Stoic Meditations

"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.