“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor and a stoic philosopher.
I came across this quote once again while reading a book about pain. It sounded just perfect for our current troubled life, even though it originated some two thousands years ago.
It appears to me that stoics had a recipe for every aspect of our life; from our relationship with others to attitude, action, will, and human freedom. Freedom seen differently than the commonly recognized ability to DO whatever one wants and dreams of doing, but rather the freedom TO CHOOSE ONE’S ATTITUDE in any given set of circumstances.
In other words, we cannot control everything that happens in life; events like fire, flood, illness, and even death. The only thing we can control is the way we see those events. They can only harm us if we see them this way. The same applies to the actions of others.
“Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option: to accept this event with humility [will]; to treat this person as he should be treated [action]; to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in [perception];” Markus Aurelius
I can imagine that looking at the world through the lenses of stoic philosophers is not always easy. How would it be, however, if we tried to remember this one thing: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”?
We could get rid of some of the most damaging and toxic human conducts like righteousness, intolerance, moralistic superiority, and contempt. Instead, we could be curious and respectful of others’ opinions and actions. Even, so-called, scientific evidence and science proven facts; they are all somebody’s opinions based on their current knowledge and critical thinking abilities. Knowledge that can change at any given moment when new information becomes available or a different person analyzes and interprets the data.
Let’s look, for example, at the events of the last two years and the ongoing debate on who is right and what we should do with the pandemic. There is little doubt that the world leaders and governments had to do something to manage the difficulties within the health care systems and save people’s lives. There is little doubt that five and a half million people died in the last two years, i.e. five and a half million more that would have died in the world in the similar period of time without the pandemic.
We can choose to be grateful that our elderly parents are still alive and that we can go to the hospital and get proper care when we break a bone; or, we can get upset that we couldn’t go to the movies whenever we wanted and join the anti-restriction protest. Neither response would dramatically change the number of cases in the world (my opinion) but it may change our satisfaction with life and our mental state. The choice, of course, is ours.
We can break friendships and cut off the family members over the never ending discussion between the pro-and anti-vaccers, or we can enjoy getting together (whenever allowed) and be curious about each other’s beliefs and understandings of the situation. The choice, of course, is ours.
It is a new year, time for last year’s summaries and new resolutions. We cannot sign up to a gym or a new super yoga challenge, because gyms and yoga studios are closed. We can, however, change our view of the situation and find a different solution: something else we can do with our still alive family members or still present friends. The choice, of course, is ours.
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