How to control the uncontrollable? Possibly with stoicism... This Greek philosophical current seems to have as much to offer now as it did two thousand years ago. Modern stoicism triumphs in style in Silicon Valley, while online courses, blogs and podcasts such as La cuadrature of the circle (2) or El Stoico (3) proliferate, with millions of listeners, to face the 21st century with courage , wisdom, justice and temperance, the Stoic cardinal virtues.
Although fashions spring up in California with exhausting regularity, Stoicism has lived on for the past 2,000 years, its influence on Christianity and Western thought having been decisive. For some, among all the philosophies that aspire to deal with social injustices, climate change or the introduction of artificial intelligence, stoicism seems to be the best positioned, perhaps because it does not close in band to review any postulate.
Stoics, both then and now, recommend being indifferent to everything over which you have no control. As Epictetus said, "the important thing is not what happens to you, but how you react to it." What happened three years ago to Ben Aldridge, author of How to control the uncontrollable (Dome Books), was that he lost the desire to leave the house, which led him to seek answers in philosophy. His life was turned upside down when he discovered that the Stoics practiced with adversity daily to better cope with any future setbacks: cold showers, sleeping on hard surfaces, dressing in something embarrassing (like Cato the philosopher) to test their thinking. even reversing down the street and purposely bumping into the crowds pouring out of the theaters, as was the habit of Crater of Thebes, a follower of the Cynic school.
Inspired by Stoic "character tests," Aldridge posed his own "challenges in a controlled environment." One of his challenges consisted, for example, in climbing Everest, with its 8,848 meters high, without leaving home, for which he calculated that he had to climb the flight of stairs from his home 2,137 times, something that took him 21 hours. In addition to developing “the art of indoor mountaineering,” Aldridge undertook other ridiculous challenges, including completing a marathon distance during lockdown, running the length of his yard exactly 4,802 times (his neighbors thought he had gone crazy). , as he acknowledges in the book).
Stoicism seems to be resurfacing in the 21st century. In Madrid, for example, Stoa (6) has established itself, one of the largest and most active Stoic communities in the world, which encourages the practice of Stoic gymnasiums. Kellys Andreína Rodríguez, the founder of Stoa Madrid, believes that stoicism returns to its own rights because we live with a lot of uncertainty. In times of crisis, “human beings tend to embrace philosophies that help us focus on what we can control and accept what we can't,” says Rodríguez.
Lola Ortí, a trainer at the Popular University of Valencia (10), also claims to have detected a growing interest in philosophy in general and Stoicism in particular. As she shows a button: the course 'Practical Philosophy for Modern Life' (11) that she teaches has been more in demand than even English classes, to the point of having a waiting list. Stoicism is in fashion, explains this historian, "because it is very practical and brings comfort."
Precisely because stoicism is practical, Ben Aldridge dares to propose in his new book ten principles that anyone can apply to their day to day and prepare for what may come:
