Along the Way: Stoics Arise!

by

Perspectives

Oboedire | July 4, 2025

Less than 24 hours after the passage of the immoral budget, I find myself thinking about the Stoics. It’s not where I would have expected my mind to go, but I am glad that it did. We need a Stoic uprising. Right now.

For several years, I have been reading The Daily Stoic meditations offered by Ryan Holiday (www.dailystoic.com) and other related resources you can find on the website. There are three key emphases in Stoicism that can serve us well right now.

First, the essence of life is virtue. The Stoics named four: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. In the Christian tradition, the virtuous life has been summarized in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Virtue is the substance, spirit, and strength of life.

Second, judgment should be based on behavior, not words. Wow! The absence of this principle is on full display in our nation this very day. Too many of our leaders (political and religious) are those who honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from God (Isaiah 29:13, Ezekiel3l 33:21, and Matthew 15:7-9). Jesus gave us the means for identifying them: “by their fruits (behaviors) you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). We know them, yes we do. Their behavior is their judge. Their immoral behavior is on full display, doing great harm.

Third, we must not rely upon or wait for events or people to save us. Self-mastery is the way. It’s the last word in the fruit of the Spirit list. It’s the message of Jesus’ first beatitude (Matthew 3:3). E. Stanley Jones wrote a book about it entitled, Mastery. Thomas Merton and others have described it as living by the true self. The Dali Lama calls it having a good heart.

Stoics arise! Right this minute. People who live in virtue with behavior that arises from a mastered (under-control) self. Rise up!