stoicism in recovery and revolution

i believe the philosophical branch of stoicism has largely been adopted by conservatives trying to come off as emotionless and steadfast, when they're actually becoming cold and losing empathy. as a leftist and a person in recovery who integrates the philosophy of Dokkōdō into my life, i find this phenomenon curious. let's break down Miyamoto Musashi's "The Path of Aloneness" as i see it working for me.

some background:
Miyamoto Musashi was a traveling swordsman in Japan. it is believed he was born in 1584, and he died in 1645. from about the age of 13 until his death, he practiced katana fighting, forming and teaching his own style of dual-wielding known as Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū Kenjutsu (School of Two Heavens as One), fighting in at least 62 duels and (debatably) winning all but one, which is said to have been a tie. he practiced meditation from his mid-twenties forward and practiced the arts in his late 40's, reading throughout his life. in his last few years, he retreated to Reigandō cave to write his two major philosophical works: "Dokkōdō" (The Path of Aloneness) and "Go Rin No Sho" (The Book of Five Rings).

here are the 21 precepts of Dokkōdō and how i interpret them.
1. "Accept everything just the way it is."
this one is self-explanatory. acceptance leads to contentment. in recovery, it's been said, "acceptance is the answer to all my problems today." but acceptance doesn't mean i'm going to lie down and let life do whatever it's going to do without feeling anything about it. accepting a situation also means accepting whatever emotions or feelings come up as a result of the situation. it also doesn't mean that things can't be changed, just that the current circumstances have thusfar unfolded as such.

2. "Do not seek pleasure for its own sake."
i apply this mostly to capitalist materialism. i don't wish to be guided by what money can or can't get me, but i do engage in hobbies and recreational activities. i also take this in the view of recovery. drugs, alcohol, sex, dopamine, serotonin... if i'm looking for "feels-good" actions just to feel good, i'm setting myself up for dependency and disappointment. i enjoy what i do, without relying on these things to make me happy. in so many words, happiness is about the journey and not the destination.

3. "Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling."
feelings and emotions are temporary. to be in touch with my emotions, it means i have to let them come and go, rather than dwelling on them. i think this line gets confused a lot, with people believing that acknowledging or feeling their emotions at all is somehow detrimental. the goal of stoicism isn't to become a sociopath, it's to form healthy detachments and have a sense of self-determination.

4. "Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world."
this one is pretty cut and dry. i've seen Dokkōdō get referenced by CEOs and politicians as having shaped their beliefs, and i've got to say that they're either interpreting it wrong or cherry-picking pieces of it to make themselves feel better. i think it's pretty clear that the idea behind this line is to consider what's going on outside the self and not become self-centered. but again, this comes with a healthy sense of detachment.

5. "Be detached from desire your whole life long."
this line echoes the sentiments of precepts 2 and 3. having a healthy relationship with one's sense of desire means not letting it rule one's life. desire is a partial feeling and it can be tempered. the point isn't to "not want," but to see the desire in a realistic way.

6. "Do not regret what you have done."
this one seems tricky and can lend itself to the enabling of antisocial attitudes, but i look at this from a recovery attitude. one of the promises of AA is, "We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." when put into this perspective, it's more adaptable to the idea of coming to terms with the past. everything i've done in my life has gotten me here. i won't claim that i follow this precept perfectly, as i do have regrets, but i also have a much healthier relationship with them now than i ever did before. perhaps one day i'll be able to link the emotional and intellectual parts of my brain to say, and mean, that i don't regret anything anymore.

7. "Never be jealous."
jealousy is a "partial feeling," and jealousy is a form of maladapted desire. jealousy is an urge to control some facet outside of oneself, typically regarding the situation of another which we're envious of. the opposite of jealousy is compersion, the feeling of joy for another's joy. with compersion comes acceptance, which means we can feel neutral or better about things which used to jar us into envy.

8. "Never let yourself be saddened by a separation."
this is another one that i believe gets misconstrued. people will use this to try to convince themselves not to feel sad when they experience loss or grief. i believe it's about finding acceptance, and eventually joy, in the experience. "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." the key here is to do this without leaning into toxic positivity or an unfeeling sense of apathy. this is about reframing.

