New Book Alert: A Life Worth Living: Meditations on God, Death, and Stoicism by William Ferraiolo; In Depth Look At Using Stoicism in Times of Trouble
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
In William Ferraiolo's previous book Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure, he introduced the Reader to the concept of Stoicism, a philosophy in which followers practiced reason, rational behavior, and control over emotion. The book offered little paragraphs of advice on various situations.
Ferraiolo's follow up, A Life Worth Living: Meditations on God, Death, and Stoicism is a more in depth look, at using Stoicism during times of great stress. Ferraiolo goes into great detail on how Stoics can face the issues that plague them.
The introduction makes clear what this book is made for. In a master of understatement, Ferraiolo’s intro states “The world is a rough place and no one gets out alive…..We are entitled to have precisely none of it. None of us had to be born.” The important thing to remember is Socrates’ philosophy of “the unexamined life is not worth living.” One way to examine life is with a sense of detachment and looking at the way your emotions and how you react to the world.
Unlike the previous book, Ferraiolo doesn't resort to short homilies that offer brief insights. Instead each chapter is a more detailed look at current issues and how Stoicism can be practiced when faced with him.
One method that Ferraiolo introduces in his book is the IDEA Method, four steps to practice Stoicism. It stands for:
I: Identify the real issue-What is really concerning us? When we are mad about something, what is the root cause of our anger?
D: Distinguish “Internal” from “External”-What is beyond our control-external and what is within our power to change-internal. Is the problem something we can fix, can it be fixed by someone else, by both or neither?
E: Exert Effort Only Where It Can Be Effective-If the problem is internal what can and should be done to fix it? Is it necessary for example to obtain so many material goods when everything falls away? Do we have a good work-life balance?
A: Accept the Rest Amor Fati-If the problem is external, what are the results and how do we accept it? Even if it is internal, have we done everything we possibly could? How do we react at the results with calm and acceptance or with rage and tears?
One of the big issues that plague us in modern society is mental health. While Ferraiolo doesn't dismiss conventional treatment like therapy and medication, he advises the Reader to look at the issues that surround the anxiety.
Concerns about another person's health and well-being lie within that person and not within others surrounding them. Anxieties about death are not necessary because no matter what happens, we are all going to die. When someone is concerned about failure, their anxieties may trouble them so much that their fear becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The book also discusses the obsession with the needs of the external world such as money, material goods, or constant adulation. Simplicity is living your life without the excesses of the external and appreciating what one has instead of obtaining too much.
Stoicism is also a philosophy that admits free will and is less dependent on the will of a higher deity. While many of the Stoics believed in a God of some form, they knew that their behaviors were in their control. Even modern Stoics can match their behaviors to their current beliefs.
Many practicing Buddhists can find comparisons between their belief and Stoicisms. Like Epictetus the Slave who practiced a life of simplicity, Prince Siddhartha Gautama walked away from his royal life that shielded him from illness, old age, poverty, and death. Buddhists and Stoics share a calmness in the face of suffering and a life of simplicity.
Agnosticism is also a belief system that is joined with Stoicism. Stoics and Agnostics both realize that they know nothing, so they often question the world around them. Ferraiolo counters the thought that Agnostics are inherently weak. On the contrary, he writes that it takes a lot of strength to question and accept that we may not fully know how the Universe works.
Ferraiolo finds Stoicism everywhere even in popular culture. He devotes one whole chapter to Anton Chigurh the sinister hit man from the film, No Country for Old Men. Chigurh has no back story, no motivation. He just is who he is, death incarnate. He is stoic in his behavior and demeanor using a flip of a coin to determine who lives and dies. Ferraiolo cites three examples from the film which illustrates his method of killing. One character says “The coin has no say. It's (Chigurh) who decides.” Chigurh is someone who is completely detached from his emotion to the point that he accepts life and death equally.
Among the big questions philosopher ask is how can evil exist especially if there is a benevolent God. Along with that question is whether we have Free Will.
Morals are the principles in which people live according to spiritual practice, laws, and personal beliefs. The ideal that we are responsible for our behavior and the emotions that occur reflects our principles and how we choose to live. With Stoics the question often is not what happened, but how did I choose to act upon it.
In Roman times, Stoics often chose death over dishonor by suicide. While in modern times, suicide is not a favorable action, one can replace that behavior with an acceptance of death. That's why people sign DNRs or make their last wishes known. Some choose to die rather than suffer in illness. The stoic mindset towards death is to face it as you would life with a calm acceptance.
As before, Ferraiolo shows that Stoicism is not a philosophy for everybody. Humans are by consequence emotional creatures and Stoicism runs counter to that. Instead, it tells us how we can face illness and suffering with change but also acceptance when we can't change it.
