Stoic Meditations

"Today I escaped from the crush of circumstances, or better put, I threw them out, for the crush wasn't from outside me but in my own assumptions."
On tough days we might say, "My work is overwhelming," or "My boss is really frustrating." If only we could understand that this is impossible. Someone can't frustrate you, work can't overwhelm you - these are external objects, and they have no access to your mind. Those emotions you feel, as real as they are, come from the inside, not the outside.

The Stoics use the word hypolepsis, which means "taking up" - of perceptions, thoughts, and judgments by our mind. What we assume, what we willingly generate in our mind, that's on us. We can't blame other people for making us feel stressed or frustrated any more than we can blame them for our jealousy. The cause is within us. They're just the target.

"People seek retreats for themselves in the country, by the sea, or in the mountains. You are very much in the habit of yearning for those same things. But this is entirely the trait of a base person, when you can, at any moment, find such a retreat in yourself. For nowhere can you find a more peaceful and less busy retreat than in your own soul - especially if on close inspection it is filled with ease, which I say is nothing more than being well-ordered. Treat yourself often to this retreat and be renewed."
Do you have a vacation coming up? Are you looking forward to the weekend so you can have some peace and quiet? Maybe, you think, after things settle down or after I get this over with. But by viewing 'peace and quiet' in terms of externals, how often do you actually achieve the peace you seek?

The Zen meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn popularized a famous expression: "Wherever you go, there you are." We can find a retreat at any time by looking inward. We can sit with our eyes closed and feel our breath go in and out. We can turn on some music and tune out the world. We can turn off technology or shut off those rampant thoughts in our head. Ultimately, what is inside will provide us peace. Nothing else.

"What is it then to be properly educated? It is learning to apply our natural preconceptions to the right things according to Nature, and beyond that to separate the things that lie within our power from those that don't."
A degree on a wall means you're educated as much as shoes on your feet mean you're walking. It's a start, but hardly sufficient. Classical education is a gem, but still only as valuable as the person committing to it. Many forget that they ought to focus on the one thing which lies within their control: themselves. A surviving fragment from the philosopher Heraclitus expresses that reality:

"Many who have learned
from Hesiod the countless names
of gods and monsters
never understand
that night and day are one."

Just as you can walk plenty well without shoes (though they're nice), you don't need to step into a classroom to understand the basic, fundamental reality of nature and of our proper role in it. Begin with awareness and reflection. Not just once, but every single second of every single day.

"Eat like a human being, drink like a human being, dress up, marry, have children, get politically active - suffer abuse, bear with a headstrong brother, father, son, neighbor, or companion. Show us these things so we can see that truly have learned from the philosophers."
Plutarch, a Roman biographer as well as an admirer of the Stoics, didn't begin his study of the greats of Roman literature until late in life. But, as he recounts in his biography of Demosthenes, he was surprised at how quickly it all came to him. He wrote, "It wasn't so much that the words brought me into a full understanding of events, as that, somehow, I had a personal experience of the events that allowed me to follow closely the meaning of the words."

This is what Epictetus means about the study of philosophy. Study, yes, but go live your life as well. It's the only way that you'll actually understand what any of it means. And more important, it's only from your actions and choices over time that it will be possible to see whether you took any of the teachings to heart.

Be aware of that today when you're going to work, going on a date, deciding whom to vote for, calling your parents in the evening, waving to your neighbor as you walk to your door, tipping the delivery man, saying goodnight to someone you love. All of that is philosophy. All of it is experience that brings meaning to the words.

"Hurry to your own ruling reason, to the reason of the While, and to your neighbor's. To your own mind to make it just; to the mind of the Whole to remember your place in it; and to your neighbor's mind to learn whether it's ignorant or of sound knowledge - while recognizing it's like yours."
If our lives are not ruled by reason, what rules them? Impulse? Mimicry? Habit? As we examine our past behavior, it's sad both how often this is the case, and how damaging it can be to our lives. There is considerable risk in not acting consciously or deliberately but instead by forces we did not bother to evaluate. Food, money, relationships - these are just a few of the arenas reason can help us become all that we hope to be. While reason is not all that a person is, use it as a tool to judge the external world wisely and govern oneself ably.

"Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions."
If you bend your body into a sitting position every day for a long enough period of time, the curvature of your spine changes. A doctor can tell from a radiograph (or an autopsy) whether someone sat at a desk for a living. If you shove your feet into tiny, narrow dress shoes each day, your feet begin to take on that form as well.

The same is true for our minds. If you hold a perpetually negative outlook, soon enough everything you encounter will seem negative. Close it off and you'll become closed-minded. Color it with the right, positive thoughts and your life will be dyed the same.

"Make sure you're not made 'Emperor,' avoid that imperial stain. It can happen to you, so keep yourself simple, good, pure, saintly, plain, a friend of justice, god-fearing, gracious, affectionate, and strong for your proper work. Fight to remain the person that philosophy wished to make of you. Revere the gods, and look after each other. Life is short - the fruit of this life is a good character and acts for the common good."
It is difficult even to conceive of what life must have been like for Marcus Aurelius - he wasn't born emperor, nor did he obtain the position deliberately. It was simply thrust upon him. Nevertheless, he was suddenly the richest man in the world, head of the most powerful army on earth, ruling over the largest empire in history, considered by some as a god among men.

It's no wonder he wrote little messages like this one to remind himself not to spin off the planet. Without them, he might have lost his sense of what was important - falling prey to the lies of all those who merely wanted something from him. And here we are, whatever we happen to be doing, at risk of spinning off ourselves.

When we experience success, we must make sure that it doesn't change us indeliberately - that we continue to maintain our character despite the temptation not to. Reason must lead the way no matter what good fortune comes along.

"From the very beginning, make it your practice to say to every harsh impression, 'you are an impression and not at all what you appear to be.' Next, examine and test it by the rules you possess, the first and greatest of which is this - whether it belongs to the things in our control or not in our control, and if the latter, be prepared to respond, 'It is nothing to me.'"
In an overly quantified world of policies and processes, some are swinging back in the other direction. Bold leaders will "trust their gut." A spiritual guru will say that it's important to "let your body guide you." A friend trying to helps us with a difficult decision might ask, "What feels right here?"

These approaches to decision making contradict voluminous case studies in which people's unchecked instincts have led them right into trouble. Our senses are often wrong. As animals subjected to the slow force of evolution, we have developed all sorts of heuristics, biases, and emotional responses that might have worked well on the savannah but can be counterproductive in today's world.

Part of Stoicism is cultivating awareness that allows you to step back and analyze your own senses, question their accuracy, and proceed only with the positive and constructive ones. Sure, it's tempting to throw discipline and order to the wind and go with what feels right - but if our many youthful experiences are any indication, what feels right in the moment doesn't always stand up well over time. Hold your senses suspect. Again, trust, but always verify.

It isn't events themselves that disturb people, but only their judgments about them.
The samurai swordsman Musashi made a distinction between our "perceiving eye" and our "observing eye." The observing eye sees what is. The perceiving eye sees what things supposedly mean. Which one do you think causes us the most anguish?

An event is inanimate. It's objective. It simply is what it is. That's our observing eye sees.

Your observing eye takes it all in, and your perceiving eye works it into meaningfulness. Do not conflate the two, and strive to be conscious of your perceiving eye's work.

"Throw out your conceited opinions, for it is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows."
Of all Stoics, Epictetus is the closest one to a true teacher. He had a school. He hosted classes. In fact, his wisdom is passed down to us through a student who took really good lecture notes. One of the things that frustrated Epictetus about philosophy students - and has frustrated a great many teachers - is how students claim to want to be taught but secretly believe they already 'know.' They merely want the lesson to confirm what they think they already know.

The reality is that we've all been guilty, and will be guilty of thinking like this at some point - even though we know we'd learn more if we could set that attitude aside. As smart or successful as we may be, there is always someone who is smarter, more successful, and wiser than us. Emerson put it well: "Every man I meet is my my master at some point, and in that I learn from him." In a similar sentiment, Bill Bye often said at the end of his science show, "Remember, everyone you meet, knows something you don't."

If you want to learn, if you want to improve your life, seeking out teachers, philosophers, and great books is a good start. But this approach will only be effective if you're humble and ready to let go of opinions you already have.

