Does Stoicism Mean Suppressing Your Emotions?
A sudden sound can make a person start. News of danger can change their expression before they have had time to consider it.
A passage attributed to Epictetus, preserved by Aulus Gellius from a lost book of the Discourses, allows for such immediate reactions even in a wise person. The distinction concerns what follows: whether the person assents to the impression that something genuinely evil has happened to them. Fragment 9
That is different from judging philosophical progress by how expressionless someone appears.
Epictetus directs attention toward the beliefs and desires involved in fear, envy, anger, and grief. He takes these seriously as matters for correction. His aim is a change in judgment substantial enough to change the passions that depend on it.
He also insists that the student maintain human relationships. In Discourses 3.2, he rejects becoming unfeeling like a statue and names responsibilities toward family and fellow citizens. Discourses 3.2
Consider a modern example. A colleague receives an opportunity you wanted. You notice envy and then try to hide it.
Concealing the expression leaves several questions unanswered. Do you think their advancement has made you worse? Do you believe you cannot live well without occupying that position? Are you now looking for faults in them because their success appears to threaten your own?
Those judgments deserve examination.
You might find that the process was unfair and that there are reasons to challenge it. You might find that the colleague was better suited. Either way, the task requires attention to what happened and what would be just. Envy cannot supply that assessment merely by being strongly felt.
Epictetus’s teaching asks you to become less mistaken about good and evil. It also asks you to remain capable of affection and responsible conduct.
A useful beginning is to name the judgment present in a reaction. Instead of stopping at “I feel envious,” identify what you believe the other person has gained and what you believe you have lost.
That gives the examination a subject.