The Stoics and Control

Upon reflection of The Art of Living, I began to think about control.  The stoics believe that one should not worry or complain about what they cannot control.  This led me then to think deeply about what truly is and isn't within my control.  While there is a great deal many things out of my control, I realized how much actually is within my control that I wrongfully thought were not.  Once fully examined, a person will realize how little room there is for excuses.

For example, I must print a paper for class.  I go to the printer five minutes before class.  The printer is out of paper, and I do not get it printed and receive a lowered grade.

Now, in this simple scenario, I could not control the printer would be out of paper.  However, look at the number of things that were within my control that would have avoided this problem.  I could have gone earlier to print the paper, so I would've known if it was out of paper with enough time to fix it.  I could have called ahead to find out if there was paper.  I could have borrowed a friend's printer, one I knew had paper.

This is a simple example, but I find so many people make excuses for things that they actually could've avoided.  It comes from a problem of people being reactive rather than proactive.  This is where the stoics are truly coming from.  The stoic life doesn't consist of a world where you are acted upon but don't react.  It consists of a world where you are proactive so you don't have to react.

In my experience the most successful people are the people that do this the best.  They are one step ahead because they think one step ahead.  To lead a stoic life, one must truly be engaged.

A classic example of stoicism is a rainstorm.  You can't control the weather, so don't bother yourself about it.  You can, however, bring an umbrella.  When thinking about this, I recall an article I read.  It described a sort of hurricane defense.  The proposed idea is that large tankers, full of water, would pump water of a certain temperature and chemical makeup strategically into the path of an oncoming tropical storm or hurricane.  The effect of the water would be a dissipated storm.  In essence, it would kill the hurricane before it hit land.  I also read an article where ski resorts are now learning how to release chemicals into the air above their slopes to produce snow.  Instead of producing fake snow, they are actually creating real snow!

Controlling the weather is kind of scary to think about, and I bring it up because I can't decide how Epictetus would view it.  On the one hand, man is taking a proactive step and taking something that was once out of his control and placing it under his control.  On the other hand, shouldn't we just learn to deal with it.  After all, we still have umbrellas.  If you have any opinions, I'd love to hear them.