Approaching Chaos with Stoic Philosophy

By: Puneet Agarwal and Oluwakemi A. Fasanmi

Chaos:

An environment can be stated to be chaotic when the property of a complex system whose behavior is so unpredictable as to appear as completely random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in the environmental conditions. As we welcome the new year 2022 with loud music, parties, and fireworks all around the world, ghosts of these chaotic elements of the year 2021 seem to be traveling along the time with us. As the article is being written, we have seen a 178% rise in the Covid-19 cases all around the world in the past two weeks.

The year 2021 made us witness some unimaginable events that made us re-think our every action across three main dimensions of the Human Dynamics system.

Politics

Politics is a central part of our human life and even though we may or may not actively participate in a political process, any changes in this variable impact us severely. One of the biggest events was when the world watched as people/Americans marched towards Capitol Hill, after the provocation statement by the then President of the United States, Donald Trump. Who could have imagined that a day will come when societies will be so much divided into sections, that some of them would march towards the holy shrine and symbol of the oldest democracy of the world, to take control in their own hands?

We also saw later in the year how quickly the Afghan government collapsed under the siege of the Taliban as soon as the American government confirmed the pull-out of their troops. The misery of the people who had hoped for a better future, especially women, lies in chaos today and nations are helpless in finding a solution. Could anyone of us have believed back in 2003 when the US declared the official end to a major combat operation in Afghanistan, that they would return to full power in just 15 years?

Society

The domain of society is where we all interact with each other. On the economic front, we saw businesses collapsing and the world economy shrinking to its ever-low GDP figures since the economic crash of 2008. Millions lost their jobs over the night, and till now many of them are yet to return to the workforce. Will economies be able to regain the lost growth and recover to their original numbers and provide sufficient jobs to those who lost?

Schools and universities were shut down and students were forced to adapt to the new change in educational delivery: digital platforms to continue their courses. This resulted in complete confusion and anxiousness amongst teachers, students, and parents who do not know how to teach or study in such new environments and what holds for them in the future. Will we ever be able to regain the lost economic growth and recover the loss of studies that students have suffered over these years?

Further, as the rollout of the vaccine began in the month of February all over the world, there was skepticism and apprehension on the efficacy of these vaccines as the way these were rolled out so quickly. People did not know whether to trust the authorities by taking these vaccines or take a risk in combating the virus without them. It was a hard and long struggle for the governments and authorities to convince people of the effectiveness of these vaccines to enhance their security and re-start the engine of the economy. Will we ever be able to convince a major part of the societies of the efficacy of these vaccines and provide them to all those who are in the need of one?

Environment

On one hand, global transportation and tourism took a severe hit as flights across the countries were halted or were flying with limited capacities, on the other hand, some human beings were making new highs in the era of space tourism. Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson, Blue Origin, and SpaceX were some of the leading private companies who took the flights with humans into space to mark the beginning of space tourism. Are we moving in the direction of multi-world reality where humans will find new homes in colonies of Mars and Moons?

Continuing with its alerts and appeals to focus on the impact of emissions, in the IPCC meeting, United Nations Secretary marked “code red for humanity” as the temperature increased to its ever high in the regions of Serbia, Antarctica, Canada along with the wildfires that caused massive losses and an estimated 1.76 billion tons of carbon. Are we setting up ourselves for yet another natural calamity in terms of rising sea levels or is it just another false alarm?

Stoic Approach

According to Epictetus, “Some things are under our control, while others are not. We control our opinion, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything of our own doing”. The stoics approach tells us to focus on the areas which are under our control and make the best of the choices available to us. We may not be able to control the creation of a virus (or it's mutant), but we may be able to control its spread by taking actions such as wearing masks, using sanitizers, and providing support to those in need.

By refusing to give in to the anxiety and fear that comes along as we deal with the Human Dynamic system, we allow ourselves to control our emotions that may be going berserk, and which may deviate us from our course of actions. So, it is essential that even during such times, we do not lose focus of our intentions and remain steady on the course by taking actions that will help us reach the end goal.

If you are preparing for an exam or planning to start a new business or even launching a new political party, focus on what you can control, develop actions that can be performed, and accept whatever happens outside your control in the chaotic system. Treat these chaotic variables as the obstacles in your way to success, and nothing more. Treat yourself as your best friend, and then create an objective plan to address these obstacles.

Once you can take control of these emotions, and find a solution to these problems, you will find your way out of this chaotic environment and the path ahead will be much clear for you to reach your destiny!

References

1. Down to Earth, by Akshit Sangomla, 2021
2. Chaos, Making a new science by James Gleick.
3. The Daily Stoic, by Ryan Holiday
4. Reuters.com: Key dates in US involvement in Afghanistan since Sep.11, 2001. Dated: August 31, 2021
5. The obstacle is the Way, by Ryan Holiday
6. https://ourworldindata.org/