Speak Truth to Harmonize with Life
Stoicism & Feeling Emotions; Pleasant and Unpleasant
“Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.”
Seneca
This quote may not come off as particularly Stoic at first glance. Don’t Stoics just internally process things and change their perspective to produce a harmonious state? The answer is both “yes” and “no”.
Yes, Stoics understand fundamentally that our subjective opinions about things can be voluntarily changed. One can consider being called an a-hole bad, or one could consider it indifferent. However, this does not mean that Stoics can change fundamental reality.
Live According to Nature
A core part of Stoicism is living in harmony with nature, which also means aligning with objective reality. Our subjective views must align with objective reality, or else the entire philosophy crumbles.
When we speak the truth, we speak our subjective truth, though not necessarily objective truth. The general idea is that if enough of us have the courage to speak our subjective truth, then together we can arrive at an objective reality. That is Logos in a nutshell.
Don’t Lie to Yourself
What Seneca is referring to here connects with one of my favourite Dostoevsky quotes:
“Above all, do not lie to yourself.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Let’s take the classic “being pissed off” example. A Stoic should not try and convince themselves that they are not pissed off. On the contrary, a Stoic accepts the reality - that they are feeling upset about something. They then try and source it back to why they feel this way. Does it point to insecurity? Did the person really mean to upset them?
On the more positive end of the spectrum, a Stoic should also not try to convince themselves that they are not happy when they are filled with joy. Feel it, communicate it (if appropriate), and try and understand where it comes from.
Creating Harmony
Stoicism is all about intentions. Intentions are manifested in the world by speech and action. And when all of these align - good intentions aligning with true speech aligning with virtuous action - harmony is created with the world around you.
Stay Strong & Stoic,
BRJT