Stoicism Is Not Good Enough

You need way more than that.

A Gateway to Self-Development

Stoicism has risen in popularity over the last few years, mainly thanks to authors like Ryan Holiday and social media pages that regularly share quotes by the most prominent ancient stoics like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and others. I remember when I was 19, and starting my self improvement journey, one of the first books I read was “Ego is the enemy” by the aforementioned Holiday. I was a big fan of his back then. Then, during the 2020 pandemic he showed his true colors, being a mouthpiece for the regime, a strong supporter of masks, vax mandates, and all the other tyrannical policies, and an advocate for “drag-queen story hour”. And then he used “stoicism” to justify all of his backwards positions. I’m not a big fan of the guy, but that’s not the point of this article.

Back to the story, I read Ego is the Enemy and liked it at the time, and started to learn about stoicism. I bought Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, some books by Seneca, and other by contemporary authors that explained stoicism in a simple and applicable way for modern life. Stoicism was a big part of my self-development journey, and through it I learnt a lot of useful things.

I think Stoicism can be a great starting point for men seeking to become better. It teaches you to deal with your emotions, to keep them under control, to avoid emotional reactions, and to use your mind rationally. The importance of these lessons, especially at a time when most people are completely at the mercy of their feelings, cannot be overstated. Many men need to learn emotional self-control first, before they can begin moving forward in their lives. Emotional self-control has to come first, so it can serve as a stable and strong foundation upon which to build yourself through self-improvement.

So don’t think I’m against stoicism as a useful doctrine for men. Not at all. However, I do think that stoicism is incomplete. It is important to know it, and use it, but making it the main guiding doctrine of your life is not a good idea, because stoicism has a big, critical flaw that makes it unfitting as a central philosophy of your life. Here’s why.