9. "Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others."
resentment is a partial feeling, one that often leads us to relive or re-experience perceived slights against us. sometimes, the resentment comes from our sense of regret. i think there's a healthy way to relate to our regrets and resentments without necessarily complaining about them. the idea isn't to "never complain" or to "never have resentment," but to have a much healthier relationship with them so as not to burden others or ourselves with the weight of them. reach out if you need to talk about something, but consider if you're willing to work on changing or accepting the situation versus complaining just to complain.

10. "Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love."
lust and love are also partial feelings, and they're also very heavy ones. Musashi spent most of his life traveling alone, and had few lasting relationships, but he did have two adopted sons. he focused almost entirely on his swordsmanship until he was older and settled on becoming a teacher and writing his philosophy. he spent his late years training students. i would say, unequivocally, he loved fighting and training. what he didn't do, was become dependent upon his carnality or lead himself in a way to be distracted from his self-defined purpose. he knew from a very early age he wanted to be the best swordsman he could be, and he spent his entire life working towards that goal. i think the point here is not that we shouldn't love or lust over people, but to see that our actions aren't completely guided by these feelings.

[check out my blog about love here: (what is love, anyway?)]

11. "In all things have no preferences."
this one is difficult to imagine, but i think it is right up there with desire. there are a lot of things i would prefer to do, over what i have to do. but i think this goes deeper than that. a preference is a sort of bias. i'm not going to pretend that Musashi was some overly-progressive leftist of some kind, but perhaps he saw himself as so detached from others that he had neither hate nor love for them. perhaps he respected everyone equally, even those he fought and whose lives he ended. arguably, he preferred the challenge of seasoned warriors, and some of his fights certainly lasted longer than others. he preferred to fight with two swords, but would fight with one, or different kinds of weapons. he once beat someone over the head with an oar. i don't see him has a hateful man, just someone who was very driven by his sense of purpose. and as a result, he had little to no preferences about the concerns of typical people.

12. "Be indifferent to where you live."
Musashi had the gall to travel Japan, sleeping wherever he wanted and never being tied to one specific place for very long until he settled down in Reigandō cave to write his "Book of Five Rings," and die. he ran a few dojos over the years where he would stay for a time before moving somewhere else to continue training himself and his students. obviously in modern society, few people can freely travel without the financial means to do so, but what if this precept could be applied in a realistic way? i have enjoyed living in my current house for almost 3 years since coming to California, but i know it's not a permanent place. everything is temporary, most of all my living space. i had a period of housing insecurity that lasted most of a decade. so to be settled into one place for several years is obviously a huge privilege. however, i understand that one day, for some yet-unknown reason, i'll have to leave and will inevitably end up somewhere else. i strive to be indifferent, and to not "be saddened by a separation," when i do have to leave, but in a way that lends itself more to healthy detachment than to outright apathy.

13. "Do not pursue the taste of good food."
this is another one that's somewhat tricky to consider when we live in a society surrounded by fast food and the accessibility of UberEats. what i believe is good, isn't necessarily always good for me. this also links back to having no preferences, and not depending on partial feelings. the pursuit of good food can be a distraction. still, some people make their livelihood in culinary professions or as professional food tasters. i think Musashi was trying to say, more or less, not to make the entire journey about food. i will inevitably taste good food throughout my life, and i'm likely to have something i feel is better than anything I've had before. but there will always be a newer, better food waiting for me that i haven't yet discovered. instead of pursuing this to the ends of the Earth, i'm going to have some acceptance that good food will always eventually come my way.

14. "Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need."
in a clamoring, capitalistic society, most of us are bogged down by the sheer amount of "stuff" we've got, and have access to. this precept suggests a life of minimalism. it is also in stark contrast to those who believe stoicism pushes them into rapaciousness. i would even link this to the Christian idea of, "sell what you have, and give to the poor." this one is pretty simple.

15. "Do not act following customary beliefs."
let's prepare for some irony: in writing Dokkōdō, Musashi created a stoic tradition, the tenets of which are a set of his beliefs which he allegedly followed and therefore encouraged others to practice. almost 400 years later, i'm here writing a blog about how i aim to utilize this system in my daily life. i'd argue that he was more or less talking about organized religion and mainstream spiritual traditions. regarding those, i take what i need and discard the rest. Musashi was spiritual, but definitely had a secular approach to his life.