"Don't act grudgingly, selfishly, without due diligence, or to be a contrarian. Don't overdress your thought in fine language. Don't be a person of too many words and too many deeds... Be cheerful, not wanting outside help or the relief others might bring. A person needs to stand on their own, not be propped up."
In most areas of life, the saying "Less is more" stands true. For instance, the writers we admire tend to be masters of economy, brevity, and meaning. What they leave out is just as important - sometimes more important - than what they leave in. There is a poem by Philip Levine titled "He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do." And from Hamlet, the best of all - the retort from Queen Gertrude after a long, rhetorical speech from Polonius: "More matter with less art," she tells him. Get to the point!

Imagine the emperor of Rome, with his captive audience and unlimited power, telling himself not be a person of "too many words and too many deeds." Let that be a reminder the next time you feel self-indulgent or a little full of yourself.

"Believe me, it's better to produce the balance-sheet of your own life than that of the grain market."
The things that some people manage to be experts in: fantasy sports, celebrity trivia, derivatives and commodities markets, thirteenth-century hygiene habits of the clergy.

We can get very good at what we're paid to do, or adept at a hobby we wish we could be paid to do. Yet our own lives, habits, and tendencies might be a mystery to us.

Seneca was writing this important reminder to his father-in-law, who, as it happened, was for a time in charge of Rome's granary. But then his position was revoked for political reasons. Who really cares, Seneca was saying, now you can focus that energy on the inner life.

At the end of your time on this planet, what expertise is going to be more valuable - your understanding of matters of living and dying or your knowledge of the '87 bears? Which will help your children more - your insight into happiness and meaning, or that you followed breaking political news every day for thirty years? That isn't to say you have to avoid all those things, but be aware of your focus and what it could cost.

"There is no evil in things changing, just as there is no good in persisting in a new state."
When people say change is good, they're usually trying to reassure someone (or perhaps themselves). Instinctively, many view change as bad - or at least we're suspicious of it and experience anxiety because of it.

The Stoics want you to do away with those labels altogether. Change isn't good. The status quo isn't bad. They just are.

Consider the parallels in an eastern Zen parable :

There lived an old farmer who had worked in his fields for many, many years. One day, his horse bolted away. His neighbors dropped in to commiserate with him. “What awful luck,” they tut-tutted sympathetically, to which the farmer only replied, “We’ll see.”

Next morning, to everyone’s surprise, the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How amazing is that!” they exclaimed in excitement. The old man replied, “We’ll see.”

A day later, the farmer’s son tried to mount one of the wild horses. He was thrown on the ground and broke his leg. Once more, the neighbors came by to express their sympathies for this stroke of bad luck. “We’ll see,” said the farmer politely.

The next day, the village had some visitors – military officers who had come with the purpose of drafting young men into the army. They passed over the farmer’s son, thanks to his broken leg. The neighbors patted the farmer on his back – how lucky he was to not have his son join the army! “We’ll see,” was all that the farmer said!

Remember, events are objective. It's only our opinion that says something is good or bad (and thus worth fighting against or fighting for).

A better attitude?

To decide to make the most of everything.

"Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe. For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other - for one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance."
Anne Lamott once observed that all writers "are little rivers running into one lake," all contributing to the same big project. The same is true in many industries - though sadly, even inside the same company, people selfishly forget they're working together. As human beings we all breathe the atoms that made up our ancestors and flow into the same earth when we die.

Over and over, the Stoics reminded themselves of the interconnectedness of all life. Perhaps that was because life in Greece and Rome was particularly harsh. Animals and people were slaughtered senselessly to amuse the masses in the Colosseum (events lamented in Stoic writings). Countries were conquered and its citizens sold into slavery to expand the empire (the futility of which the Stoics also lamented). This kind of cruelty is possible only when we forget how we're related to our fellow human beings and the environment.

Today, take a moment to remember that we are woven together and that each of us plays a role in this world.

"No, it is events that give rise to fear - when another has power over them or can prevent them, that person becomes able to inspire fear. How is the fortress destroyed? Not by iron or fire, but by our own judgments...here is where we must begin, and it is from this front that we must seize our own fortress back and throw out the tyrants who would subdue us."
The Stoics give us a marvelous concept: The Inner Citadel. It is this intangible fortress, they believed, that protects our soul. Though we might be physically vulnerable, though we might be at the mercy of fate in many ways, our inner domain is impenetrable. As Marcus Aurelius put it (repeatedly, in fact), "stuff cannot touch the soul."

