Stoic Cosmology

I am mimicschest, and I identify primarily as a Stoic. There are plenty of articles and videos about stoic practice and even ethics, but one thing there is a largely notable lack of is anything on what the Stoics believe about the Universe. There is a lot of misinformation as well as grifters selling their stoic labled get-rich-quick grindset books and podcasts.

Don't listen to them.

The ancient stoics believed that one could not live a truely good life without a cohesive worldview, and they used logic and reasoning to extrapolate from their observations of the world to construct that worldview.

There are three pillars of the Stoa; Logic, Ethics, and Physics. Together they are strong and hold up our Heavens. Alone they are weak and crumble under pressure.

In modern language, when talking about belief systems, the term Metaphysics is thrown about alot. Physics is used when talking about the scientific study of physics in its various forms.

To keep it short, Metaphysics is the study of the supernatural. In this, I do not mean things like ghosts, or spirits, or gods. But rather about what goes beyond the natural world.
Why we are here? What caused the universe? What is god?

And to be clear: The Stoics did not distinguish between the two. Indeed, to the Stoic, there exists nothing beyond Nature. Nature, by its very definition, encompasses all things that exist.
Just because we don't understand everything in nature, doesn't mean it is not natural. Therefore, there is only Physics, and what can be reasoned and speculated from our observations thereof.

The Ancient and Classical Stoa had their own beliefs about Physics, and some turned out to be incorrect, some turned out to be surprisingly insightful. Nonetheless, they were working with the best theories they had in their time.
Thus, to a Modern Stoic, to be true to the broader tradition of the belief system, must aknowledge and accept modern scientific consensus. And, if our idea of the world arounds us turns out to be wrong; it is time to return to the drawing board.

To a Stoic, what do the above terms have in common? They all mean the exact same thing.

Logos, is a term that Christianity borrowed from the Stoa, along with much of their conception of God. Yet, they borrowed the form, but lacked the function; the Logic.
Yes, the concept of an All Knowing, All Powerful, All Good God came from the Stoics. The Stoics called this God Zeus, or God, or couched it in metaphor; such as Pneuma, or the Natural Order, or the Divine Spark.

It is all Logos. Divine Reason. The chain of Cause and Effect. Destiny.

Christianity separates the Existance of God and his will for his creation. This fundamentally is incoherent with the above qualities of God; resulting in what we call The Problem of Evil

To the Stoic, however, God is Imminent, and All present. God is not an otherworldly Transcendent being; standing apart from their Work. No, God physically is literally everything.
God and Will are fundamentally the same thing God is everything; from the motion of the Heavens, to the animals living their lives, to the dance of the flame in a hearth, to the motion of the waves.

God is even us.

The Stoics believed that Goodness, Virtue, could be rationally deduced. Thus, since Virtue was logical, rational beings would naturally gravitate towards Virtuous behavior.

And since all Rational Beings wished to live virtuously, even if some were misinformed, it stood to reason that God is in and of itself Virtue. It is not that Virtue and Goodness is handed down from on-high. Rather, God and Virtue could be understood to be exactly the same thing; As God is Virtue, so Virtue is God.

To simplify, this means that God is All Good, because it is the literal Platonic Ideal of goodness. And if evil exists in the world, it is because God is a Process and not an unchanging outsider.

God is the Trajectory of things becoming slowly, inevitibly, better. Because it is inheritly more efficent. This can be demonstrated in modern Game Theory, via the Prisoners Dilemma.

In the Prisoners Dilemma, you have two people being questioned by the police in separate cells. They are unable to communicate with one another. The police offer a deal to each of them.

If they turned on their partner, and ratted them out, they would go free.

Only, if they both turned on eachother, then they would both get the maximum sentence, since they no longer needed them.

But, if neither turned on the other, they would only get half the sentence.

Now, the objectively best decision is not to turn on eachother, and if they both behaved, then they may go to prison, but with far less time.

A rational person would take that chance, knowing that the other would know the same. This puts faith in one another.

The only way to get the best outcome, is if everyone involved acts virtuously, and selflessly.

This is why evil exists. Because of imperfect information. Of imperfect communication. Of imperfect desires. In the Prisoners Dilemma, if both of them act Virtuously, they will get the best benifit.
Naturally, this assumes that everyone is acting perfectly rationally, and values the best outcome for all involved. Again, this is a problem of imperfect information, since if they knew eachother's minds, they could coordinate.

This is why God is better called Logos; as the Divine is a Process, and processes take time.

The Eyes of Every Person are the Eyes of God; observing the mortal world through mortal eyes. Through Virtuous Living we become closer to what we Truely Are.

Now, the first Stoa was in Greece, and as such, they were Greeks, and had greek gods.

The various cults and philosophies had different ideas on what the gods are, and how much or little they were involved in human lives.

The Stoics of Greece were no exception. They believed in the gods, but yet, believed that they were not apart from one another.

To them, the gods were perfect beings, and one perfection is ultimately indistinguishable from another.

Thus, since humans are incapable of understanding Perfection, we cast human likeness and human flaws on aspects of that greater whole.

It is like splitting white light through a glass prism, then taking those colors and making them into stories; to better relate to them.

Naturally, this wouldn't be the case for all Stoics. This is merely one perception amongst many, and they were philosophers.

Philosophers love nothing more than arguing with one another after-all.