Stoic practice is distinct from academic philosophy because it is a way of life—an art of living—supported by a holistic philosophical system. The Stoics never intended their system to be a primarily intellectual endeavor. Nor was it created as a quick fix, self-help program. This is obvious from the surviving Stoic texts. Unlike academic philosophical tomes, the writings of Seneca, Discourses of Epictetus, and Meditations of Marcus Aurelius challenge and inspire us. It is quite apparent that something profound motivated these Stoics to live uncommon lives. For two thousand years, their lives have encouraged people like us to live up to our full potential as humans who are capable of developing moral excellence and experiencing true freedom and well-being. Nevertheless, the path Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus, and the other ancient Stoics trod toward that goal was not an easy one.
As Pierre Hadot suggests, the practice of Stoicism will “turn our entire life upside down.”[1] While contemplating what that means, an image I found helpful was that of a farmer tilling a field. The process of tilling turns the soil upside down, and that serves several functions that help cultivate crops: It disrupts the root structure of existing weeds, it breaks up and loosens hardened soil, and it exposes fresh soil that is better able to absorb nutrients and support the growth of new seeds. Interestingly, these functions are analogous to cultivating our psyche, so it can bear the fruit of moral excellence. If a Stoic practitioner neglects to till the field of their psyche and instead scatters the seeds of Stoicism across untilled soil, they are unlikely to get the crop yield promised by the Stoics—eudaimonia. The initial excitement that comes from seeing the first signs of a plant breaking through the soil may be short-lived. That is because seeds scattered on hard, untilled soil may grow shallow roots if they can penetrate the soil at all. Those new seeds are forced to compete with preexisting weeds for water and nourishment. This is analogous to the modern Stoic practitioner who tries to apply Stoic sayings and techniques to their mind that is still entangled with the preexisting psychic weeds from a lifetime of false judgments, wrong desires, and irrational fears.
Many people come to Stoicism in the twenty-first century looking only for psychological techniques, mind hacks, or inspirational aphorisms that will help them overcome obstacles and achieve their preexisting personal goals. Likewise, many seek a means of developing tranquility in our chaotic times. Judging by the current popularity of Stoicism on social media, it appears that many people are benefitting from applying Stoic principles and practices to help them get a better job or promotion, manage a company, become a better athlete, recover from a breakup, etc. However, what many moderns overlook is the fact that seeking externals is not the goal of Stoic practice. In fact, as Epictetus teaches us in Enchiridion 1, desiring and chasing after those externals will keep us enslaved and cause us to lament and have a troubled mind. Likewise, moderns may overlook the fact that others can apply those same techniques to make them a better criminal, corrupt business person, tyrannical political leader, or an uncaring, disconnected human being. Therefore, we must keep this important truth in mind: If we apply Stoic techniques and practices to an untilled psyche, it will fertilize Stoic seeds and preexisting weeds. To experience true well-being, our Stoic practice must be aimed at an excellent moral character rather than externals like health, wealth, office, and reputation.
Stoic practice helps us develop new patterns of thought to replace our old errant judgments, misdirected desires, and disturbing aversions (weeds) so we can develop our moral excellence (virtue) and experience true well-being (eudaimonia). However, for those new seeds of thought to flourish and produce fruit, we must discover and disrupt the root system of those existing thoughts that create our psychological disturbances. That requires serious, ongoing effort. It requires us to till the soil of our psyche. Again, when we scatter seeds of Stoicism atop the hard ground of our psyche, amidst the weeds that have already taken root, and then use Stoic practices, techniques, or mind hacks to fertilize those seeds we are nourishing both the new Stoic seeds and the preexisting weeds. The Stoics never intended to help us achieve better health, more wealth, increased fame, a better reputation, etc. If we leave the desire for those externals in place, they will likely grow alongside the seeds of Stoicism. This means the trees of our Stoic orchard will be competing with preexisting weeds and they may never bear the fruit (moral excellence) Stoicism promises. That is why Stoic practice requires tilling the soil of our psyche. Stoicism requires us to turn the soil of our psyche (soul) upside down to disrupt those false judgments, desires and aversions that enslave us and trouble our minds. Then we can plant new seeds and reap a better harvest of well-being.
