In the Stoic view articulated in “How to Be a Stoic,” man is intrinsically a part of a rational cosmos, governed by “universal Nature” — rationality (77). The Stoics recognize the Sympathia of the universe, thus ethics is not separated from ontology — the universal order is the “ultimate reality” (71), so ethically man has to live virtuously, rationally, and in harmony with the rational cosmos. The healthy exercise of rationality thus allows man to understand his existence, live a reasonable life, and contribute actively to the moral working order of the cosmos. Suggesting such a life that almost negates “humane emotions” for being irrational, the Stoics seem to be too logos-centered and hyperrational, yet in its core, the Stoics can also be read existentialistically — they affirm the simple existence of human beings as being ingrained in the omnipotent and orderly universe, therefore making human existence ontic and perfectible.
Human ethics is cosmically determined because humans are beings in this rational universe. Logos comes from the cosmos and is the cosmos. The universe is ultimately rational so that things happening are all interconnected with the ultimate nature of the universe, for “what comes after is always in affinity to what went before”; events are “not some simple enumeration of disparate things and a merely necessary sequence, but a rational connection” because “existing things are harmoniously interconnected, [...] a wonderfully inherent affinity” (14). Ontologically, the “ultimate power in the universe is what makes use of all things and directs all things” (67), so that humans, as beings in this universe, is nothing more than a part of this fabric. The Stoics preach by the metaphor of torrent and stream — “the universal cause is a torrent, sweeping everything in its stream”, then asking “So, man, what does that mean for you?” By the metaphor of torrent, the Stoics successfully immerse human beings in the universe, just like how fish and other living creatures are immersed and enveloped in an actual current. Once humans are “in accordance with nature”, they can thrive for the universe would thrive, because “following universal nature” “lead to the health of the universe and the prosperity and the success of Zeus” (63).
Because of such ethics and such a cognition of the cosmos, the Stoics seem to be too logos-centered and inhumane. For example, men should not weep over the death of their love, because it’s simply a part of the change, the “constant alteration and gradual decay” (75) of both humans and the universe, and “universal nature delights in change” (77). Further negation of humanistic values even seems to be depreciative in the contrast between the infinity of the universe and the little of human lives — “what a tiny part of the universe substance [...] how tiny in the whole earth the mere clod on which you creep” (87). The numerous reiterations of such logos-centered teachings seem to be too cold and too hard.
Yet, an existentialist reading is made possible in the seemingly solid cosmos. First, the existence of human beings is now ontic. Human existence is no longer in a suspended epoche, because it is intangible, uninterpretable, and too abstract; the Stoics connect human existence to the existence of the universe by suggesting that humans are a part of the “universe harmony”, directly related to the divinity, for “universe is a community” (51). Furthermore, the Stoics elevate and connect the significance of human daily activities to the goodness of the universe — the physical cosmos that men interact with daily and its laws of rationality are not pure abstractions, but realities, while rationality allows one to actualize virtues and contributions to this divine universe in daily actions. Since good actions come from virtue and rationality that is “common to us all” (51), the very existence and actions of humans are thus affirmed: through rationality, humans can bring out virtue, and then contribute to the universe and Zeus. Therefore, humans are perfectible: there is a “perfect human” — one who is “in accordance with nature” (57); there is a way to be perfect — one can exercise the internal rationality to be virtuous; and there’s a meaning to be perfect — to act in accordance with rationality and being virtuous is contributing to the universe. In seeming belittlement of humanistic emotions, the Stoics are just exercising rationality like Occam’s razor, exploring how to be perfect, again affirming the very existence of human beings in this interconnected and perfectly orderly universe.
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