“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind, for things have no natural power to shape our judgments.” — Marcus Aurelius
It isn’t easy to stay neutral in a world that seems to constantly demand your opinion on everything.
What team are you rooting for? What political party do you support? What do you think about this issue . . . and this one, and this one?
As human beings, we have an instinctive desire to feel like part of a group, a member of a club, a player on a team; a reflexive urge to classify everyone around us as either “with me” or “against me.”
Marcus’s words remind us that we can choose to overcome these urges, and free ourselves of the negative emotions they cause.
You’re allowed to have no opinion at all about a topic, regardless of how much someone insists that you pick a side. You’re allowed to decide that you aren’t going to waste any time even thinking about it.
The ancient Stoics didn’t say we should abstain from politics entirely; in fact, Stoicism teaches that human beings have a responsibility to play a part in the community and improve the world for other people. But the beauty of politics is found in dialogue, compromise and consensus; not in those ugly, primal passions of tribalism and “us against them.”
The allure of sporting events weren’t unfamiliar to ancient Stoics, either. Public games were even more intense and arousing two millennia ago than they are today. Epictetus taught that there’s nothing wrong with following sports, but gave this advice about going to public events:
“. . . if the occasion should arise and you go, don’t be seen siding with anyone except yourself; which is to say, hope only for what happens to happen, and for the actual winner to win; then you won’t be unhappy.”