_beehive_as_focal_point.htm
Thank you for sharing, sir, I shall check that out. I saw a similar transition with my grandfather’s Lodge around the mid to late 1990s–Grandpa and his generation were about virtue and service witth networking as a side benefit, but there was a group that transferred in as a block from a Lodge on an army post in Germany and as the Old Guard died out they seized the reins and pivoted to “networking and number one”–and ran the membership down so far that they were forced to sell the building and merge with another Lodge about ten miles away.
I don’t believe myself temperamentally suited to be a candidate nor is my house in order to devote proper study to the mysteries of the Grand Design; however, there are certain basics of the teachings I believe everybody, both as individuals and society as a whole, could benefit from having more widely taught particularly in the formative years. (In the symbology of the two blocks, if the rough block symbolizes a candidate ready to be acceppted for initiation, I make that look like the polished cube–every morning starts with a simple prayer about “Dear Lord, please help me suck a little less today than I did yesterday.”)
The “blocks” are the rough and the perfect ashler. They visually illustrate the transformation process.
That’s an interesting twist that Hannibal took, to make an attempt at justification of his perversions. However, as you said it was “his” reality, but not “Reality” that the stoics observed. Hope I said that right.