{"id":12154,"date":"2020-02-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/?p=12154"},"modified":"2020-02-15T10:17:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T14:17:25","slug":"how-to-practice-epictetus-disciplines-for-a-good-life-by-massimo-pigliucci-gregory-lopez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/how-to-practice-epictetus-disciplines-for-a-good-life-by-massimo-pigliucci-gregory-lopez\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Practice Epictetus\u2019 Disciplines for a Good Life by Massimo Pigliucci & Gregory Lopez"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stoicism\nis a practical philosophy. That means that the theory is not to be considered\nfor its own sake, but only insofar as it aids practice. Then again, practice\nwithout theoretical guidance not a philosophy would make! Which is why at the\nlatest Stoicon, in Athens, one of us (Massimo) ran a workshop based on some\nexercises we developed together and published in our A\nHandbook for New Stoics<\/a> (The Experiment, published in the UK as Live\nLike a Stoic<\/a>,\nPenguin). Three of these exercises, one from each of Epictetus famous three\ndisciplines, are detailed below. If you wish, you can download\nexercise-specific sheets from\nthe publisher\u2019s web site<\/a>, to help you in your\npractice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each\nexercise has the same basic structure: it begins with a hypothetical vignette\nillustrating a potential real life situation. We then look at a pertinent quote\nfrom one of the ancient Stoics, which inspires the exercise. The theoretical\ncontext of the quote is explained, and then the actual exercise \u2014 meant to be\ncarried out for at least a week \u2014 is presented. We hope this will be useful for\nyour daily practices!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discipline\nof Desire & Aversion: Discover what\u2019s really in your control, and what\u2019s\nnot<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s\neasy to think that we have control over our lives when things are going the way\nwe want. But what happens when we experience uncertainty? Consider Alice, who\nfaces this question at her job. Her quarterly performance review is coming up,\nand though she\u2019s been doing well, a familiar anxiety floods her body as negative\nwhat-if scenarios cross her mind. Could learning more about what\u2019s really in\nher control help Alice? What effect would that have on her psyche?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of all existing things some are in our power, and others are not in our power. In our power are thought, impulse, will to get and will to avoid, and, in a word, everything which is our own doing. Things not in our power include the body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything which is not our own doing.<\/p>Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Epictetus\u2019s words may be more\nfamiliar to you in the form of the famous Serenity Prayer adopted by a number\nof twelve-step programs: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The\nprayer was written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in 1934, but it reflects\nwisdom that is common to Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist traditions, and of\ncourse to Stoicism. Indeed, the underlying concept is central to Stoic practice\nand is often referred to as the \u201cdichotomy of control.\u201d Epictetus begins the\nEnchiridion \u2014 his manual on Stoicism \u2014 with it, and it is one of the most cited\nStoic sayings, having countless applications in daily life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\nus first understand exactly what Epictetus means by his words. He is dividing\nthe world into two big chunks: the set of things under our (complete) control\nand the set of things not (completely) under our control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbasic idea is that it is imperative to use our mental energy to focus on what\nis under our complete <\/em>control, while regarding everything else as\nindifferent. For those things that are not <\/em>under our complete control,\nit isn\u2019t that we stop caring about them, but rather that we come to a deep\nunderstanding that we cannot guarantee that these indifferent things will turn\nout the way we wish them to. The way we come to this understanding is through\nconstant practice. This practice is the path toward ataraxia<\/em>, the Greek\nword meaning serenity. We become serene by training ourselves to only want what\nis completely in our control \u2014 so in a very real sense, we\u2019ll be serene because\nwe always get what we want! This is the promise of the Discipline of Desire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking\na closer look at Epictetus\u2019s categories, what does he say is in our control,\nand what is not? Under our control, according to him, are \u201cthought, impulse,\nwill to get and will to avoid, and, in a word, everything which is our own\ndoing.