Civil War and produced one of the more memorable translations of Epictetus. In , as Captain James Stockdale future Medal of Honor recipient parachuted from his shot-up plane over Vietnam into what would ultimately be a half decade of torture and imprisonment, whose name was on his lips?
The philosophy asserts that virtue meaning, chiefly, the four cardinal virtues of self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom is happiness, and it is our perceptions of things—rather than the things themselves— that cause most of our trouble. Early Stoicism was much closer to a comprehensive philosophy like other ancient schools whose names might be vaguely familiar: Epicureanism, Cynicism, Platonism, Skepticism.
Proponents spoke of diverse topics, including physics, logic, cosmology, and many others. One of the analogies favored by the Stoics to describe their philosophy was that of a fertile field. Logic was the protective fence, physics was the field, and the crop that all this produced was ethics—or how to live. As Stoicism progressed, however, it focused primarily on two of these topics—logic and ethics.
Making its way from Greece to Rome, Stoicism became much more practical to fit the active, pragmatic lives of the industrious Romans. In their writings—often private letters or diaries—and in their lectures, the Stoics struggled to come up with real, actionable answers. They ultimately framed their work around a series of exercises in three critical disciplines: The Discipline of Perception how we see and perceive the world around us The Discipline of Action the decisions and actions we take—and to what end The Discipline of Will how we deal with the things we cannot change, attain clear and convincing judgment, and come to a true understanding of our place in the world By controlling our perceptions, the Stoics tell us, we can find mental clarity.
In utilizing and aligning our will, we will find the wisdom and perspective to deal with anything the world puts before us. It was their belief that by strengthening themselves and their fellow citizens in these disciplines, they could cultivate resilience, purpose, and even joy.
Born in the tumultuous ancient world, Stoicism took aim at the unpredictable nature of everyday life and offered a set of practical tools meant for daily use. One day is as all days, as the Stoics liked to say. Which brings us to where we are right now. Others are overworked. Or the chaos of a new venture. Or are you already successful and grappling with the duties of power or influence? Wrestling with an addiction? Deeply in love? Or moving from one flawed relationship to another? Are you approaching your golden years?
Or enjoying the spoils of youth? Busy and active? Or bored out of your mind? In fact, in many cases they have addressed it explicitly in terms that feel shockingly modern. Drawing directly from the Stoic canon, we present a selection of original translations of the greatest passages from the three major figures of late Stoicism—Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius—along with a few assorted sayings from their Stoic predecessors Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Musonius, Hecato.
Accompanying each quotation is our attempt to tell a story, provide context, ask a question, prompt an exercise, or explain the perspective of the Stoic who said it so that you may find deeper understanding of whatever answers you are seeking. The works of the Stoics have always been fresh and current, regardless of the historical ebb and flow of their popularity.
It was not our intention with this book to fix them or modernize them or freshen them up there are many excellent translations out there. Instead, we sought to organize and present the vast collective wisdom of the Stoics into as digestible, accessible, and coherent a form as possible.
In the meantime, here, for the busy and active reader, we have attempted to produce a daily devotional that is as functional and to the point as the philosophers behind it. The areas of great interest to the Stoics all make an appearance here: virtue, mortality, emotions, self-awareness, fortitude, right action, problem solving, acceptance, mental clarity, pragmatism, unbiased thought, and duty. The Stoics were pioneers of the morning and nightly rituals: preparation in the morning, reflection in the evening.
One meditation per day for every day of the year including an extra day for leap years! If you feel so inclined, pair it with a notebook to record and articulate your thoughts and reactions see January 21st and 22nd and December 22nd , just as the Stoics often did. The aim of this hands-on approach to philosophy is to help you live a better life.
To that end, we offer this book. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own. What we have influence over and what we do not. A flight is delayed because of weather—no amount of yelling at an airline representative will end a storm. No amount of wishing will make you taller or shorter or born in a different country. And on top of that, time spent hurling yourself at these immovable objects is time not spent on the things we can change.
They cannot undo the choices they have made or the hurt they have caused. But they can change the future—through the power they have in the present moment. As Epictetus said, they can control the choices they make right now.
The same is true for us today. If we can focus on making clear what parts of our day are within our control and what parts are not, we will not only be happier, we will have a distinct advantage over other people who fail to realize they are fighting an unwinnable battle.
