Faith is not required?

Faith does not require proof, indeed evidence removes the necessity for faith you do not need it to know something that is true. Though life is easier if we have a faith in the honesty of others, we can not help but have faith in something that we have not personally proven, we listened to our parents, friends like they had our best interests in their minds and that they were truthful to themselves, not always true but we believed. Even scientists have faith in the system of the scientific method, that it has honest actors and that we can detect the fakers and lairs, that is why we peer review and do repeatable experiments, so that anyone can check and challenge evidence, but there is still the faith that most of us are truthful. What is wonderful about stoicism is that it makes simple statements that can be confirmed by personal experiments, it does not require faith as it askes you to do the work, to repeat what has been done before, and the testable result that matters is, does this make my life better? If it fails, the system has failed and from those who have done the work, the conclusions have been positive and worthwhile.

Not that everyone who reads about stoicism does the work, no one has created a magic series of words that can get someone to practise them, we can only daggle the bait and hope for a bite. That is why we make the first step as easy as possible, concentrate on what is in your control by first identifying what is in your control and then do the action, take that walk, do the little jobs, be grateful for one thing, take the easy win, eat the salad, it is finding the simplest action and get someone to try it as an experiment that is important. As that is the only true and tested way to get people to repeat good actions, is to show them the proof that by their actions can make their lives better immediately, it is the good action loop and it does need constant energy to maintain it's progress, but once it is spinning it does not need a lot of energy to keep it going and unlike in the physical world where you can not have a perpetual energy machine, in the world of consciousness, energy grows like a fire.

Where there is faith in stoicism it is where the ancients did not need to question their assumptions, the “logos”, the natural drive that people needed each others and should want to be a good citizen of the republic was a given, a known fact that everyone accepted. This was perhaps because the proof of the consequences of what happened when you weren't part of the social world was all around them, slavery, barbarian mercy (which was a Roman joke), death by starvation, collective punishment, banishment, these were horrifying and worse than death for a citizen. In our individualist society it has to be proven that isolation is a bad thing, but we can by experimenting, by spending time with people and seeing if you liked it and whether it was good for you, you can prove it for yourself. Small steps, a little at a time and having faith in the experiment by ensuring that you are working with good data is all that is required to make progress and steady improvement in out lives.

That is why we use the practise of observation so that we can trust our data, feeling are important as long as we observe them rather than get caught up in them. The first time you read an article about stoicism it might feel like it has all the answers, it has opened your eyes to something new, it is easy to start preaching and spreading the news, however it does not have all the answers, it has many questions, powerful questions that make you think about the world and even how you think about thinking about it. The answers on the other hand requires your thoughts, your wants, needs and desires, it encourages personal investigations and enquires, and the first answers are probably not your final answers.

You do not become an expert straight away and just because you have lived with yourself for the whole of your life, it does not mean you have actually paid attention to the process that is you. It requires time and practise to become good at observing what is going on with yourself, especially if you have had faith that you were a known thing that has external events happening to you. To change your point of view to the idea that you are happening to external events is quite a shift, but by long experimentation you can prove it is true, that it is your perception of events that is of paramount concern not what the actual event is, is a game changer, but you can not just have faith in it, you have to prove it to yourself, as it so counter intuitive to our view of cause and effect. Every cause should have a single effect, however stoics get to chose, and there are better choices, not morally but personally, for your own personal happiness and joy. This is tough because when it is you making a choice it becomes a responsibility, your full responsibility, it is not someone else's fault, not an event happening to you but an event that you give meaning to, both in your reaction and actions.

That is a tough pill to swallow, where do you begin, with the tasty bit, the easy, enjoyable joyful bits, that is why the simple act of taking a walk to make you feel healthy and happy is so important, it starts the process of observing, of seeing the effect of simple causes, that a walk really does make you feel happier, both in the moment and your long term health. It gives you faith in the measurement that you are taking is useful, that observing your health and happy gives you useful information, that it is worth bearing it in mind in everything you do. You can not get to a state of always being present with this feeling without practise, and you will only practise if you get results that have a positive effect on your life, that tell you that this action has a beneficial effect.

What is important is that stoicism does not require faith, it is not a religion, it is a strategy that results in tactics to deal with the process of life and it's success is measurable by whether you end up happier and more content with your life. It is about your experience of life, is the quality of your life improving, are you making better choices for your life, are you growing as a being of consciousness, are your friends and family more at ease, and are your relationships better. These are all indicators of your progress, and whilst they are subjective, when it come to your personal happiness there is no better evidence, no more important measure, as happiness itself is subjective, it is a relative state and contrasts with the alternative. There is spectrum and anything that moves your towards the happy end is good, and once you start moving towards it, that is all the proof that you need and with proof you do not require faith, and you can do anything that you can imagine is possible for you.