The Insistence of Levity: Remaining Unperturbed Amidst Political Tumult

To remain unperturbed in the presence of political events — those often chaotic, sometimes cataclysmic, yet perpetually banal fixtures of human societies — is, perhaps, a feat more difficult than we care to admit. One must not assume that such composure denotes a detachment from ethical convictions or a retreat into apathy. Far from it. Rather, it is a cultivated stance, a product of intellectual elegance, emotional sophistication, and an understanding of the particular metaphysics of politics—a domain that, as history has amply demonstrated, breeds illusions with the consistency and fervor of a fevered mind. This essay attempts, therefore, a refined exploration of how one may hold onto one’s center amid political storms, achieving a philosophical distance not in ignorance, but in exquisite awareness of the futility of certain passions.

It is worth recalling the words of Montaigne, who famously observed that “there is no subject so frivolous that it does not merit a place in this rattle of mine.” The French essayist wrote, with apparent levity, about the virtues of detachment, yet his detachment was rooted in the profound realization that most matters which consume us are as evanescent as the clouds they traverse. To Montaigne, the political realm — a realm that churned with violence, intrigue, and unspeakable human suffering during his lifetime — was one of those transient preoccupations, one to be approached with the same bemused curiosity he extended toward all facets of human folly. His political philosophy was one of personal autonomy, a sovereignty of self over the turbulent collective.

But can such autonomy be sustained in our present age? We inhabit a reality saturated by voices: a cacophony that reverberates across social media platforms, news channels, and public discourse, pulling us into the vortex of political emotion with little regard for our capacity to withstand it. Therein lies the challenge: to balance the delicate act of informed citizenship with the art of selective indifference. This balancing act requires what Arthur Schopenhauer termed “will-less knowing” — an ability to perceive the world without allowing one's desires or fears to distort it. Schopenhauer posited that by quieting the will, by placing oneself in the realm of pure contemplation, one might transcend suffering, an idea whose origins he borrowed liberally from Buddhist doctrine. However, what is required in our present case is not transcendence but a controlled descent: a means by which to engage in the mechanisms of political life without succumbing to the corrosive passions it arouses.

As such, we must consider the significance of humor, which is as natural an enemy to earnestness as the sun to night. Political realities are often of such absurd proportions that the human mind, caught unguarded, risks losing itself in the sheer immensity of these events. To counterbalance this, humor becomes a mechanism for sustaining perspective. Sigmund Freud, in Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, demonstrated the psychological value of humor as a release from the tensions imposed by our surrounding world. In politics, humor transforms; it defangs the monstrous, trivializes the pretentious, and reminds us of the inherent fallibility of those who wield power. Laughter here becomes a mode of resistance — an elegant evasion, a method of creating psychological distance.

To laugh at the absurdity of politics is not a sign of insensitivity, as those intoxicated by idealism might suppose. It is rather an assertion of the inviolable self, an acknowledgment that there is a part of one’s psyche which, through whatever distortions of culture and power are enacted, must remain untouchable, unassailed by collective hysteria. Consider Voltaire’s biting wit in Candide, wherein he lays bare the grotesque incongruities of political and religious orthodoxy through satire, reducing solemn figures to caricatures. By this, he does not deny the grim realities of his time; instead, he illuminates them, revealing the ridiculousness inherent in much of human conduct. He reminds us that to take politics seriously may, in fact, constitute the gravest miscalculation of all.

Of course, there are those, like Plato in his Republic, who argue for the righteous duty of philosophy to engage with the political. Plato casts the philosopher as the reluctant ruler, one burdened by the task of guiding society. However, Plato’s own skepticism of democracy—a skepticism borne out of personal disillusionment with the fate of his teacher Socrates—reveals an inherent tension in his thought: the idea that political involvement may indeed corrupt the purity of the philosophic mind. Thus, even as he prescribes a duty to the polis, he implicitly warns against the dangers of immersion in it.

One is reminded, too, of the Stoics, particularly Epictetus, whose doctrine insists upon the separation of the self from the external. For Epictetus, it is not events themselves that disturb us but our judgments about them. Politics, with its dizzying array of injustices, can indeed provoke strong judgments, but the Stoic method insists upon maintaining the mind’s autonomy. Political strife, wars of ideology, shifting allegiances—all these appear as mere trifles when placed within the broader metaphysical framework that Epictetus envisions. He famously wrote, “You are a little soul carrying about a corpse,” a statement that serves to remind us of our mortality, urging us to examine the worthiness of our concerns. To expend energy on what we cannot control is, to the Stoic, to violate the very principles of wisdom.

We arrive, then, at the question of responsibility. How are we to reconcile this ideal of psychological distance with the ethical imperative to engage? Does the political realm not demand, as thinkers like Hannah Arendt suggest, our vigilant participation? To observe without acting could, in the view of some, constitute a form of complicity. Yet Arendt herself acknowledged that the life of action—the vita activa — is most meaningful when grounded in a contemplation that illuminates our motives. She was no naïve idealist; her deep study of totalitarianism taught her that passion for ideology often blinds one to the true character of power. Arendt, like Montaigne, understood the dangers of taking politics too seriously. She urged us instead to think carefully, to resist the mindless rush into the collective, lest we sacrifice our humanity at the altar of a cause.

Finally, there is the question of beauty. Politics, as experienced in the day-to-day tumult of life, is rarely beautiful; it is, instead, a site of conflict, pragmatism, and compromise. Yet beauty, as cultivated by an internal elegance and a harmonious mind, allows one to endure the ugly spectacle of political life without becoming ensnared in its ugliness. John Keats, a poet whose work seems far removed from the political sphere, nonetheless offers guidance here: his dictum that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” invites us to a perception beyond the utilitarian aims of the political. In art, as in nature, we find models for enduring the vicissitudes of life with dignity. If we cultivate this love for beauty — a beauty untouched by human discord — then the horrors of politics are less likely to deface the sanctum of our minds.

In the end, to let politics “not get you down” is an exercise in refinement. It is a refusal to be drawn into the hysteria of the age, a cultivated elegance that favors subtlety over proclamation, detachment over immersion. This is not a prescription for detachment alone, but a method of engagement through perspective. In holding oneself at a deliberate remove, one may still act, but the act will not be tainted by the fever of blind conviction. Rather, it will emerge as a gesture of art, one performed with clarity, imbued with a kind of grace that remains unshaken amidst the world’s storms.

To conclude with a final thought, we might turn to an anonymous maxim inscribed above the doorway of an ancient temple: “Know Thyself.” In knowing ourselves, we learn also the limits of what we can bear, what we must ignore, and what we might change. To truly know oneself is to understand the power of perspective—a power that not only insulates us against the worst excesses of politics but offers a shield against the siren song of its melodrama. For in the end, it is a kind of drama that each age enacts upon itself. And the wise, those who are able, watch it with a knowing eye, indulging neither apathy nor zealotry, but rather that most sophisticated of virtues — elegant indifference.