An existentialist person is the one who avoids absurdity by creating meaning in life or existence. A stoic person is one who accepts what is out of control with calmness and doesn’t get disturbed by the ups and downs in life. These philosophies can make one’s life beautiful after their implementation and they can make it even more beautiful and worth living after they are implemented in life together. There are some examples of famous personalities who are existentialist and stoic at the same time.
Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, his actions during World War II reflected his stoic and existentialist beliefs by maintaining principles and personal freedom even at the moments of war including his involvement in the French Resistance.
Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to justice, racial equality, and non-violence, he also often spoke about forgiveness and remaining calm and steadfast even in the face of hatred and violence. He found his meaning and purpose in living and stuck to it. His famous lines are: 1.” Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” 2. “I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness.”
Albert Camus discusses that individuals must create their meaning even while they are facing absurdity in life in his work like “The Myth of Sisyphus”. He also expressed stoicism by giving his “Accepting the Adsurd” concept. In “The Plague” he represented a stoic and existentialist character Dr. Rieux.
Nelson Mandela showed stoic and existentialist behavior during his long imprisonment during apartheid, he focused on creating meaning in his life getting detached from his external physical state and concentrating on what he could control like his inner strength and reactions.
Marcus Aurelius is primarily known as a stoic philosopher. He reflects existentialist qualities by questioning the nature of living, the meaning of life, and individual responsibilities to live authentically. He showed stoicism by believing that virtue and inner peace are the only paths to happiness and that the external state should not disturb the inner tranquility of humans.
They all are good figures of existentialism and stoicism but there are other good figures like Esa Ibn-e-Maryam (In the Quran) and Jesus Christ (In the Bible), Prophet Muhammad PBUH (In the Quran), Moses (In the Torah/Tanakh), Musa (In the Quran), Yaqub (In the Quran), Jacob (In the Bible), Yousuf (In the Quran), Joseph (In the Bible), Dawood (In the Quran), David (In the Bible), Ibrahim (In the Quran), Abraham (In the Bible), Suleman (In the Quran) and Solomon (In the Bible). They have existentialism in their nature because of their beliefs and goals. They have stoicism because they all are influential personalities of their time and they have to face hatred and many more difficulties. The meaning and purpose of their life were the beliefs and words they had to spread. Their words had the power to influence millions of people and make them believe in their beliefs. They were existentialists, patients, and stoics.
Philosophies like these make life understandable. Sometimes we get confused in life but these philosophies do not even go away from our confusion but also make our life worth living by their implementation. Humans make philosophies with time. Some people have their own philosophies and some people implement discovered philosophies. The difference between these two types of people seems small but can you imagine living with people like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Martin Luther King without even knowing who they are? It is the same as we live with a person who creates his philosophies and implements those philosophies in his life. Legends are the people who we know but what about legends we don’t know?
The legends who work in silence without letting anyone know. The legends who are capable of things we don’t know about. The legends who grow every hour of the day. The legends who seem different every time from the other time. The legends who wait and work until the very end and don’t settle for any temporary and short-term good. The legends who seem stupid and nonsense while they are preparing for the results and time they don’t want to stay in. The legends who focus on the backbone of the problem and do not disturb themselves for shortcomings and the problems they face while they are focusing on the backbone of the problem. The legends who never waste their time on solving problems that will not help them when the backbone of the problem hits them because if they focus on small problems instead of the whole big or backbone problem it will hit them harder.