To expose errant judgments, wrong desires, and irrational aversions we must focus our attention (prosoche) on them. Then, we can use the discipline of assent to uproot those weeds. Simultaneously, the discipline of desire will help us select only the best seeds to plant in the tilled soil of our psyche—seeds that can produce moral excellence. Finally, we can apply the fertilizer of Stoic practice to the fresh soil and new seeds. That is the path of the prokopton, and the Stoics promise us it will bear fruit. To do so, however, we must understand and apply all three fields of study—logic, physics, and ethics. The ancient Stoics offered the simile of an orchard to represent the holistic nature of the Stoic system for good reason. A Stoic orchard must be protected by the fence, built via the discipline of assent to impressions (logic), so the soil and trees of appropriate desires (physics) can produce good fruit (ethics). In modern times, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) demonstrated the effectiveness of this ancient Stoic practice of examining and changing deeply held beliefs to effect change in one’s behavior.
As Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Therapy, points out, our behavior is motivated by three levels of cognition: core beliefs, dysfunctional assumptions, and negative automatic thoughts. “Core beliefs, or schemas, are deeply held beliefs about self, others and the world.”[2] These core beliefs create a worldview—a map that represents the way the world is. The connection between a person’s worldview, their perception of events, and their behavior is fundamental to CBT practitioners. Jean-Baptiste Gourinat highlighted this connection in his 2009 paper titled Stoicism Today. He notes that“one’s behavior springs from one’s view of oneself and the world, and our psychological difficulties and disturbances derive from these views and from our (misconceived) perception of external events.”[3] The ancient Stoics understood the connection between beliefs, behavior, and psychological well-being. As a result, they developed a philosophical system that supported a way of life designed to develop an excellent moral character (virtue) and promote well-being. This way of life is far more holistic than CBT alone, which does not prescribe or promote any particular model of reality. As I have pointed out in several episodes, Stoic theory and practice, as the ancients conceived it, rely on trust in a providentially ordered cosmos. Therefore, it is unreasonable to think we can remove or ignore the Stoic worldview from their interdependent, holistic system without changing the system as a whole. That does not prohibit a modern from adapting Stoicism to an atheist worldview. However, such an adaptation will require significant modification to Stoic ethical theory and practices as well. Consequently, moderns who attempt to modify Stoicism in this way should be aware they are doing something the ancient Stoics did not conceive of, and their mileage may vary.
As Pierre Hadot suggests, the Stoic art of living is an “exercise” that consists of a “concrete attitude and determinate lifestyle, which engages the whole of existence.” He further points out, “The philosophical act is not situated merely on the cognitive level, but on that of the self and of being.”He argues this “conversion” is one that “turns our entire life upside down, changing the life of the person who goes through it.” As a result, we can rise above our “inauthentic condition of life, darkened by unconsciousness and harassed by worry” to an “authentic state of life” that includes “self-consciousness, an exact vision of the world, inner peace, and freedom.”[4] I have dedicated the last seven years of my life to the serious study of Stoic theory and a consistent—albeit far from perfect—attempt to put that theory into practice. During that time frame, I have also mentored numerous students through the basic course at the College of Stoic Philosophers and tutored students through the year-long advanced course known as the Marcus Aurelius School. From my personal experience and my observations of those I have mentored, I am convinced the results one gets from the practice of Stoicism are directly proportionate to one’s commitment to the Stoic path. A half-hearted commitment to the Stoic path will not create the psychological resilience and greatness of character we see in ancient Stoics. Why? Because, as Seneca points out:
To fashion a [Stoic] who can genuinely be called a [Stoic], a stronger fate is needed. For him, the way will not be flat: he must go up and down, he must be tossed by waves, and must guide his vessel on a stormy sea. He must hold his course against fortune. Many things will happen that are hard and rough (On Providence, 5.9)
Why are trials and hardships essential to the Stoic path? Because, as Seneca notes, it takes the extreme heat of fire to purify gold, and trials and hardships are necessary to produce the type of men and women who can courageously embrace the events of Nature and withstand the winds of Fortuna. The Stoic path is not for the faint of heart, the weak-willed, or the timid soul who will retreat at the first sign of hardship. Those who are diluting the strong drink of the ancient Stoics to accommodate moderns who wish to sip a little of Stoicism and experience its promised well-being without any of its bitterness are kidding themselves. Again, that does not mean Stoic techniques will not help one achieve some goal. It does, however, mean that watered-down versions of Stoicism will likely not provide us with the excellent character, strength, and subsequent well-being we see exemplified in the lives of Stoics like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. To achieve that, a stronger fate is needed.
