Stockdale Meditates on Stoicism as He Parachutes Into Viet Nam

From Courage Under Fire:

     "On September 9, 1965, I flew at 500 knots right into a flak trap, at tree-top level, in a little A-4 airplane--the cockpit walls not even three feet apart--which I couldn't steer after it was on fire, its control system shot out. After ejection I had about thirty seconds to make my last statement in freedom before I landed in the main street of a little village right ahead. And so help me, I whispered to myself: 'Five years down there, at least. I'm leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.'

     'Ready at hand' from The Enchiridion as I ejected from that airplane was the understanding that a Stoic always kept separate files in his mind for (A) those things that are 'up to him' and (B) those things that are 'not up to him.' Another way of saying it is (A) those things that are 'within his power' and (B) those things that are 'beyond his power.' Still another way of saying it is (A) those things that are within the grasp of 'his Will, his Free Will' and (B) those things that are beyond it. All in category B are 'external,' beyond my control, ultimately dooming me to fear and anxiety if I covet them. All in category A are up to me, within my power, within my will, and properly subjects for my total concern and involvement. They include my opinions, my aims, my aversions, my own grief, my own joy, my judgments, my attitude about what is going on, my own good, and my own evil."

James B. Stockdale. Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (Hoover Essays) (Kindle Locations 108-116). Kindle Edition.

From "Courage Under Fire"

From the introduction to Vice-Admiral James B. Stockdale's Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus' Doctrines in the Laboratory of Human Behavior:

     "[U]ndergirding my new confidence was the realization that I had found the proper philosophy for the military arts as I practiced them. The Roman Stoics coined the formula Vivere militare! - 'Life is being a soldier.' Epictetus in Discourses: 'Do you not know that life is a soldier's service? One must keep guard, another go out to reconnoitre, another take the field. If you neglect your responsibilities when some severe order is laid upon you, do you not understand to what a pitiful state you bring the army in so far as in you lies?' Enchiridion: 'Remember, you are an actor in a drama of such sort as
poor man, or a cripple, or a ruler, see that you act it well. For this is your business-to act well the given part, but to choose it belongs to Another.' 'Every one of us, slave or free, has come into this world with innate conceptions as to good and bad, noble and shameful, becoming and unbecoming, happiness and unhappiness, fitting and inappropriate.' 'If you regard yourself as a man and as a part of some whole, it is fitting for you now to be sick and now to make a voyage and run risks, and now to be in want,and on occasion to die before your time. Why, then are you vexed? Would you have someone else be sick of a fever now, someone else go on a voyage, someone else die? For it is impossible in such a body as ours, that is, in this universe that envelops us, among these fellow-creatures of ours, that such things should not happen, some to one man, some to another'."


James B. Stockdale. Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (Hoover Essays) (Kindle Locations 98-108). Kindle Edition.

The View From Above (From "The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)

     The ancient Stoics often advised trying to imagine seeing the whole world, as if from on high, and thereby becoming able to visualize how insignificant the indifferent things of this world really are. This would naturally enhance the Stoic's "contempt" of the world - although the negative connotations of "contempt" have led some to suggest that "indifference" or "detachment" might be better terms. Donald Robertson quotes Vice-Admiral Stockdale: "[M]ake sure in your heart of hearts , in your inner self, that you treat your station in life with indifference, not with contempt, only with indifference" (thus highlighting the different shades of meaning in English).

De Amore Fati (On the "Amor Fati" - the "Love of Fate") - from "The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy"

     In The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy," Donald Robertson discusses the seeming Stoic paradox of being strict mechanical determinists (who believe that all events are caused by preceding events, therefore even decisions we make are predetermined, in a sense) as well as firm believers in free will. The apparent paradox is caused mostly by misunderstanding of the terms involved and their application to the philosophy. But regardless, Robertson shows that the "sage desires only that he should do what he can to the best of his ability, no more and no less, and he accepts success or failure with equal serenity because he concerns himself only with the quality of his actions, and not their results." He quotes Seneca:

"It is in no man's power to have whatever he wants; but he has got it in his power not to wish for what he hasn't got, and cheerfully make the most of the things that do come his way."

Or, as Robertson quotes Epictetus,

"Don't ask things to happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go smoothly."

     This is the idea that Nietzche (a professor of classical languages) labeled "amor fati" - "love of one's fate." This is the idea that kept Stockdale going as a P.O.W. in Viet Nam:

"Was I a victim?Not when I became fully engaged, got into the life of unity with comrades, helping others and being encouraged by them. So many times, I would find myself whispering to myself after an exhilirating wall tap message exchange: 'I am right where I belong; I am right where I was meant to be'."

On Indifferents (from Vice-Admiral James Bond Stockdale)

     Some thoughts on the Stoic philosophy regarding Indifferents from Vice-Admiral James Bond Stockdale:

     "I know the difficulties of gulping this down right away. You keep thinking of practical problems. Everybody has to play the game of life. You can't just walk around saying 'I don't give a damn about health or wealth or whether I'm sent to prison or not.' Epictetus took time to explain better what he meant. He says everybody should play the game of life - that the best play it with 'skill, form, speed, and grace.' But, like most games, you play it with a ball. Your team devotes all its energies to getting the ball across the line. But after the game, what do you do with the ball? Nobody much cares. It's not worth anything. The competition, the game, was the thing. The ball was 'used' to make the game possible, but in itself is not of any value that would justify falling on your sword for it. Once the game is over, the ball is properly a matter of indifference."