A Stoic Take on Mental Health: Navigating the modern mental health crisis through Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. 

Hello there! My name is Ethan McCarthy, currently a freshman at Penn State University in Schreyer Honors College and the Sapphire Academic Leadership program. I’m from Bentonville Arkansas, and I know … It’s far away and no, it’s not just cornfields, country music concerts, and cowboys. Why pick a college 18 hours away from my friends and family you may ask?  An integral component of my college choice was Penn State’s opportunities to individualize my college experience through the opportunity to share passions, as I am here today to introduce my passion blog. Through this process, I hope you learn a bit about me, philosophy, and yourself; But most importantly, that you can apply this blog to life experiences as these concepts continually help me as we explore them together. 

Stoicism: “the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint” – Oxford Dictionary

Stoic philosophy is much more intricate than this generalized Google definition; Stoicism is a form of philosophy originating in ancient Greece by an individual named Zeno in 300 BC. Zeno’s teachings and other following Stoics agree that the philosophical overarching theme of Stoicism is developing an introspective relationship with our thoughts, interactions, and emotions. Following Zeno’s origination of Stoicism, a multitude of notable philosophers followed his lead by writing philosophical essays and theoretical principles.

Yet in 161 AD, Marcus Aurelius took an unconventional approach with his practice, perspective, and structure of his philosophical ideas. Amidst military strategic meetings and duties as emperor of Rome, Marcus began to habitually journal daily thoughts and emotions through his own personal journal; These private notes, oftentimes heavily self-examination and analysis,  later became publicized to the world by breaking the ideas into 12 books called the Meditations.

The purpose of the writings is an ongoing stream of self-reflection and introspection, rather than an external exposition of stoicism, providing a uniquely authentic approach to the practice of stoicism. Furthermore, Marcus’s writings often provided a unique perspective of the experience as emperor, struggling with decisions and dilemmas in such a powerful position.

Yet, you may be asking yourself, what does ancient philosophy have anything to do with my barrage of Canvas assignments, stress from impending deadlines, and transitioning to college? With an exponential increase in suicide and depression among college students, It’s imperative to find alternative ways to combat this national mental health crisis. In our world today, stoic philosophy has been translated strictly into the self-improvement genre through recent books and articles – I believe this is a misinterpretation of stoicism.

Through this passion blog, I will argue that Marcus Aurelius Meditations can be applied as therapeutical to struggling college students like ourselves. Most philosophers take a third-person theoretical use of philosophy, but Marcus takes a more pragmatic approach by focusing on its day-to-day application. Through dissecting Meditations through a modern lens, as Marcus did thousands of years ago, each blog post will provide actionable concepts to utilize with an objective to become more stoic in our lives today.

Written by Ethan McCarthy. email: eam6451@psu.edu