Only the most beautiful and proper harvest of the truly educated—tranquility, fearlessness, and freedom. We should not trust the masses who say only the free can be educated, but rather the lovers of wisdom who say that only the educated are free.
Why pick up any book? Not to seem smarter, not to pass time on the plane, not to hear what you want to hear—there are plenty of easier choices than reading. No, you picked up this book because you are learning how to live. Because you want to be freer, fear less, and achieve a state of peace. Education—reading and meditating on the wisdom of great minds—is not to be done for its own sake.
It has a purpose. Remember that imperative on the days you start to feel distracted, when watching television or having a snack seems like a better use of your time than reading or studying philosophy. Knowledge—self- knowledge in particular—is freedom. You will realize you are dying before your time! Even harder is saying no to certain time-consuming emotions: anger, excitement, distraction, obsession, lust. None of these impulses feels like a big deal by itself, but run amok, they become a commitment like anything else.
Do you ever wonder how you can get some of your time back, how you can feel less busy? It may turn people off. It may take some hard work. This will let you live and enjoy your life—the life that you want. What clarity does trivia provide?
Instead, the following little reminder sums up the three most essential parts of Stoic philosophy worth carrying with you every day, into every decision: Control your perceptions. Direct your actions properly. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead. When your efforts are not directed at a cause or a purpose, how will you know what to do day in and day out? How will you know what to say no to and what to say yes to?
The answer is that you cannot. And so you are driven into failure—or worse, into madness by the oblivion of directionlessness. So what to make of people who seek or avoid the praise of those who have no knowledge of where or who they are? Could you? Have you taken the time to get clarity about who you are and what you stand for? Or are you too busy chasing unimportant things, mimicking the wrong influences, and following disappointing or unfulfilling or nonexistent paths?
Nothing but its own corrupt decisions. We must make sure that it does—and see everything else as pollution or a corruption. Otherwise, courage will vanish, which should continually test itself. Soon enough, these harmless habits are running our lives. The little compulsions and drives we have not only chip away at our freedom and sovereignty, they cloud our clarity.
What that addiction is for you can vary: Soda? The Internet? Biting your nails? But you must reclaim the ability to abstain because within it is your clarity and self-control. We control our opinion, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything of our own doing.
Even more, the things in our control are by nature free, unhindered, and unobstructed, while those not in our control are weak, slavish, can be hindered, and are not our own. Is that scary? See how that works? Every single thing that is outside your control—the outside world, other people, luck, karma, whatever—still presents a corresponding area that is in your control. This alone gives us plenty to manage, plenty of power. Best of all, an honest understanding of what is within our control provides real clarity about the world: all we have is our own mind.
What about externals, then? They are only the raw material for our reasoned choice, which finds its own good or evil in working with them. How will it find the good? Not by marveling at the material!
For if judgments about the material are straight that makes our choices good, but if those judgments are twisted, our choices turn bad. How do they accomplish this elusive goal? How does one embody eustatheia the word Arrian used to describe this teaching of Epictetus?
If you want to be steady, if you want clarity, proper judgment is the best way. The Stoics are the antithesis of this idea. Instead, they are the man in the marketplace, the senator in the Forum, the brave wife waiting for her soldier to return from battle, the sculptor busy in her studio.
Still, the Stoic is equally at peace. Epictetus is reminding you that serenity and stability are results of your choices and judgment, not your environment. If you seek to avoid all disruptions to tranquility—other people, external events, stress— you will never be successful.
Your problems will follow you wherever you run and hide. But if you seek to avoid the harmful and disruptive judgments that cause those problems, then you will be stable and steady wherever you happen to be. Remind yourself to focus on the former and not the latter. Before lunch, remind yourself that the only thing you truly possess is your ability to make choices and to use reason and judgment when doing so. This is the only thing that can never be taken from you completely.
In the afternoon, remind yourself that aside from the choices you make, your fate is not entirely up to you.
The world is spinning and we spin along with it—whichever direction, good or bad. In the evening, remind yourself again how much is outside of your control and where your choices begin and end. As you lie in bed, remember that sleep is a form of surrender and trust and how easily it comes. And prepare to start the whole cycle over again tomorrow. After all, you could be struck with a physical illness or impairment at any moment.