\u201d We need to be careful here, because these English words don\u2019t\nnecessarily carry the same connotations as their original Greek counterparts.\nMoreover, modern Stoics (such as ourselves!) may want to take into account\nadvances in the cognitive sciences that were not available to Epictetus, and so\nwe may arrive at a somewhat modified list of what truly is under our control.\nTo understand what Epictetus is getting at, let\u2019s break down the process\nfurther, starting with \u201cthoughts\u201d since it is listed first (for good reason).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThought\u201d\nhere is the English translation of hypolepsis<\/em>, literally \u201cgrasping under\u201d\nor \u201ctaking up.\u201d More figuratively, this means \u201cjudgment\u201d or \u201copinion\u201d (similar\nto scooping up an idea or viewpoint \u2014 you\u2019re grabbing under it to grasp or\ncradle it). These can be types of thoughts, and are not necessarily fully\nconscious ones. Epictetus may have listed \u201cthought\u201d first as it\u2019s the first\nstep in how we upset ourselves: we judge things to be inherently good or bad.\nSometimes these judgments are explicit (e.g., thinking to yourself That guy\u2019s\na moron!<\/em>). But they don\u2019t have to be. For example, if you get angry at a\nperson, you are implicitly judging the person\u2019s actions as bad, even if the\nwords \u201cthat person is doing a bad thing\u201d never cross your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next\ncomes \u201cimpulse\u201d (horme <\/em>in Greek). This is an impulse to act, but not\nnecessarily in a base or automatic way (what we may think of as impulsive).\nPulling your hand away from a hot stove and screaming is not an impulse in the\nway Epictetus uses the term. Instead, impulses come about from the first step\nof \u201cthought\u201d or \u201cjudgment.\u201d If you judge something to be good, you\u2019ll want it.\nIf you judge it to be bad, you\u2019ll want to avoid it. Impulses are then urges to\nact based on value judgments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nthought (the judgment) and impulse (the desire to act) comes the \u201cwill to get\nand to avoid.\u201d We decide if it is worth spending the energy, time, and money.\nFor example, we consider these expenses when buying a brand-new car, reflecting\nthe value judgment that possessing it is a good thing. Then we go about and\nmake complex plans to acquire the new car. So our complex, conscious actions\ncome about from value judgments and impulses to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epictetus\nclaims that all three of these things (thoughts, impulses, and the will to\navoid and to get) are ultimately under our control. It is no accident that\nthese three areas of complete control correspond to Epictetus\u2019s three\ndisciplines: you work with thoughts in the Discipline of Assent, impulses in\nthe Discipline of Action, and the will to avoid and to get in the Discipline of\nDesire. In this way, Stoic practice trains you to master all areas of what in\ntheory you can control. That\u2019s Stoic training in a nutshell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just\nbecause these things are in your control doesn\u2019t mean that they aren\u2019t sometimes\ninfluenced by external factors (such as other people\u2019s opinions) or by internal\nones (such as your physical sensations or more automatic urges, like a craving\nfor a snack). But, ultimately, they are under your control because you can make\na conscious decision to ignore your cravings or to override the opinions of\nothers when it comes to your own choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nabout the sort of things that Epictetus says are not <\/em>under our control?\nThey include \u201cthe body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word,\neverything which is not our own doing.\u201d This is a very large set that\nessentially comprises all things external to our conscious mind. Our body can\nget sick despite our best efforts at taking care of it; we may lose our\nproperty because of accident or theft; our reputation may be ruined due to\ncircumstances we cannot influence; and we may lose our job through no fault of\nour own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nmay object that the sort of things we just mentioned are, however, under our\npartial control. They are not similar to, say, the weather, about which we can\ntruly do nothing at all. Of course, Epictetus knew this! What he is saying here\nis akin to a \u201cbest bet argument\u201d: if you bet your peace of mind on things not\ncompletely in your control, you\u2019re willingly forfeiting part of your happiness\nto random chance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nexercise will help you explore the dichotomy of control. Take time now to\nchoose when you\u2019ll do the exercise each day for the rest of the week. Try to\nplace the exercise toward the end of the day. You can plan to do it at a\nspecific time (e.g., at 9:00 pm) or after an activity you do every day (e.g.,\nbrushing your teeth at night). