When to Take Action
Field Notes III.XXXII: Philosophical hatchetwork on virtue, roles, and taking action
Welcome to Field Notes!
I misled you with my title. You likely opened this essay expecting advice or insight into how to act with agency in your life. When to DO something, and what, exactly, to do. I don’t quite have the polished answers yet. It is a topic I’m thinking quite deeply on and hope to write more about in the future. For now, these are the questions I will be directing towards you.
The Stoics assert that we should be guided by virtue, generally categorized as wisdom, courage, justice, and moderation or temperance. Virtue, as defined by the ancient Greek originators of philosophy, can be thought of more like excellence. To be an excellent person means being excellent in the above qualities.
I, and I think many others, am looking for some form of a guide for not only living a satisfying and good life, but also for giving that life purpose and significance. Stoicism offers just such a path. However valuable, I’m seeking more than robustness against life’s trials, managing negative emotions, or even obtaining a sense of gratitude and self worth by moving in the direction of inner virtue.
I want to know where to direct my efforts and energy. I yearn to fight a good fight. How do we know what that looks like? How do we apply Stoic virtue to our actions? Much of what we actually do is dependent on our preferences, choices, and individual circumstances in life.
Let me ask you- do you know what you are good at? Epictetus tells us this is a great starting point for understanding how we can act with virtue.
Someone asked, “so how will each of us come to realize what is in accord with his own role?”
“How is it,” Epictetus replied, “that on the approach of a lion only the bull is aware of his aptitude and takes up a forward position in the defense of the whole herd? It’s obvious, isn’t it, that the possession of aptitude is directly and simultaneously accompanied by awareness of it? The same goes for us too: if any of us has such aptitude, he won’t be unaware of it.”
-Discourses 1.2.30-31
Do you think that if we have a natural ability or predisposition it should guide us in choosing our role and acting with virtue to fulfill that role? If so, to what extent would virtue obligate us to fulfill that role?
Much of our call to action depends on our individual roles in life. Some of those we find ourselves in by circumstance- first we are all human, then perhaps a child or parent or friend, a citizen of a country we are born into. Basically, where fate places us.
Yet other roles we can choose. Are you a teacher, a leader, a caregiver? We have an amount of choice in our careers. Hopefully we choose wisely when we are young, because that is generally when we set our course. Cicero describes roles we are assigned and roles we choose in On Duties-
We will be most suitable for those things which we are best able to do. But if necessity forces us into something that is not suitable to our nature, all care, thoughtfulness and diligence should be employed, so that we can carry it out, if not with distinction, then with at least as little damage as possible.
From this we learn that we should do our best in the circumstances we find ourselves in, even if not ideal. But he goes on to say-
Now kingdoms, empires, noble titles, honors, riches, and influence (as well as their opposites) are dependent on circumstances and governed by chance. How we wish to deal with these factors, however, is a matter of our own personal choice. So some men apply themselves to philosophy, others to the practice of civil law, and still others to the arts of eloquence; an with regard to the virtues, one man may prefer to cultivate one, and another man may prefer another.
All of this is to say that we have different roles to play in life, some chosen others not. These roles may dictate the actions we take, but those actions should be grounded in virtue.
Does this ring true for you? How do you think virtue factors into the roles you play and actions you take? Are roles key to finding purpose and fulfillment in our efforts?
Some see Stoicism as a detachment from the world. Material things are viewed as outside of our control and therefore indifferent, to an extent. This aspect of the philosophy is valuable in building resilience, or even anti-fragility, amidst the uncertainties of life. However, it is critical to keep in mind that we do play certain roles in life and these roles may demand action, whether or not the result is in our control.
We are in control of some things, though. We have the choice to take action. We can choose to try!
Alright, guys. No new photography or nature excursions in this one. Lots of things are in motion and time has been short. Today’s essay is a snippet of some of the things I’ve been thinking, reading, and researching about. I do have a lot more to say on this topic, but since this is a little bit of a diversion from the normal Field Notes content, I’m paying attention to how it lands.
I want to stress that I am not an expert or authority in Stoicism or any philosophy. I like it. It resonates with me, and so I’ve read and studied it to an extent. These thoughts are what I have concluded so far based on that. If I’m off base in my interpretations, hopefully we can set things straight through discussion.
So, let me know. Is this type of content in Field Notes valuable? What do you think about roles? Should they dictate the actions we take? What about virtue? Leave me a comment!
If you’ve made it this far into the post it’s pretty clear that you can read. But isn’t reading a physical book so much better than reading on a computer or a device? Well, if we’re reading physical books we need a bookmark. Luckily, I have one to offer! This bookmark of a sunset on Sam Knob in the Shining Rock Wilderness is $5. That includes tax and postage to mail it to any country in the world. Purchase it via the PayPal link below.
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Powerful questions through the lens of Stoic principles. Yet another form of your writing I always enjoy!
What a great quote Erik - "if any of us has such aptitude, he won’t be unaware of it." I think we do know, deep down - the challenge is to act on it. Fantastic post.