The stoics practiced an indifference to the winds of fate. Such men understood that aside from an inner resistance to their compulsive expectations and anticipations towards the future, they would also need to adopt an additional attitude of impartiality towards themselves in relation to the events they encounter on a daily basis. The very idea was founded on an understanding of the fickle nature of reality. The arena they found themselves in was recognised as overcrowded with both cooperative and competitive factors and players which convolute the situation to such a degree that the greatest determinator is based on accidental, random, draws of chance. On the one hand they were aware of the borderline insanity their personalities swoons them into, encouraging them to grossly exaggerate the clout of their own personal influence and the extent of their control on the greater outcome of events. On the other, they realised the value and significance of saving an otherwise enormous amount of energy by refusing to react passionately to what was always going to happen in the first place. To do otherwise was considered the behaviour and temperament of an overgrown child, a man who has failed to mature his mind to the level of genuine adulthood.