By William B Irvine, this book is an introduction to Stoic philosophy. It's a practical philosophy to apply to your lifestyle. Having a framework to make decisions and act helps prevent you from living a bad life.
Irvine walks us through the history of philosophy, which became popular sometime in the 6th century BC:
- Pythagoras 570-500 BC in Italy
- Thales 636-546 BC in Greece
- Confucius 551-479 BC in China
- Buddha 563-483 BC in India
It's not clear if each individual worked on their philosophy independently or if one influenced another. We can track down how Stoicism came to be:
Pythagoras -> ... -> Anaximander (Ionian branch) -> ... -> Socrates
Socrates (469-399 BC) was important because he changed the focus of Western philosophy from external to internal. Philosophers before him concentrated on explaining the natural world around them - what we call science now. After his death, his students started schools. Plato started the Academy which focused on theory and Antisthenes founded the Cynic school to focus on lifestyle. The theoretical side has flourished and is now taught in universities. The practical side teaching lifestyle has withered away. Stoicism is emphasizes the practical/lifestyle side of philosophy.
Zeno started out with the Cynic school. Cynics lived an ascetic lifestyle - they only owned the clothes they were wearing, were homeless, and learned to want next to nothing. Cyrenaics thought the goal of living was to enjoy every pleasure and take advantage of every way to experience it. Stoicism ended up falling in between both ideals.
Zeno was first a student of the Cynics. They pointed out how a statue, whose only function is to please the eye, could cost thousands - while flour, whose function is to keep us alive, can be bought for a few coins. They lived an ascetic lifestyle to be prepared for every fortune and enjoy the basic necessities of life. Zeno eventually abandoned that school to learn more about theory. He studied at the Megarian school for a bit, then at the Academy, then started his own school giving lectures at Stoa Poikile (hence the name Stoic).
Like most schools, Stoicism was originally split into three parts: ethics, physics, and logic. Ethics was the most important - not moral ethics but whether or not a person is living a good/happy life. The Greeks equate having a good life with attaining virtue.
To be virtuous is to live as we were designed to live. Zeno asserted that humans were designed to be reasonable and to perform our social duty.
The goal of a Stoic is to be virtuous or to be reasonable and perform your social duty.
Whereas original Stoicism made its goal to attain virtue, the Romans changed it to be attaining tranquility. They advocate the absence of negative emotions like grief, anger, anxiety and they prefer positive emotions like joy. For the Romans, attaining virtue is the same as attaining tranquility.
The most important Stoics were Roman: Seneca, Musonius Rufus, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. They spread Stoicism through their writings or teaching (for some of them it wasn't their intention). Many of these philosophers had to live through being exiled.
Musonius said:
We should study philosophy, since how otherwise could we hope to live well?
Don't fall into the trap of hedonistic adaptation where once a person gets what they aim for, they start having grander wants. This happens to lottery winners.
Stoics recommend we imagine losing the things we value - wife left, car stolen, or job lost. This technique is called negative visualization. We start living more in the moment and appreciate what we have. Change from wanting more to wanting what you already have.
Another related technique is projective visualization, if something bad happened imagine it happened to someone else. It will dissipate your anger and show you how insignificant the bad incident really was.
Seneca reminds us the impermanence of the world:
All things human are short-lived and perishable.
Change your goals so they align with what's easily obtainable. Change your wants so that it's certainly obtainable.
Epictetus's dichotomy of control was:
Some things are up to us and some are not up to us
Irvine updates this to be a more realistic trichotomy of control:
- things we have no control over
- things we have some control over
- things we have complete control over
Stoics shouldn't worry over the first category of things. Don't expend any grief, stress, or energy. Instead, focus on the second and third categories.
If we internalize goals, they go from the first category to the last. Instead of "winning the tennis match", change your goal to be "becoming a better tennis player". Instead of "getting a promotion", change your goal to be "becoming a better employee".
The Stoics believed in fate. Irvine argues that they were fatalistic with respect to the past. Your actions have no effect on the past, so don't spend any time/energy on it. The past falls into the category for which things you have no control.
Irvine also argues that the Stoics were fatalistic with respect to the present. That is, we cannot change what's happening at this very moment in time. You can spend this moment thinking about how it can be different or you can embrace it. This echoes Buddhism's advice to live in the moment.
This doesn't mean you're stuck with what you have. Stoics believe that you should do your best to perform your social duty. If you do that well, external circumstances may improve. Don't seek fortune and fame, but feel free to enjoy if it comes along as long as you don't get attached to it.
Besides negative visualization, you can actually inflict negative things onto yourself (or deny pleasures). Seneca recommends we practice poverty.
Skip a meal or fast to appreciate food more. Sleep on the floor for a night to appreciate your bed. Doing this also has the side effect of lessening your fear of losing things. A stranger to discomforts will view them as major negatives. If you've already experienced it, they'll just be minor discomforts.
Stoics advise us to:
Periodically engage in acts of voluntary discomfort and forgo opportunities to experience pleasure.
We should periodically meditate on:
- events in our daily lives
- how did you respond to those events?
- how you should have responded?
Irvine recommends us going through a checklist at bedtime:
- are you practicing those psychological techniques?
- are you performing negative visualization?
- are you distinguishing between the trichotomy of controls?
- are you internalizing goals?
- are you concentrating on the future instead of the past/present?
- are you practicing self-denial of pleasures?
You can measure your signs of progress as a Stoic:
- are your feelings still hurt often from others?
- are you blaming, censoring, or praising others still?
- are you boasting still?
- are you blaming external events still?
- are you experiencing negative emotions still?
According to Marcus the emperor:
I am bound to do good to my fellow creatures and bear with them. ... I should do so quietly and efficiently.
