Ahsoka the Stoic, Ahsoka the Rock

Sitting with emotion is not repression

Happy Friday, Geeky Stoics! I hope you all had a positive week. Today I’ve got a short reflection on Stoicism and emotion, and whether or not the two can co-exist. A popular criticism of the philosophy is that it’s “cold” and “harsh”. I strongly disagree and will use Ahsoka from Star Wars as a case study in ‘stoic’ as a character trait.

Ahsoka the Stoic, Ahsoka the Rock

Ahsoka has to be my favorite of all the recent Star Wars movies and shows. Having been an adolescent when the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series was playing on TV, I’ve grown up with Ahsoka Tano, the wartime padawan of Anakin Skywalker. I’m not surprised by the mixed response to the live-action show, where actress Rosario Dawson plays a grown-up Ahsoka, but I am a bit surprised by some of the complaints fans have expressed.

Here are a few that stuck out: “Ahsoka is too stoic”, “Ahsoka is soulless” and “Ahsoka has no emotion”. In other words, “Ashoka should smile more” or something.

'To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.'

-Marcus Aurelius

Star Wars fans have seen the other side of Ahsoka Tano when she was a Jedi pupil. Tano was an impulsive, bratty, brash, annoying, overly sensitive, and disrespectful young Jedi. She and Anakin were a perfect fit. Fast forward to the Ahsoka series and she is around 47 years old. Ahsoka has grappled with her choice to leave the Jedi Order, her guilt over its destruction, and the fall of Anakin Skywalker to evil. She watched the Empire rise and fall and Ahsoka even attempted to train Jedi padawans herself, such as Sabine Wren, with little success.

Ahsoka has a heaviness about her that is visible to anyone watching the show. At times you wonder, why isn’t she blowing her lid right now or reacting in anger to this situation or that?

When critics malign Ahsoka’s temperament or the acting of Rosario Dawson as being devoid of emotion, what is really being criticized is the character’s unwillingness to display what we all know she feels inside.

Ahsoka doesn’t emote like she used to as a child.

Reflection is not repression

Stoicism is most commonly criticized for being a cold and callous school of philosophy that encourages the repression of emotion. But it’s not true.

As writer and contemporary stoic Ryan Holiday put it on The Daily Show with Jordan Klepper,

“There’s a difference between being angry, and doing something out of anger.” There is an ocean between feeling anger and indignation over the foolishness of another person, and then “hitting Send on the email dressing them down for it.”

Ahsoka has learned not to hit Send.

I’m reminded of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace when he must negotiate with the junk dealer and slave owner, Watto, in order to get their starship repaired so Queen Amidala can be delivered to Naboo. Their mission is of massive consequence to the galaxy, and failure could mean political chaos in the Republic.

Watto, not knowing this (and he wouldn’t care either way), has the gall to resist Qui-Gon’s “Jedi Mind Trick” and reject Republic currency for the spare parts they need.

You know Qui-Gonn is furious. But he does not speak, he just observes Watto and forces out a visibly angry “smile” before walking away from the situation. Jinn could easily kill or subdue Watto and take what is needed.

Jedi are not without emotion. Neither are the Stoics of our world, past and present.

Stoics were awash in emotion. They had romantic relationships, they had children, and they were politicians confronting fear, suspicion, and doubt in their midst. The most enduring of the Stoics, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, buried nine children in his lifetime. He buried his wife, Faustina. When his beloved tutor died, it is said that Aurelius sobbed uncontrollably. His stepfather, Antoninus, told the younger Marcus, “Neither philosophy nor empire takes away natural feeling.”

Feelings are facts of life. It is a rare and dangerous few who walk this earth without them. Stoics fight not against their emotions, but for an understanding of where their emotions are coming from.

They sit with their feelings. They search them for meaning.

Ahsoka has learned how to do this, and for people accustomed to reactive behavior and emotive expression, it can be very offputting.

If you think something is funny, why aren’t you LOLing?! If you think something is sad, why aren’t you crying or TELLING the world you’re crying on social media?

That’s how those people think. If you live your life trying to meet their standard of emotive expression, you’ll be constantly performing emotion in order to make them feel at ease. Don’t do this.

The Stoic treats emotion like a cloaked visitor who has knocked on their door. They open the door, greet the visitor, and ask them to reveal their identity before coming inside. Anger is often actually Fear, Disgust can stem from Confusion, and Joy sometimes becomes a lingering Sadness. We call that nostalgia or homesickness.

When you learn to answer the door in this way, you’re doing what the best Jedi do with their emotions. They are not suppressed, they are examined. When you take the time to examine your feelings, you’ll be more like what everyday people call ‘stoic’ in your character.

Steady. Reliable. Patient. Sturdy.

May the Force be with you.