“A stoic is a person who is seemingly indifferent to or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain.” One who is not touched by the outside world, seemingly to live inside themselves, always thinking that today might be the last. Stoics detach themselves from things of this world, including objects, people, and to a certain extent, their own lives. In Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and The Discourses by Epictetus, the rules of stoicism are defined: learn to deny feelings, respect oneself and nature, and detach oneself from the useless things of this world.
A main component of stoic philosophy is to deny emotions, to disregard feelings to harness free will and become a happy individual. However, to have emotion is to be human. Upon feeling emotion, a stoic is encouraged to banish it, believing that it is wrong. He wants to be in control of his world wanting nothing to go wrong. Yet, he also believes that one should be accepting of all that happens, since the gods above predestine life. The understanding is that that human body does not belong to the individual and that it is “cleverly molded clay” by the gods. Once he accepts that his life is completely planned out, he will attain happiness.
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“Our feelings are important because they help us to know ourselves, to be real, and to connect deeply with other people. Almost every psychological problem relies on some distortion or denial of feelings.” The denial of feelings can lead to behavioral issues. Everyone is born with emotion; even Jesus acted in righteous anger in the market place in Jerusalem. “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those engaged in selling and buying there.” The denial of emotions can affect a stoics personal and public life. The practice of ignoring one’s emotional state can be harmful to the mind and