Zeno of Cyprus, once a wealthy merchant, experienced a terrible setback when he was shipwrecked thousands of miles from home. With no money or possessions he was left with no other option but to explore the city of Athens. He stumbled upon a bookshop, which piqued his curiosity. After reading about Socrates, he felt inspired and decided to pursue his studies with the renowned philosophers of the city. It was here that he began to develop the philosophy known as Stoicism.
Stoicism is a school of thought which emphasizes the use of virtue, tolerance and self control as a means of achieving inner peace. The name is derived from the stone colonnade in Athens, where Zeno and his students came together to discuss their teachings. Today, the term 'stoic' is often used to describe someone who is able to remain calm in the face of adversity. But Stoicism involves more than just an attitude. The Stoics believed that everything around us is connected through a web of cause and effect, and that humans can exert control over how they approach life. To achieve this, the Stoics identified four cardinal virtues: practical wisdom, temperance, justice and courage.
Stoicism was influential in both Greece and Rome during its heyday. Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, was a noted Stoic philosopher and his writings were used to comfort Nelson Mandela during his 27-year imprisonment in South Africa and modern investors. Despite the fact that Stoicism is no longer a formal institution, its teachings have been embraced by Christian theologians, and there are parallels between Stoicism and Buddhist concepts. The Stoic belief that suffering is caused by one’s judgement of life’s events has been adopted by many modern schools of psychology and self-help movements.
