Philosophy is not a fair-weather endeavor

The time for jiu-jitsu classes is before the mugging; the time to buy insurance is before the accident; the time for philosophy is before the crisis.

Philosophy is not a fair-weather endeavor. In the good times, she teaches us to live with appreciation for the people in our lives for the limited time we have them. She encourages us to contribute to our communities, providing a sense of meaning.

But, like a flashlight in daylight, philosophy’s true utility isn’t apparent when things are going well. For that, we must wait for the lights to go out, for life’s inevitable hardships to come our way. That is when her brilliance illuminates the darkness… supposedly.

Stuck in the Dark by Choice

In reality, during the good times, we extol the great sages and their teachings, thinking we’ve absorbed their wisdom through ink. We might even critique their actions from our newfound vantage point of enlightenment.

Yet, as soon as even the most minor of challenges arise, we feel singled out by fate and quickly discard these insights. After all, Marcus Aurelius never had to sit in rush hour traffic. Seneca was never behind on rent. We stumble our way through the dark on ignorant instinct, cursing the unfairness of existence.

Where is our trusty flashlight now? We've been carrying it for miles, praising it to all who will listen. This darkness is precisely the occasion we brought it for. Nevertheless, it stays in the backpack.

As Mike Tyson once said, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." Life will punch hard. We’ll find ourselves on the canvas, dazed, having lost our composure, reacting in a way that would have embarrassed us before the bout. It’s unrealistic to expect otherwise.

Get Back Up Fast

As trite as it sounds, the mark of wisdom isn’t in how often we fall, but in how quickly we get up. For most of us, the question isn’t whether we will get knocked down. Nor is it whether we will get back up - both of those are givens. Calamities will come but humans have shown the capacity to overcome them. The real question is how fast? How fast can we regain our equanimity? Our joy? Our trust?

With practice, setbacks become triggers to bring out our flashlight. We spend less time wallowing the dark. We illuminate our way back to the light.

When we study philosophy, we buy options on the vicissitudes of life. We appreciate blessings and embrace hardships as opportunities to grow. Navigating our way through the darkness is perhaps the only way we humans can grow.

We can learn to transform every moment of darkness into a chance to shine. This is the greatness of Epictetus, Mandela, Frankl. We all have that power within us. We only need to cultivate it.