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sit down at this time Monday through\nSaturday of this week and choose something that happened that day to write\nabout. It can be anything from seeing a friend for lunch to a meeting at work.\nWe suggest that you choose an event that wasn\u2019t too emotionally upsetting,\nwhich could make the exercise more difficult, and you\u2019re just starting out!\nList what aspects of the event were completely <\/em>in your control and which weren\u2019t. It may help to add some quick\nreasons why <\/em>the thing was or wasn\u2019t in your complete control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have trouble with\nthe exercise, you can use Epictetus\u2019s suggestions of separating out value\njudgments, impulses, and what you wished to avoid or obtain, as things under\nyour complete control. You can also try separating aspects of the event by \u201cinternal\u201d factors (thoughts,\ndesires, wishes) and \u201cexternal\u201d factors (results), since we can mostly control what goes on\ninside our heads, and much of what we can\u2019t control happens in the outside\nworld. Don\u2019t feel shackled to these categories. Part of the goal of this\nexercise is to see whether Epictetus\u2019s suggestions hold true to your\nexperience. Perhaps you\u2019ll find he was correct, and perhaps not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By doing this exercise\ndaily, looking at specific events in your life, you\u2019ll start to internalize\nwhat is really under your complete control and what isn\u2019t. This exercise will\nalso give you a clearer picture of what exactly you should focus your desires\nand aversions on to achieve peace of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the seventh day of\nthe week, after you\u2019ve practiced exploring the dichotomy of control, set a\ntimer for 5 to 10 minutes and write your impressions down. Was this exercise\nuseful to you? How? Did you discover anything about yourself or your world? Did\nyou find it useless? Is there any way you could tweak your approach to make it\neasier or more useful in the future? <\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discipline of Action: Cut Out Busyness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many\nof us live in a culture where being busy is a badge of pride. Having full days\nmeans you get things done. This signals that you\u2019re a productive member of\nsociety and value hard work. However, being busy has its downsides. Consider\nLiam, who lives a productive professional and family life. His days are always\npacked. He often has to turn down spending quality time with friends, and also\nloses out on time for himself. While the Stoics valued making the most of your\ntime, can taking things on be taken too far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cYou will hear many of those who are\nburdened by great prosperity cry out at times in the midst of their throngs of\nclients, or their pleadings in court, or their other glorious miseries: \u2018I have\nno chance to live.\u2019 Of course you have no chance! All those who summon you to\nthemselves, turn you away from your own self. . . . Check off, I say, and\nreview the days of your life; you will see that very few, and those [that are]\nthe refuse . . . have been left for you. . . . Everyone hurries his life on and\nsuffers from a yearning for the future and a weariness of the present. But he\nwho bestows all of his time on his own needs, who plans out every day as if it\nwere his last, neither longs for nor fears the morrow.\u201d (Seneca, On the\nShortness of Life, 7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time\nis the only thing that, once loaned, can never be paid back, and therefore the\none resource we really need to be careful to apportion wisely. Seneca was\nwriting two millennia ago, but he may as well have been speaking in the\ntwenty-first century: our lives are becoming ever busier, but not necessarily\nmore meaningful. The first question a Stoic would ask of someone who is too\nbusy is whether they have their priorities straight. Are we paying sufficient\nattention to what is most important in our lives, or are we being distracted by\ninconsequential or downright destructive pursuits? The second issue is one of\nquality versus quantity, as we moderns would put it. While the phrase \u201cquality\ntime\u201d is more than a bit overused, it gets to the idea that we cram too much into\nour days, which is not a good recipe for life, or even to get those things\ndone. There is empirical evidence that beyond a certain threshold, more hours\nspent on a task can actually be deleterious. The reason is simple: human beings\nneed rest and a variety of stimuli in order to keep their minds focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare two other aspects of busyness that Seneca focuses on and that are worth\nmentioning. The first is that there are few days left, and those are the \u201crefuse,\u201d that is, the lowest quality ones.