Instead of lazily lying in bed, you should get up every morning to do your work. Don't expect thanks, admiration, or sympathy for doing your work any more than a racehorse expects thanks for running a race. Stoics believe you should perform your social duty to earn tranquility.
Seek friends who share your value and who are doing a better job at it than you. Vices are contagious, don't put up with people who constantly upset you.
If you find someone annoying, keep in mind that you must also annoy other people. This will teach you to be more patient.
Insults create anger, a negative emotion that upsets tranquility. The Stoics created some techniques to deal with insults:
- consider whether the insult is valid criticism
- consider if it's just due to misinformation
- if you don't respect the source of the insult, why bother getting upset over it? Stoics will become increasingly immune to other people's opinions of them
- respond with self-deprecating humor to take the sting away
- just ignore it
Seneca wrote:
Never will I demand of you that you should not grieve at all.
For proper grieving, Polybius wrote:
let your tears flow, but let them also cease, let deepest sighs be drawn from your breast, but let them also find an end
The primary technique used to prevent grief is negative visualization. It can be preemptive (appreciate relationships more) or a minimizing tool (be thankful for the time spent in relationships).
You can also reason grief away. For example, a death of a relative would cause grief. But the relative would want us to stop crying eventually.
Seneca calls anger a "brief insanity" and a waste of precious time:
No plague has cost the human race more.
Sometimes it's okay to feign anger, for example as a way to punish/teach children to behave properly. But you should never experience it inwardly.
Some advice for dealing with anger:
- don't jump to conclusions
- harden ourselves (don't coddle ourselves) so we're less likely to be angered by trivial matters
- keep in mind things that anger us don't really harm us, but being angry could cause more harmful effects
- keep in mind that many things aren't important in the grand scheme
- apologize for any outbursts and admit your mistakes
Don't mistakenly pursue local or world fame. Don't seek popularity, recognition, or admiration. The price of fame is too high (it's difficult to get, it's out of our control, and it will upset us if it cannot be obtained).
Epictetus says we'll be better off to be indifferent to social status. Stoics value freedom. Seeking social status will give people power over our freedom.
Don't seek immortal fame. You'll be dead anyways, so how can you enjoy it? Instead, live in the present and make the best of today.
A technique to overcome seeking fame is to trigger disdain on purpose once in a while. For example, wear something considered ridiculous fashion.
Wealth can get us luxuries and various pleasures, but won't bring us contentment or banish grief. Epictetus says:
it is better to die of hunger with distress and fear gone than to live upset in the midst of plenty
Having a luxurious lifestyle causes us to lose our ability to take pleasures in simple things. No longer can we enjoy a salad and water if our meals mostly consist of grilled steak and wine. Stoics pity the people who can't enjoy anything but "the best".
Musonius advises us:
- eat to live rather than live to eat
- eat healthy foods that require little preparation
- dress to protect your body, not to impress others
- housing should be functional and no more (shelter from extreme weather)
Seneca advises us:
- life's necessities are cheap and easily obtainable
- eschew luxury and devote more time/energy to more worthwhile causes
- acquire enough wealth to not descend into poverty
If you have wealth, you don't need to renounce it. Stoics can enjoy it but do not get attached to it.
Philosophers were often exiled in Roman times. Modern day exile would be along the lines of being sent to a nursing home or being required to move somewhere for work.
Musonius says:
happiness depends more on his values than where he resides
Stoicism is suited for older age. We can appreciate our days more knowing that they are coming to an end. We can value the tranquility sought out more. We can also respect fatalism - there's nothing we can do to change our past so don't spend too much time worrying about it.
Reasons to fear old age:
- what comes after death or if anything comes after at all
- fear that you mis-lived
A philosophy for life helps you in the second case. As old age comes, you won't fear that you mis-lived.
The Stoics contemplated death because they wanted to appreciate their life more. This is similar to negative visualization.
In Roman times, Stoics often took opposing views to people in power - often being sentenced to death. This is because they wanted to perform their social duty and did not fear death. They did not think a life in which nothing is worth dying for is worth living
Having a philosophy of life simplifies everyday living by easing decision making. Just choose the ones more aligned by your philosophy's goals. Irvine argues that if you lack a philosophy, it's too easy to mis-live and pursue goals that aren't worth it.
Irvine advises us to be a stealth Stoic. Practice it but keep a low profile to avoid being mocked.
Some reasons to practice Stoicism:
- experience fewer negative emotions like anger, grief, anxiety
- enjoy tranquility
- take pleasure in the simple things
Stoicism mostly fell off the charts after the collapse of the Roman empire. It competed a bit with Christianity - but the religion offered an afterlife. Many people lived by Stoic ideals without actually being Stoics (like Henry Thoreau).
Advice for seeking tranquility:
- become self-aware and reflect how we respond to the day's events
- use reasoning to overcome negative emotions
- don't pursue wealth, but feel free to enjoy it if received (without clinging)
- be careful about who you become friends with
- unhappiness is caused by insatiability and things out of our control - use negative visualization and respect the trichotomy of control
Some advice from the author for practicing Stoicism:
- practice stealth Stoicism at first
- don't try to master all techniques at once, do it one at a time
- negative visualization is to daily living as salt is to cooking
- humor is a great tool to use for response
- experiment with voluntary discomfort
- try yoga
- simplify your lifestyle
Some essays to read by Seneca found in "Seneca: Dialogues and Essays":
- On the Happy Life
- On Tranquility of Mind
- On the Shortness of Life
Another good book is Musonius's "The Roman Socrates".
Epictetus's "Handbook" is a short and accessible philosophy book.
Marcus Aurelius wrote in his journal which was published as "Meditations". It's filled with Stoic advice but doesn't have a coherent theme.