Interview with Kai Whiting

Unlocking Stoic wisdom for a world worth living in

Kai Whiting is a Stoicism and sustainability researcher and university lecturer based at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He’s also the co-author of Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In, where he and Leonidas Konstantakos discuss how people influenced by Stoic philosophy might approach many contemporary issues, including education, socioeconomic inequality, and climate breakdown.

He is also an esteemed guest speaker at our upcoming March 11th virtual event, How Can We Save Rational Discourse: Philosophy & Politics.

How did you become interested in Philosophy?

I found Stoicism in a hospital waiting room. My grandmother, the rock of our family, was dying. There was nothing I could do. No words that I could say that would make things better. It wasn’t about fair or unfair, love or the lack of it. It wasn’t about wishing things were different because that wasn’t going to change reality.

To make the waiting a little more bearable, I decided to read a book by an author who had been influenced by Stoicism. I read that there was a difference between perception and observation. An observation is what is happening. The perception is what we think about it.

The fact was, in all likelihood, my grandmother would die. Uncomfortable thoughts swirled in my mind so vividly that I still remember it now almost frame by frame years later. Back then, I hoped she would pull through. I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure what I would do if she didn’t. I wasn’t sure where her death would lead me. I wasn’t sure what it would mean for my family.

When my family and I heard the news that she had died, I remember watching the faces I had known all my life contort from shock into pain within seconds. I remember finding it odd that I wasn’t crying.

Instead, I was working the Stoic principles through in my mind. I remember the solace Stoicism brought me when the first overwhelming emotion was not fear nor grief but gratitude. I was sincerely grateful for the life my grandmother had lived and the things she had taught me.

One of her favourite sayings was “Aim high so if you fall, you fall in the middle”. I hope I have heeded her advice.

She had been my rock and now it was Stoicism’s turn to hand my hand and lead me on. Stoicism took me to unexpected places. It asked me to go beyond thinking about what Stoicism could do for me. It led me to dedicate my life to helping myself and others work out how Stoicism can make the world a better place. It led me and Leonidas Konstantakos (in various academic papers and later our book Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In) to add a circle to Hierocles’ circle of concern so that we can all better envision how caring for our planet, helps us to better care for the self and our communities.

Recently, although I remain a university lecturer and research (at the Catholic University of Louvain), I have been digging deeper into the practical application of Stoicism with the establishment of my non-profit, Wisdom Unlocked. The aim of this organisation is to bring Stoic principles to some of the darkest corners of the globe, where even hope is in short supply. In particular, we work to bring Stoicism to California's most vulnerable, including those placed in solitary confinement and those who have been recently released and in need of our care and concern.

What’s the most important concept or idea that you teach people?

There are many important ones but the simplest one to explain here is that people misunderstand the dichotomy of control. They often say that if something is not in your control then you shouldn’t care about it. I remind them that their parents and children aren’t in their control but that they are obviously called to care for them. The dichotomy of control highlights what has an impact on our cultivation of character and what doesn’t. People and things outside our control matter but they don’t matter more than the cultivation of our good character. This is why sometimes the right thing to do is disobey our parents (if obeying them would destroy our character) or even putting our kids further down our list of priorities sometimes. Helicoptering our kids says a lot more our character than it does theirs.

What do you think is the most important piece of practical advice that we can derive from your work?

Stoicism is not a philosophy for those who wish to benefit only “me, myself and I”. Stoicism gives us the head space to free ourselves from the kind of baggage that stops us from seeing the bigger picture. It gives us a laser focus to zoom into what we can control so we can be more proactive in taking responsibility for the things that correspond to us in our roles both at home and in the wider world. Stoicism is not mere self-help, it is the art of living a life worthy of being lived.

Do you have a favorite quote that you use?

What cannot be good for the bee cannot be good for the beehive

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.54

What advice would you give someone who wanted to learn more about what you do?

It depends what they wanted to know. I am pretty easy to get hold of. I run private Stoic mentoring classes if people want one-on-one mentorship, I am the principal author of the Practical Stoicism Podcast 365 day journalling programme and frequently on hand to help in the Practical Stoicism Discord server, as a result. I am actively involved with the philosophical outreach at the Walled Garden Podcast, which I co-founded with Simon Drew, Sharon Lebell ,and Scott Balentine.

I am the co-author of Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In, an assistant editor at the Stoic Gym Magazine, on the board of the College of Stoic Philosophers and I co-founded and co-run a non-profit – Wisdom Unlocked – with Santara Gonzales to help those with the least access to Stoicism to get access to its life changing teachings.

I am also actively involved with CounterWeight, as an organisation, and its call for rational discourse and freedom of speech, especially when it comes to identity politics and matters linked to diversity and virtue signalling (see here, for example). With CounterWeight, I often present Stoicism as an alternative to a Marxist/Critical Race Theory stance. 

The simplest way to get hold of me is via Twitter @kaiwhiting or contact me via StoicKai.com

Suppose you were able to give a talk or workshop at the original location of Plato’s Academy, in Athens. 

I would love to give one on Stoicism and matters linked to identity politics, freedom of speech and critical race theory.