16. "Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful."
it might be hard to apply this to a modern life, especially since not all of us are practicing swordsmanship. i think this could be applied as a metaphor for art though. Musashi believed his swordsmanship was an art. if i'm using my creative tools the best way i can, they're not collecting dust, then they're useful to me. but i think this also speaks to burnout as much as underutilization. overall, this precept is about balance. someone who's collecting weapons (or guitars) for the sake of collecting them, isn't getting use out of them. this echoes the sentiment of 14 very well.

17. "Do not fear death."
this one is hard for many people to grasp. death is final, and it's full of uncertainty. many debates can be had about what happens after we die. the scientific answer is that we break down and our matter is recycled into the Earth to be used as nourishment. beyond that, what happens to the mind or the "soul," is something humans have speculated upon forever, and likely will forevermore. but that doesn't mean we can't come to terms with the unknown. i don't believe that i fear death. it's the act of dying that scares me, feeling my body shut down as i take my last breaths and feel my heart stop. this is of course assuming that i die of natural causes. but death is peaceful, and final. i don't think i'll be able to comprehend what happens after i'm dead, therefore i don't fear it. and i don't mean that in a macabre or cynical sort of way. i don't want to die. i accept that it's a part of life, and i think that's what this precept is asking us.

18. "Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age."
this echoes well precepts 14 and 16. Musashi owned very little and knew he couldn't take it with him when he died. in modern society, it seems almost insane to not want to leave some level of inheritance to our children, if we choose to have them. ultimately, i think this is about minimalism again. amassing wealth and property only to die and have to sign it all off to someone else, doesn't make sense, especially if it's privatized and not able to be used by common people. i don't think that Musashi was a communist, but he probably had a sense of anarchism about him based on how he lived his life. as a leftist, i'm looking at this through the lens of private property versus personal property. ultimately, nobody can "own" the land, a piece of the Earth. so why do we cling so hard to the social construct of property ownership? i'd be massively privileged if i ever own the place i live, no matter where that is. i certainly can't afford to now. and i'm not having kids, so i don't have to pass anything on when i'm gone. my hope is that by the time i am older, i'm comfortable but not surrounded by material gains that will burden whomever has to get rid of them in my absence.

19. "Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help."
this one is perfect for those of us who lean into atheism and agnosticism. it's a strong belief of mine that revolution will not happen without the spiritual and religious amongst us. militant atheism isn't useful to building camaraderie and organizing across all fronts. it seeks to divide the working class based on belief systems. however, this precept also runs in tandem with 15. ultimately, i seek to respect religions and religious iconography insofar as they're not used to oppress me directly; to build community with people of all backgrounds for the greater good; and to do so without having to buy into a set of traditions or a specific belief system. i don't think that's unrealistic.

20. "You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honor."
honor is defined as, "great respect" or "high esteem." Musashi was clearly an honored, respected, esteemed swordsman and teacher. he placed his reputation above the physical condition of his body. arguably this was both a social and a spiritual sense of respect for himself. he worked hard to become who he was, but didn't set out with the intent to impress people. he let his actions speak for him. in recovery, we talk about committing esteemable acts in order to benefit others. i think this applies to leftist ideas, and this precept. there's an element of "self-sacrifice" that could be interpreted as both literal and figurative. i seek to do what's right, even if that costs me my bodily condition. that isn't to say that i'm completely fearless, but that the greater good outweighs whatever might happen to me trying to uphold it.

21. "Never stray from the way."
this final precept aims to wrap up the preceding 20 by encouraging the reader/follower to adhere to them all indefinitely. words like "never" and "always" are tricky because they create extremes in expectation, absolutes that are hard to follow. perhaps Musashi had the discipline to follow all of these without faltering, but i think that if he were as human as any of us, he likely didn't practice these all perfectly. still, i believe they lay the stones for a path worth following, and i try to stick to "the way" as much as possible.

so we've dissected the philosophy of Dokkōdō and explored it in a way that is applicable to leftist politics and recovery. if you've gotten this far, hopefully you'll have seen how i've used "The Path of Aloneness" to guide me in my own life. maybe you'll think of my blog the next time some right-wing chud is trying to impress you by quoting Musashi without context or nuance. or maybe i've offered you the chance to look into Dokkōdō for yourself and see if it works for you.