Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons For Modern Resilience by Nancy Sherman

Author:Nancy Sherman [Sherman, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780197501832
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 55332369
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

A Plea for Self-Mercy

Let’s return to the naval aviator Layne McDowell. There were no formal investigations of the incident over Kosovo. It is not clear whether by following fuller procedures, McDowell could have averted the accident. What we know is that McDowell, above all else, is his own judge and revisits the scene in flashbacks. He probably also revisits the scenes in his mind as he checks for accuracy in Chivers’s typed-up account of his quotes and then, later, his story, as Chivers narrates it, when he turns to reading the book.

What McDowell pictures is strikingly like what Seneca pictures in Astyanax’s demise—a young boy’s body shattered, the back of his head missing, an innocent made all too vulnerable in war. What we hope for on behalf of this navy pilot is some mitigation of the self-punishment, some leniency and self-empathy that allow for a way to move beyond the rage of distress without losing the moral meaning that comes from the anguish. What we hope for is self-mercy. We want him to be able to loosen the rage of his felt guilt by imagining if he would blame others as harshly as he blames himself. His feelings may be apt, but relentlessly harsh. As I have said, there is often asymmetry in how we hold self and others to account, especially, in the case of military moral injury: self-blame may be far harsher than blame for those who cover your back. But that opens a path for healing: We need to show ourselves the compassion we would show others in similar circumstances—or, show ourselves what we imagine that they show us. The benevolence of the benevolent spectator, at times, needs to become part of the moral self.

There is a political lesson here, too. We who don’t go to war need to start taking greater responsibility for the wars to which we send others to fight on our behalf. We need to carry the moral burden by doing a better job of knowing which causes of war are just and worth our nation’s most precious resources.

Seneca is a complex spokesperson for calm. What sometimes parades as conscience is the rumbling of the unconscious and its conflicts. He yearns for simplicity and tranquility at the same time he is attracted to the messy world of high-stakes power and hierarchy. Modern-day warriors (and many in frontline and emergency relief work) also live in complicated moral worlds—committed to excellence but working in institutions that vastly limit their individual control, exposed to situations that constantly test their best judgment and capacity for steady restraint. Exposure to moral injury is no surprise in those environments. But the Senecan lesson I have been urging is that this very injury may open the way for moral growth and the calm of repair. To read Stoicism as forswearing the possibility of “good” moral distress is to miss Seneca’s more profound lessons for modern resilience.

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