The Philosophy of Stoicism
“In the second century A.D. the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius may have best defined pantheism when he wrote, “Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy.” Sharman Apt Russell
Some Stoic philosopher of Ancient Greece can retrospectively be described as pantheists. Zeno of Citium (333 - 264 BCE), founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, asserted that Nature itself is a divine entity. "All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature" said Zeno. The primary substance of the Universe is "fire" which may be understood as "energy". Individual "souls" are part of the same "fire" as the "world-soul" of the Universe. He understood cosmic consciousness as a collective sentience: "No part can be sentient where the whole is not sentient; parts of the cosmos are sentient, therefore the cosmos is sentient."
Chrysippus of Soli (279 – 206 BCE) offers a similar argument for the consciousness of the cosmos: "For it is only the cosmos to which nothing is wanting, and which is knit together on every side, and is perfect and complete in all its numbers and parts. Now since the cosmos embraces all things, and there is nothing that is not contained within it, it is perfect at every point. How, then, can that which is of most excellence be lacking to it? There is nothing more excellent than mind and reason, so it is impossible that these should be lacking to the cosmos" (Cicero, Nature, 2.14). In this way, the cosmos is conceived as not simply the aggregate of all material things but also a collective consciousness. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself, our individual consciousnesses make up the greater consciousness of the cosmos.
De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) was a highly influential philosophical dialogue that outlined pantheistic beliefs: “The universe itself is god and the universal outpouring of its soul; it is this same world’s guiding principle, operating in mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality which embraces all existence; then the foreordained might and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements whose natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth, and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the universal existence in which all things are contained.” Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 45 BCE.
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 CE) saw the Universe as "one living being, having one substance and one soul" and he recommended that we "observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web." Meditations, iv. 40.
Stoic practices included Socratic dialogue and self-dialogue, contemplation of death, training attention to remain in the present moment, and daily reflection on everyday problems and possible solutions. Philosophy for the Stoics was an active process of constant practice. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius defines several such practices. For example, in Book II, part 1: "Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together..." and in Book IV, part 23: "Everything is right for me, which is right for you, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which comes in due time for you. Everything is fruit to me which your seasons bring, O Nature. From you are all things, in you are all things, to you all things return."
Stoicism was later regarded by Christians as a 'pagan philosophy', nonetheless, some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism were employed by the early Christian writers. Neostoicism was a syncretic philosophical movement, joining Stoicism and Christianity.
Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius, presented Neostoicism in his 1584 book De constantia (On Constancy). He further developed Neostoicism in his treatises Manductio ad stoicam philosophiam (Introduction to the Stoic Philosophy) and Physiologia stoicorum (Physics of the Stoics), both published in 1604. Neostoicism had a direct influence on many seventeenth and eighteenth-century writers.
Some Stoic philosopher of Ancient Greece can retrospectively be described as pantheists. Zeno of Citium (333 - 264 BCE), founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, asserted that Nature itself is a divine entity. "All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature" said Zeno. The primary substance of the Universe is "fire" which may be understood as "energy". Individual "souls" are part of the same "fire" as the "world-soul" of the Universe. He understood cosmic consciousness as a collective sentience: "No part can be sentient where the whole is not sentient; parts of the cosmos are sentient, therefore the cosmos is sentient."
Chrysippus of Soli (279 – 206 BCE) offers a similar argument for the consciousness of the cosmos: "For it is only the cosmos to which nothing is wanting, and which is knit together on every side, and is perfect and complete in all its numbers and parts. Now since the cosmos embraces all things, and there is nothing that is not contained within it, it is perfect at every point. How, then, can that which is of most excellence be lacking to it? There is nothing more excellent than mind and reason, so it is impossible that these should be lacking to the cosmos" (Cicero, Nature, 2.14). In this way, the cosmos is conceived as not simply the aggregate of all material things but also a collective consciousness. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself, our individual consciousnesses make up the greater consciousness of the cosmos.
De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) was a highly influential philosophical dialogue that outlined pantheistic beliefs: “The universe itself is god and the universal outpouring of its soul; it is this same world’s guiding principle, operating in mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality which embraces all existence; then the foreordained might and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements whose natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth, and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the universal existence in which all things are contained.” Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 45 BCE.
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 CE) saw the Universe as "one living being, having one substance and one soul" and he recommended that we "observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web." Meditations, iv. 40.
Stoic practices included Socratic dialogue and self-dialogue, contemplation of death, training attention to remain in the present moment, and daily reflection on everyday problems and possible solutions. Philosophy for the Stoics was an active process of constant practice. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius defines several such practices. For example, in Book II, part 1: "Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together..." and in Book IV, part 23: "Everything is right for me, which is right for you, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which comes in due time for you. Everything is fruit to me which your seasons bring, O Nature. From you are all things, in you are all things, to you all things return."
Stoicism was later regarded by Christians as a 'pagan philosophy', nonetheless, some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism were employed by the early Christian writers. Neostoicism was a syncretic philosophical movement, joining Stoicism and Christianity.
Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius, presented Neostoicism in his 1584 book De constantia (On Constancy). He further developed Neostoicism in his treatises Manductio ad stoicam philosophiam (Introduction to the Stoic Philosophy) and Physiologia stoicorum (Physics of the Stoics), both published in 1604. Neostoicism had a direct influence on many seventeenth and eighteenth-century writers.