“When you are distressed by an external thing,
it’s not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it.
And you can wipe this out at a moment’s notice.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.4

I read a lot about Stoicism on sabbatical—as you may have noticed in my sermons and writings. I am sharing many of my personal observations and transformations about Stoicism with y’all. Here is another example:

The ancient Stoics stressed that we could choose and decide how we react to “external things” that come into our life. These “things” can be joy, sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and a long list of events. We can practice and train ourselves to not overreact to some event that comes into our life. Can this really be practiced?

Here’s an excerpt from the cited book:
“Imagine you’ve dreamed of a life in politics. You’re young, you’re vigorous, and you’ve held increasingly powerful positions over the course of your career. Then at thirty-nine, you start to feel run down. Your doctors tell you that you have polio, and your life will never be the same. Your career is over —right?

This is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, now widely regarded as one of America’s greatest political leaders. He was, at middle age, diagnosed with polio after spending years preparing for and dreaming about the presidency.

It’s impossible to understand FDR without understanding this disability. The “external thing” was that he was crippled—this was a literal fact—but his judgment of it was that it did not cripple his career or his personhood. Though he was certainly the victim of a then incurable disease, he wiped away—almost immediately—the victim’s mentality.”

While this story of FDR can be inspiring, it too often is put into the category of euphemistic. Most of us don’t have a crippling disease to deal with, but we do encounter many external things that can suck the joy and happiness out of our being. Is there a healthy way to respond to things that happen with acceptance? What does it mean to accept what happens to us?

Acceptance is not surrender. The Stoics teach that acceptance is NOT passivity. Stoicism stresses that of the external things which we cannot control nor change (and that’s a long list), we can recognize our emotional reaction to the event—and we can then choose how to respond. This is where the FDR story really exemplifies that acceptance is not passivity. FDR accepted his crippling illness and responded to it with strength and perseverance. He didn’t “overcome” his condition—he just accepted it and moved on toward his goals and calling. I wonder how many of us could do the same.

Let’s not confuse acceptance with passivity.

It is so good to be back. ………………yours in shared ministry………..Rev Russ

Quotes from the book: “The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living” by Ryan Holiday, page 342