As the Stoics understood, every event is the result of a chain or network of prior causes. Likewise, our present moral character—whether virtuous or vicious—is the product of the chain of choices we made about the previous events in our life. That chain or network of choices created our present moral character and its resulting psychological state. Happiness is the universal quest of humanity, and it is the common goal of all who approach Stoicism. We want to escape the current state of our troubled minds and experience well-being, and the ancient Stoics tell us that goal is possible and provide us with a path to bring it about. Unfortunately, we moderns want and expect the transformation from a troubled mind to tranquility to be quick and painless. We want the Stoic path to be smoothed out. We want the hard drink of the Stoa diluted to accommodate our modern taste buds. We want the gain with no pain. Unfortunately, we fail to realize we are asking for a miracle. We want that chain of causes, created by our choices, miraculously interrupted so we can experience well-being with minimal effort. We want the fruit of the Stoic orchard without tilling the ground, pulling the weeds, planting seeds, fertilizing, and building a fence around the orchard to protect it. Unfortunately, Nature does not work like that; therefore, Stoicism cannot work like that. We must replace the links in the chain of choices that created our current moral character and produces our present state of mind. This will slowly develop an excellent moral character and subsequent well-being. The process will not be painless or fast. As Epictetus put it,
A philosopher’s school, man, is a doctor’s surgery. You shouldn’t leave after having had an enjoyable time, but after having been subjected to pain. For you weren’t in good health when you came in… (Discourses 3.23.30)
If you have been listening to the Stoicism On Fire podcast for a while, I can assume you are serious about your intention to follow the Stoic path. Therefore, if you have hit a wall or reached a plateau in your Stoic practice, it may be time to refocus on the basics and return to the practice of prosoche and the three Stoic disciplines. Those are the basic practices of the Stoic art of living. If your practice of Stoicism is not producing the transformation Pierre Hadot described above, you may have neglected to till the soil of your psyche as thoroughly as you could have. If that is the case, you may be attempting to apply Stoicism topically, as a balm rather than an internal medicine for your psyche. Like most therapies designed to heal, you should expect that Stoicism will be somewhat painful.
Maybe you are relatively new to Stoicism. You read a popular book about Stoicism, had an initial burst of progress, and then hit a wall. Alternatively, maybe you have been practicing Stoicism for years and feel stuck at a plateau. Either way, the solution is the same—a return to the fundamentals. That is the reason most professional sports teams require their players to attend some form of training camp every year, no matter how many years they have been playing. If you watch what goes on in these camps, you will notice that they focus on the fundamental skills of their sport. It is from the repeated practice of those fundamentals that advanced skills develop. The same is true of Stoic practice. However, for the Stoic prokopton, every day is training camp, and every event that occurs gives us an opportunity to practice the fundamental skills of attention (prosoche) and the disciplines of assent, desire, and action.
Additionally, if you have hit a wall or reached a plateau in your Stoic practice, maybe you are practicing the correct fundamentals on the wrong field of play. Learning to tackle opponents and catch an American football with your hands will not help you in a soccer game. Likewise, the exceptional ball-handling that signifies the skill of a soccer player will be useless in the American game of football. The skills you practice and develop must be applicable to the game you intend to play. Could your difficulty be that the tools and techniques you are using to cultivate an excellent character were developed for an entirely different conception of reality—a different worldview? The ancient Epicureans and Stoics held diametrically opposing worldviews. As a result, their ethical practices diverged greatly. The Epicureans thought the universe was a fortuitous accident. In such a world, avoiding the unpleasant aspects of society and seeking friendship among a group of like-minded people to experience serene calmness (ataraxia) makes logical sense. On the other hand, if the cosmos has an inherent purpose that entails social duties, as the Stoics claim, then living in agreement with Nature entails preparing ourselves to live within the turmoil of society. In this Stoic conception of the cosmos, there is a reason to live within society and expand our affinity to include all of humanity. In such a cosmos, our moral development and subsequent well-being depend on seeking the good of the whole as a part of our developmental path.
