There are no gurus in Stoicism. Even the founders of the school—Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus—don’t claim that they were perfectly wise. They believe we’re all foolish, vicious, and to some extent enslaved to our passions. The ideal Sage is perfect by definition, but he’s a hypothetical ideal, like the notion of a Utopian society. Ironically, the very anger we feel toward those who offend us can itself be seen as evidence of fallibility on our part. Our anger proves that we too are capable of doing the wrong thing under the influence of strong emotions. Remembering that fallibility is the
...more
