The hedonic treadmill suggests that our happiness levels tend to remain at a relatively neutral level because we quickly adapt to events that make us happy or things that make us sad. The idea that happiness is a mindset rather than something acquired through wealth, pleasure, or material things is supported by the hedonic treadmill. Realize this, and you will find strength.” 3 He further elaborates that “ the happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” As he writes in Meditations, “y ou have power over your mind - not outside events. One reason why Aurelius's stoic advice focused on changing one’s mindset is because although we cannot always control what happens to us, we can control how we feel about it and how we react to it. Philosophy enables someone to be rational, which for stoicism, is to live in accordance with nature. 1 Philosophy gives someone a stable cognitive state that allows them to see what is just and virtuous and act accordingly. An action is virtuous when it is done because of understanding, which is where philosophy as a way of life comes in. He writes in Meditations, “ if you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” 3Īurelius believed that people should stop focusing on these things and instead examine whether their actions are contributing to one’s own virtue. If it doesn’t contribute to overall happiness, it is neither good nor bad. Since things like pain and pleasure do not influence our happiness, Aurelius suggested that people needed to reframe their thoughts surrounding what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
That is because pursuing philosophy helped people understand the ‘true’ nature of things - a common example is philosophy’s inquiry into what a soul is. 1 What allowed someone to have those virtuous characteristics was their pursuit of philosophy in both a practical and philosophical way, which would enable them to live in agreement with nature. What was virtuous was anything that made someone just, temperate, courageous, and free, and what was bad were things that made them the contrary. Like many stoic philosophers, Aurelius had a binary view on good and evil, which is to say it was very black and white. Aurelius recognized that it was not easy to live one’s life as a philosopher, as it required a great deal of dedication, but believed that it was a worthy pursuit. Though unfamiliar today, stoic philosophy was still popular during Aurelius’s time. 1 Only what makes us virtuous makes us happy, while vice is the thief of our happiness. According to stoicism, wealth, reputation, or enjoyment do not actually contribute to a happy life similarly, illness, poverty, or pain do not detract from our happy life. Little things that occupy people’s daily life are irrelevant to our happiness. 4 Stoicism suggests that philosophy is a way of living a virtuous life, not just an academic discipline, and that philosophy is the only pursuit that actually matters in the grand scheme of things. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy movement that first emerged during the Hellenistic period (323 BC to 31 BC).
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