Uncovering Avatar's Surprising Stoic Connections | The Four Stoic Virtues

Avatar: The Last Airbender has got to be one of my all-time favourite shows. I originally watched it as a kid on the verge of my teenage years, like I’m sure many of you did. You’d think that after growing up and becoming an adult, the shows you watched as a kid would grow stale or age poorly.
Some of them do, of course, but Avatar never has. It still holds up remarkably well and it’s probably my second-most rewatched show next to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Well I recently watched it again when I made that Zuko video of mine a while back. This was also the first time rewatching the show since I became a practising Stoic.
Due to being in such a different place in my life than I was the last time I watched it, I naturally made some new connections and had some novel insights this time around. What struck me is that the avatar characters map quite well to some of the Stoic teachings I’ve been studying. Specifically the Four Virtues of Stoicism.
So in this short video, I’d like to take the time to go over the Four Virtues and examine how they map on to some of the characters in this show I’ve loved for years.
This isn’t a preaching video (or at least, I’m not trying to make it a preaching video). These are values and beliefs that I and other Stoics hold, but I try not to force my beliefs on anyone else. If you’re not a Stoic, you don’t have to abide by Stoic teachings. But if you find something that does resonate with you, then you’re more than welcome to apply it to your life. Stoicism is a life philosophy, not a religion. You are welcome to use certain tools in the philosophy if it benefits you. In fact, I encourage it.
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[@joshhoehne8281]

Just holding this blank comment section open until the inevitable person says "First!" Nice video Raven!

[@RavensRants]

Lol thanks Josh 😂

[@dashawnhines9612]

Thank you for your video I enjoyed it the four virtues you brought up I think are very important and the avatar The last Airbender characters you gave these virtues to I think they fit them pretty well but if I were to give my two cents I would have given the virtue of wisdom to soccer and the virtue of Justice to katara and the virtue of temperance for aang and finally the virtue of courage to either zuko or toph or any other character that best represent the virtue thanks for the video looking forward to any new videos you have planned for the future

[@RavensRants]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@getflipped4932]

Nice video. Did you not add toph because you can't decide one in particular that fits her or because you wanted it to be one virtue each?

[@RavensRants]

A little of both actually! Toph exemplifies multiple virtues so it wouldn't work. But I do plan on making a Toph focused video soon!

[@Bobbalou]

Very interesting video and analysis. I have a question: how do you increase one of the 4 virtues? I often struggle with courage. I never want confrontation and often deal with being too afraid to bring things up. What would be your advice?

[@RavensRants]

Courage is definitely one of the hardest, which is why it's such an important Virtue. My best advice would be to start small by facing discomfort and struggles that seem easier to deal with. Instead of jumping straight into the lion's den, callous your mind by doing easier (though not trivial) actions that require courage. Cold showers work great to start with! Also remember that we are not so much harmed by events as we are by our perception of these events. Your anxiety is very likely making confrontation a lot scarier than it actually is

[@Bobbalou]

@@RavensRants oh, anxiety definitely makes it seem much scarier than it is. I've never heard of taking a cold shower as a way to build up courage though! Excellent advice. I'll have to try it

[@RavensRants]

Cold showers mostly help you mentally deal with discomfort, which is the stepping stone up to dealing with conflict

[@Bobbalou]

@@RavensRants that's definitely true. Also, there's always a moment when you're on the edge of doing something hard or not. How do you help push yourself over the edge? I always find myself talking myself out of it

[@RavensRants]

Make a rule with yourself. Countdown from 5 to 1 and just do it before your brain can think of an excuse. It's a psychological trick and there's a whole book on it called the 5 second rule. Worth a try...