You could be traveling in a foreign country and be thrown in jail. But this is all good news because it drastically reduces the amount of things that you need to think about.
There is clarity in simplicity. So mind it. What thoughts now occupy my mind? Is it not fear, suspicion, desire, or something like that? Food scientists are engineering products to exploit your taste buds.
Silicon Valley engineers are designing applications as addictive as gambling. The media is manufacturing stories to provoke outrage and anger. These are just a small slice of the temptations and forces acting on us—distracting us and pulling us away from the things that truly matter. Marcus, thankfully, was not exposed to these extreme parts of our modern culture. But he knew plenty of distracting sinkholes too: gossip, the endless call of work, as well as fear, suspicion, lust.
Every human being is pulled by these internal and external forces that are increasingly more powerful and harder to resist. Philosophy is simply asking us to pay careful attention and to strive to be more than a pawn. What is the cause of this back and forth? Clarity of vision allows us to have this belief. Instead, tranquility and peace are found in identifying our path and in sticking to it: staying the course —making adjustments here and there, naturally—but ignoring the distracting sirens who beckon us to turn toward the rocks.
The worker has stopped thinking and is mindlessly operating out of habit. The business is ripe for disruption by a competitor, and the worker will probably get fired by any thinking boss. We should apply the same ruthlessness to our own habits. In fact, we are studying philosophy precisely to break ourselves of rote behavior. Find what you do out of rote memory or routine. Ask yourself: Is this really the best way to do it? Know why you do what you do—do it for the right reasons.
My aim is to bring you to completion, unhindered, free from compulsive behavior, unrestrained, without shame, free, flourishing, and happy, looking to God in things great and small—your aim is to learn and diligently practice all these things. What is missing? The work is quite feasible, and is the only thing in our power. Let go of the past. We must only begin. Believe me and you will see.
Most teenagers choose to fool around rather than exert themselves. You have the best teachers in the world: the wisest philosophers who ever lived. And not only are you capable, the professor is asking for something very simple: just begin the work. The rest follows.
More than just pretty phrases, they gave him—and now us—a powerful perspective on ordinary or seemingly unbeautiful events. Some had it easy, and others had it unimaginably hard. This is true for us as well—we all come to philosophy from different backgrounds, and even within our own lives we experience bouts of good fortune and bad fortune.
But in all circumstances—adversity or advantage—we really have just one thing we need to do: focus on what is in our control as opposed to what is not. Right now we might be laid low with struggles, whereas just a few years ago we might have lived high on the hog, and in just a few days we might be doing so well that success is actually a burden.
One thing will stay constant: our freedom of choice—both in the big picture and small picture. Ultimately, this is clarity. Whoever we are, wherever we are—what matters is our choices. What are they?
How will we evaluate them? How will we make the most of them? Those are the questions life asks us, regardless of our station. How will you answer? See things anew as you once did—that is how to restart life! Have you been drifting away from the principles and beliefs that you hold dear? It happens to all of us. In fact, it probably happened to Marcus—that may be why he scribbled this note to himself.
But the reminder here is that no matter what happens, no matter how disappointing our behavior has been in the past, the principles themselves remain unchanged. We can return and embrace them at any moment. What happened yesterday—what happened five minutes ago—is the past. We can reignite and restart whenever we like.
Why not do it right now? What for tranquility? What am I? A mere body, estate-holder, or reputation? None of these things. What, then? A rational being. What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions. How did I steer away from serenity? What did I do that was unfriendly, unsocial, or uncaring?
What did I fail to do in all these things? In these cases, the point is not so much the activity itself as it is the ritualized reflection. The idea is to take some time to look inward and examine.
Taking that time is what Stoics advocated more than almost anything else. Every day, starting today, ask yourself these same tough questions. Let philosophy and hard work guide you to better answers, one morning at a time, over the course of a life. For this is what makes us evil—that none of us looks back upon our own lives.
We reflect upon only that which we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend from the past. At the end of each day he would ask himself variations of the following questions: What bad habit did I curb today?
