U.S. Navy Vice Admiral James Stockdale
Aviator; Prisoner of War; Stoic
“After ejection, I had about 30 seconds to make my last statement in freedom before I landed on the main street of that little village right ahead. And so help me, I whispered to myself: ‘Five years down there at least. I’m leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.’”
- James B. Stockdale, American aviator, shot down during the Vietnam War (Sept. 9, 1965)
Captured, he would spend seven and half years in the so-called Hanoi Hilton, enduring an ordeal that included beatings, torture, and months on end of solitary confinement locked up in leg-irons within a windowless three-by-nine foot cell. Despite these incredibly trying circumstances, Stockdale managed to organize his fellow prisoners and lead them by enforcing a code of conduct to regulate their behavior.
Stockdale refused to be used as a propaganda tool by the North Vietnamese. To disfigure himself, he first slit his scalp with a razor, and when that didn’t work, he proceeded to beat his face with a stool to make himself useless to the enemy. At his lowest point, he slit his wrists to avoid being tortured and revealing the underground activities of his fellow compatriots.
Stockdale was released as a prisoner of war on February 12, 1973, during “Operation Homecoming.” On March 4, 1976, Stockdale received the Medal of Honor, the highest military recognition given for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. Debilitated by his captivity and mistreatment, Stockdale could not stand upright and could barely walk upon his return to the United States, which prevented his return to active flying status.
The Stockdale Paradox
Stockdale was a student of Stoicism and regularly credited the teachings of Epictetus and his handbook, "The Enchiridion," for saving his life by giving him the moral strength to overcome his ordeal, as well as the rational clarity to see what could and could not be done about it. An all too real-life practice of the Stoic dichotomy of control principle.
For over seven years as a POW, he would have to put his Stoic practice to work every day, constantly keeping in the front of his mind that his enemies would win only if he succumbed to two things: fear and a loss of self-respect.
When asked in an interview about the prisoners who did not make it out of the Hanoi Hilton, Stockdale replied:
“Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, “We’re going to be out by Christmas.” And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, “We’re going to be out by Easter.” And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart…
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.”
The simplest explanation of this paradox - it’s the idea of hoping for the best but acknowledging and preparing for the worst.
Understanding the Stockdale Paradox can help you better confront the reality of tough situations while also maintaining faith that you’ll ultimately succeed. This contradictory way of thinking was the strength that led James through those trying years.
Such paradoxical thinking and the inherent contradictory dichotomy hold a great lesson for how to approach achieving goals and overcoming difficult obstacles. It also flies right in the face of the unchecked optimists and toxic positivity peddlers whose advice pervades many self-help books out there.
James Bond "Jim" Stockdale (December 23, 1923 – July 5, 2005)
Excerpt from a lecture to the student body of The Marine Amphibious Warfare School,
Quantico, Virginia (April 18, 1995) -
“The Stoics believe that every man bears the exclusive responsibility himself for
his own good and his own evil--and that leads to their further conclusion
that it is impossible to imagine a moral order in which one person does
the wrong, and another; the innocent, suffers.
Now add all that to Epictetus's firm belief that we are all born with an innate conception of good and evil, and what is noble and what is shameful, what is becoming and unbecoming, what is fitting and inappropriate, what is right to do and what is wrong, and further, remembering that all Stoic talk refers to the inner man, what is going on "way down in here."
It follows that the perpetrator of evil pays the full price for his misdeed in suffering the injury of knowing that he has destroyed the good man with him. Man has "moral sense," and he reaps the benefits and pays the price for this inheritance.
This self-knowledge that you have betrayed yourself, destroyed yourself,
is the very worst harm that can befall a Stoic. Epictetus says:
."No one comes to his fall because of another's deed."
."No one is evil without loss or damage."
."No man can do wrong with impunity."
I call this whole personal guilt package that Epictetus relied upon, "the
reliability of the retribution of the guilty conscience." As I sometimes say, "There can be no such thing as a 'victim; you can only be a 'victim ' of yourself." Remember:
Controlling your emotions can be empowering.
Your inner self is what you make it.
Refuse to want to fear, and you start acquiring a constancy of character
that makes it impossible for another to do you wrong.
Somebody asked Epictetus: "What is the fruit of all these doctrines?" He
answered with three sharp words: "Tranquility, Fearlessness, and Freedom."
Thank you.”
Thank you for reading!
Resources -
"How To Be A Stoic" (Pigliucci, M.)
Stockdale was an inspiration as a young Naval Officer and Navy pilot. I don't think I'll ever forget his funeral in Annapolis while I was still a midshipman. That experience affected me so much, I even wrote about it as part of my journey towards finding something worth aspiring to. https://lathamturner.substack.com/p/what-will-you-die-for if you're curious.