Mastering the Art of Letting Go: A Stoic Perspective

Finding Freedom and Fulfillment in the Present Moment

Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash

Did I say that you should give up on every person in your life, every dream you have ever seen, every thought you are about to think, and every pleasure you seek from this world?

Or did you hear that I am saying you should leave your every companion behind, detach yourself from the person you love, or run away from your desires and goals?

Did I say that You should give up on world pleasures & your efforts and detach yourself from every fulfillment and action that helps you to make progress?

Or you heard me saying go to the mountains of the Himalayas and practice a 40-day meditation or walk 700 miles barefooted while detaching yourself from everything.

Never.

The detachment principle of stoicism does not work that way. Stoicism is a philosophy of action, not inaction.

It teaches us to detach ourselves to get hold of the situation and then strike back stronger than ever. It teaches us to detach to understand what is going on, not to run away.

It forces us to detach ourselves from the events happening in our lives and observe them from the third person’s eye.