But history teaches us that impenetrable fortresses can still be breached, if betrayed from within. The citizens inside the walls - if they fall prey to fear, greed, or avarice - can open the gates and let the enemy in.

You've been granted a strong fortress. Don't betray it.

In Plutarch's Life of Theseus, he describes how the ship of Theseus, an Athenian hero, was preserved by the people of Athens in battle-ready condition for many centuries. Each time a board decayed, it would be replaced until eventually every stick of wood in it had been replaced. Plutarch asks: Is it still the ship of Theseus, or is a new one?

In Japan, a famous Shinto shrine is rebuilt every twenty-three years. It's gone through more than sixty of those cycles. Is it one shrine, 1,400 years old? Or sixty consecutive shrines? Even the U.S. Senate, given its staggered elections, could be said to have never been fully turned over. Is it the same body formed in the days of George Washington?

Our understanding of what something is is just a snapshot - an ephemeral opinion. The universe is in a constant state of change. Our nails grow and are cut and keep growing. New skin replaces dead skin. Old memories replace new memories. Are we still the same people? Are the people around us the same? Nothing is exempt from this fluidity, not even the things we hold most sacred.

This is classic Stoic thinking, as you may have gathered by now. An event itself is objective. How we describe it - that it was unfair, or it's a great calamity, or that they did it on purpose - is on us.

Malcolm X (then Malcolm Little) went into prison a criminal, but left as an educated, religious, and motivated man who would help in the struggle for civil rights. Did he suffer an evil? Or did he choose to make his experience a positive one?

Acceptance isn't passive. It is the first step in an active process toward self-improvement.

"To what service is my soul committed? Constantly ask yourself this and thoroughly examine yourself by seeing how you relate to that part called the ruling principle. Whose soul do I have now? Do I have that of a child, a you...a tyrant, a pet, a wild animal, or a sage?"
To what are you committed? What cause, what mission, what purpose? What are you doing? And more important, why are you doing it? How does what you do every day reflect, in some way, the values you claim to care about? Are you acting in a way that's consistent with something you value, or are you wandering, unmoored to anything other than your own ambition?

When you examine these questions, you might be uncomfortable with the answers. That's good. That means you've taken the first step to understanding your behavior and improving it - to being better than those wild creatures Marcus Aurelius mentions. It also means you're closer to discovering what your duty calls you to do in life. And once you discover it, you've moved a little bit closer to fulfilling it.

"Leave the past behind, let the grand design take care of the future, and instead only rightly guide the present to reverence and justice. Reverence so that you'll love what you've been allotted, for nature brought you both to each other. Justice so that you'll speak the truth freely and without evasion, and so that you'll act only as the law and the value of things require."
Aulus Gellius relates that Epictetus once said, "If anyone would take two words to heart and take pains to govern and watch over themselves by them, they will live an impeccable and immensely tranquil life. The two words are: persist and resist." That's great advice in that it lines out something to move toward and something to push away from - always in motion and evolving into better selves. But what principles should determine what we persist in and what we ought to resist?

Marcus supplies the answer for us: reverence and justice. Persist in the things you revere, and exercise justice to resist the behaviors wrought from enslaving fear.

"How satisfying is it to dismiss and block out any upsetting or foreign impression, and to immediately have peace in all things."
The Stoics were mercifully spared the information overload endemic to today's society. They had no social media, no newspapers, no television chatter to rile them up. But even back then, an undisciplined person would have found plenty to be distracted and upset by.

Part of the Stoic mindset then was a sort of cultivated dismissiveness of the negative. Publilus Syrus' epigram expresses it well: "Always shun that which makes you angry." Meaning: Turn your mind away from things that provoke it. Or at least control your exposure to them in a way that is constructive for you vice destructively overloaded. If you find that discussing politics at the dinner table leads to fighting, why do you keep bringing it up? If your sibling's life choices bother you, why don't you stop picking at them and making them your concern? The same goes for so many other sources of aggravation. This is not a call to avoid frictions and challenges...only a call to rationally decide to take them on at a place and time of YOUR choosing.

It's not a sign of weakness to shut them out when needed. Instead, it's a sign of strong will because it demonstrates your ability to control the internal effects of an external stimulus. Try saying: "I know the reaction I typically take in these situations, and I'm not going to do it this time." And then follow it with: "I'm also going to remove this stimulus from my life in the future as well."

What follows is peace and serenity.