August 24th - What can I learn from others—even the people I don’t like?

August - Pragmatism

August 24th

Pillage From All Sources

“I’ll never be ashamed to quote a bad writer with a good saying.”

—Seneca, On Tranquillity Of Mind, 11.8

One of the striking things about Seneca’s letters and essays is how often he quotes the philosopher Epicurus. Why is that strange? Because Stoicism and Epicureanism are supposed to be diametrically opposed philosophies! (In reality the differences while significant tend to be overblown.)

But this is true to form for Seneca. He was looking for wisdom, period. It didn’t matter where it came from. This is something that a lot of fundamentalists—in religion, philosophy, anything—seem to miss. Who cares whether some bit of wisdom is from a Stoic, who cares whether it perfectly jibes with Stoicism? What matters is whether it makes your life better, whether it makes you better.

What wisdom or help would you be able to find today if you stopped caring about affiliations and reputations? How much more could you see if you just focused on merit?

WEEK XXXIV (34) - Just Say No To Future Misery

18th to 24th August

How often we make ourselves miserable ... in advance. Out of fear of this, out of desperate hope for that. When we focus on pining for or avoiding a certain future, we make ourselves miserable here in the present. Hecato of Rhodes, the great student of the great middle Stoic scholar Panaetius, taught that this misery is always tied to hopes or fears we give to imagined future outcomes. From this Seneca reminds us this week to say no to both, because indulging them robs us of the ability to enjoy the present. As you write, don’t think about the future—what you hope will happen, what you fear might—just focus on right now. What you’re doing and thinking right now.

“It’s ruinous for the soul to be anxious about the future and miserable in advance of misery, engulfed by anxiety that the things it desires might remain its own until the very end. For such a soul will never be at rest—by longing for things to come it will lose the ability to enjoy present things.”

—Seneca, Moral Letters, 98.5b-6a

“But there is no reason to live and no limit to our miseries if we let our fears predominate.”

—Seneca, Moral Letters, 13.12b

“Hecato says, ‘Cease to hope and you will cease to fear.’. . . The primary cause of both these ills is that instead of adapting ourselves to present circumstances we send out thoughts too far ahead.”

—Seneca, Moral Letters, 5.7b-8

Stoic Guidance - Cardinal Virtues

If we were to describe Stoicism in one sentence, it would be this: A Stoic believes they don’t control the world around them, only how they respond—and that they must always respond with courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice.

Summary of Daily Stoic 4 Stoic Virtues.

Wisdom

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own”

—Epictetus

Wisdom is harnessing what the philosophy teaches then wielding it in the real world. As Seneca put it, “Works not words.”

Temperance / Self-Control / Moderation / Discipline

“‘If you seek tranquillity, do less.’ Or (more accurately) do what’s essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’”

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.24

Temperance is the knowledge that abundance comes from having what is essential. The Stoics often used temperance interchangeably with “self-control.” Self-control, not just towards material goods, but self-control, harmony, and good discipline always—in pleasure or pain, admiration or contempt, failure or triumph. Temperance is guarded against extremes, not relying on the fleetingness of pleasure for happiness nor allowing the fleetingness of pain to destroy it.

Justice

“And a commitment to justice in your own acts. Which means: thought and action resulting in the common good. What you were born to do.”

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.31

Justice is “the principle which constitutes the bond of human society and of a virtual community of life.”

Epictetus said, “Seeking the very best in ourselves means actively caring for the welfare of other human beings.”

Courage

“Don’t you know life is like a military campaign? One must serve on watch, another in reconnaissance, another on the front line. . . . So it is for us—each person’s life is a kind of battle, and a long and varied one too. You must keep watch like a soldier and do everything commanded. . . . You have been stationed in a key post, not some lowly place, and not for a short time but for life.”

—Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.31-36

Epictetus was once asked which words would help a person thrive. “Two words should be committed to memory and obeyed,” he said, “persist and resist.”

Courage to face misfortune. Courage to face death. Courage to risk yourself for the sake of your fellow man. Courage to hold to your principles, even when others get away with or are rewarded for disregarding theirs. Courage to speak your mind and insist on truth.