i strongly advocate stoicism, and the stoic approach illustrated by ryan holiday; however, i do think that this article raises some valid criticisms - that stoicism may be a form of self-deception, and that it may cause us to evade our true emotions instead of channeling such emotions as a means of engagement: "According to Stoicism, an ancient school of philosophy now experiencing a popular resurgence, we should attempt to curb our emotions when faced with things we can do nothing about. Historically, the Stoics believed in a strict âdichotomy of controlââthat is, they divided the world into things that lie within oneâs power to change and things that do not. Most suffering, they said, comes from our mistaken belief that we have power over things we actually cannot control. Their solution is to focus on what we can control: our opinions, impulses, desires and aversions, instead of external events. Stoics concluded that we should accept the rest, saying, âas God wills.â But the problem with this attitude is that it can lead us to accept things that we shouldnât. As we confront the global rise of authoritarianism, we should not respond by attempting to gain control over our emotions. Instead, we must let our emotions guide us to action. [...] Although modern Stoics may not necessarily believe in God, they continue to advocate for curbing emotions like anger and fear in the face of injustice. Stoic author Ryan Holiday, for example, told Quartz that âa Stoic wouldnât spend time complaining about whether Trump deserves to be president and worrying about the uncertain terrible effects of his leadership.â Instead, Holiday opined, Stoics would focus on affecting the next presidential election. On the surface, this approach might seem practical. But Holiday fails to see how emotions are directly tied to our actions... Whatâs more, Holidayâs word choices are also revealing. He characterizes questioning Trumpâs legitimacy as âcomplaining,â and labels fears about the dangers of Trumpâs regime as âworrying.â These words downplay the gravity of Trumpâs election, thereby attempting to discredit the feelings of many people who are rightfully fearful, grieving, or angry. Even in contemporary times, Stoics are mired in their resignation to live in the world as it is, rather than imagining the way it could be. Indeed, other philosophers have long argued that Stoicism, in failing to grasp the complexity of the world, offers only self-deception. Friedrich Nietzsche called Stoics âextraordinary stage-players and self-deludersâ who choose to see things falsely. And Jean-Paul Sartre saw Stoicism as an evasion that aims to keep both master and slave in their places. So Stoicism is inimical to freedom. It is true that we cannot control everything, but Stoicism is the wrong response. If Stoicism is not the answer, what, then, should we do about things we canât do anything about? One possibility is to look to emotions as a means of engagement."
