The Dichotomy of Control in Stoicism
Viewed this way, wisdom is the highest good while ignorance is evil.
Actions follow a pattern, sometimes occurring in milliseconds. The sequence is as follows: one gets a thought, an impulse to act arises, and then one formulates a complex plan to get what one desires.
This process can be habitual, arising from the subconscious after extended periods of repetition. Or one can take the reins and put it under conscious control until a desired action becomes automatic as in the former.
Stoics say this process is man's forté, the only thing under his complete control:
1. Thoughts / Value judgements - These depend on what you've decided matters most. What you end up assigning the labels good and bad. Some opinions may be unconscious so it’s good to test their truth. For example money, status, or sex.
2. Impulse - This depends on the above and it’s the feeling prompting one into action.
3. Will (Action) - It’s where one makes plans to allocate time, resources & energy to get or avoid something thought as desirable or otherwise.
What's not under your control are externals such as being liked by a popular group, being applauded for giving a speech, our health, wealth, fame, or spouse.
It's the highest wisdom to view those things as indifferent, extra — they are neither good or bad as constitutive of a happy life, eudaemonia, but are cool to have as their value depend on how you use them.
Making that distinction enlightens one to the inner citadel, the source of a great man's invincibility. This power comes from the use one makes of externals through their reasoning faculty. The choice one makes to get the most out of any circumstance.
For example, you might have the goal to focus and work more in 2024. However, an Instagram notification pops up while working. First, you're startled and get the thought to check your phone, see what's happening. Next, you get an overwhelming impulse to pick up the phone.
However, before picking it up and clicking on Instagram, you tell yourself to wait until you're done with the current task.
This space between impulse and action is where a Stoic thrives as they get to choose what to do from a variety of thoughts; not only the involuntary and unexamined ones, but also those that benefit, elevate and secure happiness. The longer this space is, the more self-control one has, unless the thing to be had or activity to be done, for example reducing the hesitation to go for a workout, is worth the rush.
What’s good and bad to the enlightened man is thus how he acts, whether he was cowardly when a situation called for courage, if he pursued a foolish idea to his detriment by refusing or being ignorant of the inherent wisdom, whether he delivered unjust punishment to a man who didn’t deserve it, whether he allowed himself to get overwhelmed by pleasure, lust, pride, anger, sloth, or pain and thus bowed to them to his detriment.
Viewed this way, wisdom is the highest good while ignorance is evil.
It’s good to enjoy the aforementioned indifferent things, but wise to put them in their place so they don’t compromise our freedom to choose what’s useful over the expedient, no matter the cost or consequences.
That's the path to lasting happiness.
Externals are nothing. But the internal life: doing our best, having good intentions, speaking up for the less fortunate, being kind and loving, enduring the pain of crazy workout is all that matters.
The latter is enough and it's good to cut it at that if we desire contentment for we've acted as nature created us to and have influenced reality as much as possible within our scope of control.
If you can align this process to how the world works and use your reasoning powers to determine what’s worth valuing most (1), then you’ll be living a life in accordance to nature: applying rationality to improve communal life, as we’re inseparable from other humans, whether one knows it or not.