Today’s discussion about Epictetus and Stoicism raised a big question in my mind about how Stoics would relate to the plight and predicament other people. Let’s imagine a scenario in which a 30-year old “non-Stoic” woman walks into a Stoic physician’s office right after having a series of medical tests. The medical doctor analyzes the results of the test and concludes that the woman has terminal kidney cancer. Now, the physician has to break the gloomy news of the inevitability of death to this woman. As the physician informs the woman about her plight, she bursts into tears and cries out “Why?? Why me? First, I lose my husband and three kids; and now this? Why is life so cruel and heartless?”
You may be thinking now: “This is just a hypothetical situation.” But let’s be honest with ourselves; people do actually go through such unfortunate situations, in which they experience multiple misfortunes and ill-fate.
Stoics believe in the development of self-control and fortitude of will as a means of keeping our emotions in check. If this is the case, how would this Stoic physician respond to the distressed woman? Basing off the discussion in class about the grenade scenario, I would assume that the physician would say something like this: “Madam, such is life. Nature has taken its course. There’s really nothing that you or I can do to change this situation. Rather, just take it in your stride and tag along with nature’s course; this will ensure you a happy life for the remainder of your days.”
This message may be well-received by a fellow stoic, however, this certainly, I believe, might be a little too extreme and could even fan the flame of the woman’s distress. I mean, just put yourself in the woman’s situation: you’ve just been informed that you’re going to die, and the doctor’s words of “encouragement” to you are “Such is life. Nature has taken its course…” Really? Seriously? Although, this is just a suppositional statement, my understanding of stoic principles leads me to think that this is a likely statement.
Can it ever happen then, that a Stoic physician would say something like “Madam, I’m really sorry that I had to break this disheartening news to you. I understand the pain you’re going through now, and I’ll just advice you to calm down and take things easy. Weeping won’t change the situation, but all you need now is strong family support and to make the best out of the time left”? A statement like this would be much more appropriate and better embraced by the woman, since the doctor, first, sympathizes with her. Although he acknowledges that nothing can be done about the situation, he tells her to make the best out of the time she has left. These are the kind of words I would think a doctor should say in a situation like this. However, it is not likely that these words will proceed out of a Stoic physician’s mouth. After all, to show sympathy for this woman would be going against stoic principles.
With the above scenario in mind, I pose this question for discussion: Is it possible for a Stoic believer to work as a counselor for physically, mentally, or sexually-abused victims? If yes, how so?
I think that it is absolutely impossible for a Stoic believer to work for physically, mentally, or sexually-abused victims. I say this because in order to "counsel" a person, you must first identify/empathize with that person. You must understand what they are going through and listen carefully in order to provide feedback and/or improve their physical deficit. In order to do these things, some passion has to be shown towards these people, which is not allowed of Stoic people. This would be disaccordant with the nature of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ivy. If you are going to be in a position to counsel someone else, regardless of the situation, you must be able to relate to their situation in some way. If you've spent your life as a Stoic training yourself to repress your emotions, how could you ever empathize with someone who is overcome with emotion? Without being able to understand why someone would react strongly to a situation, it is extremely difficult to instruct them on how to handle their situation. Finally, I think that the main reason you would never see a Stoic counselor is that a Stoic would never "waste their time" discussing strong emotions, as emotion should not be given that much power.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting question, Emmanuel! Just in order to defend the stoics position, I try to argue, why a stoic could be a good counselor. Let's stick to the example given and try to rethink the stoic's reaction. The highest goal for stoics is, to live a life in accord with nature, means to overcome emotions, namely bad emotions. For my understanding, it is okay for stoics to have emotions unless they are bad feelings. We can achieve this by using our Reason.
ReplyDeleteTalking about this example, the counselor could also react differently, because he knows (by his reason) that the wife's view of the world is not a stoic one and therefore, she is not able to view this stroke of faith without emotions. Heaving this in mind, a good stoic counselor would react in a way that helps the wife to reach his goal: Accept unchangeable things in her life without bad emotions.
Therefore I think that a stoic can be a good counselor.