The Beauty of Stoic Logic

There’s a certain beauty to approaching life like a scientist.

Scientists are logical. They don’t let emotion stand in the way of finding the truth they seek. They don’t allow bias to cloud their findings. They follow a strict scientific method to test their assumptions. They are only concerned with facts and data.

When the data doesn’t confirm their assumptions, they don’t make up data to validate their assumption. No, they change their assumption based on the data they have observed.

But logic isn’t reserved for scientists.

We can all benefit from leading a logic based existence based on objective data and not emotional assumptions.

The Stoics believed that a logical life was not only preferable, but spiritual. Not a life we should merely attempt to lead, but one we should aspire to lead.

Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations:

“Nothing is so conducive to spiritual growth as this capacity for logical and accurate analysis of everything that happens to us.”

But isn’t being logical about everything a cold and calculating way to go through life?

Not at all!

Shouldn’t we make room for emotion and passion?

Of course!

Approaching life in a Stoic fashion, prioritizing logic and objectivity, doesn’t mean that we can’t tap into the power of emotion. We just do it in a more effective way when it is driven by logic.

There’s a big difference between being managed by emotions vs. managing your emotions. Stoicism helps us to do the latter.

Taking a moment to analyze the data and test our assumptions when negative circumstances arises is powerful. Instead of being mindlessly dragged along by a negative emotion, we become the captains of our emotional ship and we become able to choose a more effective response.

Sometimes fear is an appropriate response. But terror never is.

Sometimes anger is an appropriate response. But rage never is.

Sometimes sadness is an appropriate response. But despair never is.

When we stop and analyze the data, when we approach life like a Stoic scientist, we change our emotional assumptions to match the reality of the situation. This allows us to have more effective and, yes, logical responses to the things that typically elicit an unhealthy, overly-emotional response.

Maybe that person who cut you off on the highway didn’t do it intentionally.

Maybe what they said to you came from a place of concern and they weren’t trying to hurt your feelings.

Maybe this thing that you think is such a big deal isn’t really that big of a deal at all.

Maybe, maybe not, but you will never know until you start approaching life like a scientist. Until you start changing your assumptions to match the data vs. changing the data to match your assumptions.

Living a logical life isn’t just a more effective way to live.

It’s a beautiful way to live.