Have you given due consideration to the traditional form of Stoicism, which includes a purposeful cosmos that is providentially ordered? Don’t let words like “God” and “providence” scare you away. If you give it some open-minded consideration, I suspect that you will find the Stoic conception of the divine, unlike anything you have been exposed to previously. I know that was true for me. Likewise, ignore those antagonistic atheists who have not even bothered to understand the Stoic conception of a providential cosmos. They may tell you the Stoic worldview is “irrational,” “unreasonable,” or “unsustainable in the light of modern science.” Please, don’t take their word for it. Do yourself a favor; study and consider Stoic physics and theology for yourself instead of following the crowd and the popular Stoic authority figures. Do not rely on the predigested thoughts of others, and that includes me. That is your responsibility if you are going to self-identify as a “Stoic” or claim to be following the Stoic path. To do so, you will have to dive into the actual Stoic texts and rely on reputable, recognized scholars of Stoicism to help you understand what those texts mean. As one reputable scholar recently pointed out:
There is a striking gap between the current understanding of Stoicism as a therapeutic psychological endeavour, or at least a practical philosophical strategy, and what you would meet if you plunged into contemporary academic writing about the ancient school.[5]
You will have to decide whether you prefer the “Minimal Stoicism” of the modern Stoic movement that follows in the heterodox tradition of Aristo of Chios, or the “Large Stoicism” of the tradition established by Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, which is presented by the credible scholarly sources and embraced by traditional Stoics.[6] You may not like what you find in your exploration of traditional Stoicism; however, you will have come to that conclusion using your own mind instead of following the regurgitated opinions of others. Regardless of your conclusion, you will be better informed about Stoicism.
The Stoics claimed that their orchard was composed of three essential and interdependent parts: a fence (logic) to protect the orchard, trees and soil (physics), and the fruit the orchard produces (ethics). The Stoics used this simile, and others, to make a point: Stoic fruit (ethical behavior) cannot be produced without trees and soil (an understanding of the cosmic Nature and human nature), and a fence (logic) to protect the orchard from intruders that may contaminate the soil and damage the trees. If your Stoic orchard is not producing a good harvest of fruit, it may be time to till the soil once again. The seeds of Stoicism you are planting in your psyche may not be getting the nourishment they need to produce fruit. It is also possible that your current worldview has innate limitations. If so, it may be time to seriously consider the Stoic worldview. Marcus Aurelius certainly thought the Stoic conception of a providential cosmos was important to his psychological well-being. Twice in his Meditations, while contrasting a providentially ordered cosmos with a random universe, Marcus seriously questioned whether life is worth living if the latter is true.[7] As Christopher Gill points out, Marcus relied on the Stoic worldview for “ethical and emotional support”[8] and reminded himself of it “to reaffirm his confidence in the universe as an ordered and providential whole, and thus support his normal way of life, based on Stoic ethical principles.”[9] Ultimately, Marcus’ repeated comparison of the random Epicurean universe with the providential cosmos of the Stoics expressed “his concern…with the ethical implications of adopting one or other world-view.”[10] In the Stoic simile of the orchard, physics is compared to the soil and trees. Obviously, an orchard cannot bear fruit without soil and trees. That is precisely the point the Stoics were making.
Core beliefs make a difference in the way we view the world, the events that occur in our daily lives, and our fellow human beings. Marcus and the other Stoics trusted the providential nature of the cosmos and thereby followed, lived in agreement with, and loved the events of Nature even when they appeared “bad” or tragic to others. If your Stoic orchard is not yielding the fruit you expected, maybe it is time to till and rejuvenate the soil of your psyche. In your eagerness to produce the fruit of ethics, did you overlook the soil and trees (physics) that are necessary to produce the fruit? If so, maybe it is time to give the Stoic conception of a providentially ordered cosmos some serious, open-minded consideration. If the Stoics were correct, it will transform your practice and your life.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault, ed. Arnold Ira Davidson (New York: Blackwell, 1995), p. 83
[2] Kristina Fenn and Majella Byrne, “The Key Principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,” InnovAiT 6, no. 9 (September 1, 2013): 579–85, p. 579 https://doi.org/10.1177/1755738012471029.
[3] Jean-Baptiste Gourinat, “Stoicism Today,” IRIS 1, no. 2 (October 21, 2009): 497–511, p. 510.
[4] Hadot (1995), pp. 82-3
[5] Brad Inwood, Stoicism: A Very Short Introduction (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018), p. 10
[6] Inwood (2018) provides the labels “Minimal Stoicism” and “Large Stoicism” and correlates them to the traditions of the heterodox Aristo and the tradition established by the succession of Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus respectively. He argues that modern Stoics are heirs of the heterodox tradition established by Aristo, p. 106
[7] Meditations 2.11 and 6.10
[8] Christopher Gill, Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Books 1-6 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. lxix
[9] Gill (2013), p. 95
[10] Gill (2013), p. 171