How am I better? Were my actions just? How can I improve? At the beginning or end of each day, the Stoic sits down with his journal and reviews: what he did, what he thought, what could be improved. Writing down Stoic exercises was and is also a form of practicing them, just as repeating a prayer or hymn might be.
Take time to consciously recall the events of the previous day. Be unflinching in your assessments. Notice what contributed to your happiness and what detracted from it. When they travel abroad they must restrict their baggage, and when haste is necessary, they dismiss their entourage. And those who are in the army, how few of their possessions they get to keep.
They are different from you and me. As someone who was one of the richest men in Rome, he knew firsthand that money only marginally changes life. In fact, no material possession will. We constantly forget this—and it causes us so much confusion and pain.
I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something. He thanks, one by one, the leading influences in his life.
One of the people he thanks is Quintus Junius Rusticus, a teacher who developed in his student a love of deep clarity and understanding—a desire to not just stop at the surface when it comes to learning. It was also from Rusticus that Marcus was introduced to Epictetus. They became part of his DNA as a human being. He quoted them at length over the course of his life, finding real clarity and strength in words, even amid the immense luxury and power he would come to possess.
So we can take the time to read attentively and deeply. But by having some self-respect for your own mind and prizing it, you will please yourself and be in better harmony with your fellow human beings, and more in tune with the gods—praising everything they have set in order and allotted you. Neither Buffett nor Urschel nor Leonard ended up this way by accident. Their lifestyle is the result of prioritizing.
They cultivate interests that are decidedly below their financial means, and as a result, any income would allow them freedom to pursue the things they most care about. It just happens that they became wealthy beyond any expectation. This kind of clarity—about what they love most in the world— means they can enjoy their lives. The more things we desire and the more we have to do to earn or attain those achievements, the less we actually enjoy our lives—and the less free we are.
Always remember this power that nature gave you. A mantra can be especially helpful in the meditative process because it allows us to block out everything else while we focus. I can see the truth. That part is up to you. But have a mantra and use it to find the clarity you crave.
The first has to do with desires and aversions—that a person may never miss the mark in desires nor fall into what repels them. The second has to do with impulses to act and not to act—and more broadly, with duty—that a person may act deliberately for good reasons and not carelessly.
The third has to do with freedom from deception and composure and the whole area of judgment, the assent our mind gives to its perceptions. Of these areas, the chief and most urgent is the first which has to do with the passions, for strong emotions arise only when we fail in our desires and aversions. First, we must consider what we should desire and what we should be averse to. So that we want what is good and avoid what is bad.
Next, we must examine our impulses to act—that is, our motivations. Are we doing things for the right reasons? Or do we believe that we have to do something? Finally, there is our judgment. Our ability to see things clearly and properly comes when we use our great gift from nature: reason. These are three distinct areas of training, but in practice they are inextricably intertwined.
Our judgment affects what we desire, our desires affect how we act, just as our judgment determines how we act. We must put real thought and energy into each area of our lives. To bounce our ideas off and test our presumptions. Who that person will be for you is up to you.
You can do this if you approach each task as if it is your last, giving up every distraction, emotional subversion of reason, and all drama, vanity, and complaint over your fair share. What should I wear? Do they like me? Am I eating well enough?
Is my boss happy with my work? Marcus says to approach each task as if it were your last, because it very well could be. By using our site, you agree to our collection of information through the use of cookies. To learn more, view our Privacy Policy. To browse Academia. Log in with Facebook Log in with Google. Remember me on this computer. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.
Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. A short summary of this paper. While it was tempting to assign the entire book, I have practiced restraint and limited us to his chapter on "Happiness. PDF of the entire book is below. PDF below. In this short NYT op-ed, she briefly considers the "mega-industry" of modern Stoicism and calls us to consider that Stoicism is not simply self-help, but "group help.
Reading for "Session 5: Modern Stoicism". Recent Posts See All. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Stockdale as the first author we publish. Indeed, we could have had no finer or more appropriate person with whom to launch this new Center program. A graduate of the U. Naval Academy, Vice Admiral Stockdale is a figure of enormous. In late , the Center hosted Admiral and Mrs. This prestigious award is given to a living graduateowho has demonstrated a strong interest in supporting the Navy and the Naval Academy, has provided a lifetime of service to the nation, and has made significant contributions to the nation through public service.
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