Br Jordan Albert
Whereas the Stoic sage encourages recollected ascesis for the sake of tranquility, the Boethian adept aims at tranquility as a precondition for directing one’s affections toward these highest goods—interpersonal goods in the enjoyment of which the human form of life flourishes best. Boethius, therefore, invites us to set our aim higher than mere freedom from suffering; to aim at the true happiness that can only be found in real-life communion. There is short-term risk here: of loss, disappointment, betrayal, wishful thinking; but greater reward: friendship, love, joy.
—Thomas Ward
Friends,
Stoicism—or at least a version of it—has seen a resurgence in the last decade or so. Because I have a very fun and laid back personality, I sometimes break up my diet of politics and history podcasts with theology ones, many recorded by the Thomistic Institute. So, when I saw one recently on Stoicism and Christianity, I had to listen.
The speaker, Thomas Ward, spoke about Stoicism through a Christian lens, specifically invoking the writings of St. Boethius. I won’t rehash the episode for you—listen to it!—but he found a lot to like: an emphasis on a virtuous life, shedding the unimportant attachments, and a recognition that possessions won’t make us happy.
But there are differences too. Whereas the Stoic might cultivate tranquility as a good in and of itself or a way to be completely undisturbed by the ups and downs anyone experiences over the course of their lives, to the extent of freeing themselves from any substantive attachments at all, Christianity shows us a different way and it coincides with today’s reading from St Matthew.
St Matthew recounts Our Lord’s parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl. In short, these parables point to a rightly ordered life—the pursuit of the goods that Christ calls us to pursue and an embrace of being made in the image of God: life in community, finding your good in the goodness of others, and the hope of union with God. Detachment is good to a point. We should—including myself!—try and detach ourselves from the goods of the world. That doesn’t mean that they can’t provide us with some happiness but ultimate happiness is not found by total detachment but by relationships with others and God.
In Christ,
—Br Jordan