Add to this that he who laughs at
the human race deserves better of it than he who mourns for it, for the former
leaves it some good hopes of improvement, while the latter stupidly weeps over
what he has given up all hopes of mending.
He who after surveying the Universe
cannot control his laughter shows, too, a greater mind than he who cannot restrain
his tears, because his mind is only affected in the slightest possible degree,
and he does not think that any part of all this apparatus is either important,
or serious, or unhappy.
A willingness to laugh at the world can certainly
go hand in hand with the Stoic value of indifference, in the sense that I should
not think too highly of either fortune or misfortune. I can take them, or I
can leave them, with the full understanding that they will neither make me nor
break me.
My cheerfulness arises from being aware that the
world does not need to trouble me so much, in contrast to the tears that come
from letting myself be overwhelmed. If I take the burden to be light, I will
smile as I trot along, and I will only feel dread if I allow it to weigh me
down.
Most importantly, if I remember that I can always
transform any and all circumstances into something good for me, I will not find
them so intimidating; it will only lead to despair if I surrender to the
circumstances.
I might be tempted to smile when I receive
pleasure, and to frown when I receive pain, but I can choose to go much deeper
than that. What is often called a “positive attitude” does not have to mean the
I only expect good things to happen to me, since I am conscious of the fact
that whatever happens is only as good as what I make of it.
My own virtue or vice will decide the worth of the
situation, and so it is within my power to achieve a far more profound form of
joy.
The point is never to deny or to repress my
feelings, but to form my judgments in such a way that I build up a mastery over
those feelings. How I think about myself and my world will, in turn, affect my
passions, such that I will naturally find contentment whenever I consciously
discover the good in something.
And so, when I work to perceive that there is
always a benefit to be found in every state of affairs, I will be far more
inclined to laugh instead of cry.
It has never helped me to force a smile, though it
is so much easier to smile when I have the priorities of my thinking in order. The
Stoic will, therefore, hardly be a sourpuss.
Written in 12/2011
IMAGE: Peter Paul Rubens, Democritus and Heraclitus (1603)
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