A Unique Army Creed That Helps You Put A Chaotic World Into Order
Sua Sponte: fixing things around you by your own accord
“Pick it up. Now!”
She raised her voice loud enough with “now” that heads around the cafeteria suddenly looked over at me. I was the center of attention. Unfortunately, her anger was misdirected, and I was innocent.
As was my habit, between classes in college, I stopped by the school’s commuter cafeteria to chat with some friends. But this time was different. A container of French fries was tossed on the floor, and my friends ignored it like it wasn’t there.
I never bothered to ask what happened. My plan was to have a few minutes of conversation and then head off to class, but that suddenly changed. An administrator for the building stopped, looked at the fries, and told me to pick them up.
I evenly told her the truth: they weren’t mine. Plus, I’d just got there. Unfortunately, she didn’t care, and within minutes it devolved into her shouting at me. Although I never did pick up the fries and left her standing there irate.
After all, it wasn’t my mess, so why clean it up? But looking back after twenty years, I realize it was wrong of me to think this way. Moreover, this attitude tends to make “the” world, and “your” world worse.
It leads to chaos.
It takes your agency and choice away.
It makes you a puppet and helpless in the face of “the way things are and have always been.”
Moreover, philosophers throughout time have explained this at length in their own way, which I’ve come to know now. But recently someone gave it greater clarity. A decorated military vet summed the lesson into two simple words: Sua Sponte.
A Creed That Isn’t Only For Soldiers
In his interview on the Jocko Willink Podcast, Admiral William McRaven shared some life lessons he’s learned over his military career. One of which is enshrined in the Army Ranger’s motto: Sua Sponte.
Its Latin translation is “of your own accord.”
McRaven says it means to do what needs to be done without waiting to be told. He says the actions of Medal of Honor winner Ralph Puckett sum it up nicely. During the Korean war, this Ranger ran across a field drawing fire from enemy positions four or five times, so they could be identified.
The Admiral says no one told Puckett to do it. However, it had to be done, so the Ranger did it of his own accord. Although Sua Sponte doesn’t require sacrificing your life, it also encompasses the mundane.
McRaven tells the story of a large event where a building was being commemorated in a retired soldier’s name, where he would speak. The vet was in a wheelchair. So, the mic was adjusted to his height, but no one could hear him speaking.
Since McRaven was in command, he decided he’d walk all the way from the back to the front and fix the mic. However, someone beat him to it. A low- ranking soldier left his formation, saluted the speaker, fixed the mic, saluted again, and went back to formation.
According to the Admiral, we all can and should do that. Each of us can fix small disorders in the world around us by our own accord. He says, “This sense of initiative separates the great leaders from the mediocre ones.” Furthermore, you don’t have to be a leader to benefit.
A few of the world’s greatest philosophers, science, and the Bible also mention their own versions of Sua Sponte and its benefits.
Philosophy, Science, And Religion’s View
Two great philosophers, Epictetus and Viktor Frankl, are separated by 2,000 years but both have the same answer to the problem of human hopelessness. They believe it derives from a lack of agency. Those suffering feel like they have no power and are pushed by the waves of fate.
Even though Epictetus was a slave, and Frankl imprisoned in a concentration camp, both found a way to be free. It relies on choice. No matter if you’re stuck, impoverished, or at the will of another, you always have a choice of how to think and react.
But it goes beyond this. We’re all bound to feel helpless at points, because the world around is so big, and often looks so screwed up. While disorder surrounds us, we always have a choice.
It starts with making some order out of the chaos around us — even the small things. It could be as simple as picking up a container of fries, or cleaning some mess at the office everyone ignores. In Anthony Long’s translation of the Enchiridion, Epictetus states:
“How will you be a nobody everywhere since you need to be a somebody in only the things that are up to you, and in them you can be a top person.”
It may not be your mess, but by fixing it “of your own accord,” you put some order into the world and give yourself control of the things around you. Furthermore, your brain rewards you for it.
In an interview with Jordan Peterson neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, calls dopamine “the true currency of the world.”
He believes it’s of critical importance for a more satisfied life, plus increasing dopamine levels is something you can do on your own without earth-shattering effort. In fact, it’s relatively easy. He says when you accomplish anything, your body releases dopamine.
It also propels you to do more. Peterson notes that during his time as a clinical psychologist he had patients stuck in stagnation. He says something as small as organizing their sock drawer, or cleaning their room could give them the energy to forge ahead and improve.
Even the Bible has its version of Sua Sponte.
Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem quickly by having each citizen work on a section of wall closest to them. So, a monumental effort is conquered in small pieces. And it’s done by each individual’s own accord.
I learned this lesson as well.
Cleaning Up The Mess On My Own Accord
About ten years after college, I was walking into a convenience store. There was trash tossed by a container in the entrance way floor and the crowd ahead of me ignored it like it wasn’t there. This time I picked it up.
It wasn’t a big deal. The week prior I cleaned up the basement at our family business, tossed out trash, set up shelving, and made a parts room because someone had to do it. No one would move, so I did it. With that said, the trash in the entrance was nothing difficult to remedy.
As I brought my coffee up to the counter, the manager told me it was on him today. He watched people pass the trash for thirty minutes, and was too busy to leave and pick it up himself. Unfortunately, the younger me would have walked by it too.
In Robin Waterfield’s translation of Marcus Aurelius’ diary, Meditations, the historian states:
“In an exercise he learned from Epictetus, Marcus frequently urged himself to have his core concepts readily available for consultation, and to keep them pithy and memorable, so that they can strike his mind with their original force.”
Sua Sponte is exactly that. It’s only two words, so it’s not hard to remember in those instances when the world seems to be pummeling you into the ground.
It reminds you there’s choice and agency when none are apparent.
It breaks you out of stagnation by giving you a path for reward.
It makes order out of chaos around you, even if it’s only in small bits at a time.
It enables you to be a “top person” in things that can be up to you.
-Originally posted on Medium 5/31/23
Great article!