\nSeneca is referring to people who have lived long enough that they begin to\nsense the final stretch. Looking back at their lives, they realize that their\ntime has not been used well. We certainly don\u2019t want to get to that stage only\nto find that we\u2019re out of time, do we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second,\nwe should plan each one of our days as if it were our last. This is another\nexample of Stoic motivation: awareness of death gives value to life. Imagine\nfor a moment if today really were your last day. We bet you would spend it very\ndifferently, focusing on things that are important to you, not on trivialities.\nOf course, you don\u2019t know which day will be your last, or how much time you may\nhave ahead of you, so you should feel the same sense of urgency every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t\nfret about the future, and don\u2019t regret the past. The future hasn\u2019t come yet,\nand the past is outside of your control. It is the present that demands your\nattention \u2014 a demand that requires you to make important decisions about how\nyou are going to spend this day, and every day, in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Discipline of Action can be as\nmuch about culling useless actions as it is about cultivating virtuous ones.\nWith this exercise, we encourage you to \u201ccheck off your days\u201d in order to see\nif there are any actions that should be cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take some time each night to review\nhow you spent your day, and whether your activities satisfied two factors: they\nserved \u201cyour own needs,\u201d that is, helped build character, and they were truly\nimportant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of each day,\nwrite up to three activities you did and ask yourself if doing them helped\npreserve or build your character and whether they were important. Would you\nstill do them, or something like them, if you knew your life were to end soon?\nThe things you list can be short and trivial (e.g., browsing social media,\nhaving a beer, or texting a family member) or long and significant (e.g.,\nworking on a major project or running a marathon). A mix of both types of\nactivities will be useful, since those that only take a few minutes can add up\nto huge chunks of time over a lifetime!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Discipline of Action\nis ultimately about one goal: to act intentionally to become a better person.\nThis exercise allows you to see how many of your current actions help you in\nthis pursuit. With this in mind, you can make more informed, deliberate\ndecisions about how to act, in order to improve as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After spending a week\ncataloguing your actions throughout the day, take some time to reflect on them.\nReview your notes from the week, then write about any trends you\u2019ve noticed. Did you discover any recurring activities that aren\u2019t fulfilling, and don\u2019t improve your\ncharacter, or help you carry out your responsibilities? Did you discover some\nactions that you\u2019d like to keep, or do\nmore frequently?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discipline of Assent: Analyze Anger<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\nare told that we should pause before acting when we are angry. But while\npausing is a useful first step to cope with anger, it\u2019s only the first step.\nWhat should one do after pausing? Zhang Wei chose a cognitive approach. When he\nfound himself getting angry at his son for misbehaving, he paused and then used\nthis exercise to assess the situation more logically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest remedy for anger is delay; beg anger to grant you this at the first, not in order that it may pardon the offense, but that it may form a right judgment about it. If it delays, it will come to an end. Do not attempt to quell it all at once, for its first impulses are fierce; by plucking away its parts we shall remove the whole. . . . Some offenses we ourselves witness: in these cases let us examine the disposition and purpose of the offender. Perhaps he is a child; let us pardon his youth, he knows not whether he is doing wrong. Or he is a father; he has either rendered such great services, as to have won the right even to wrong us, or perhaps this very act which offends us is his chief merit. . . . Suppose that it is a disease or a misfortune; it will take less effect upon you if you bear it quietly. . . . Is it a good man who has wronged you? Do not believe it. Is it a bad one? Do not be surprised at this; he will pay to someone else the penalty which he owes to you \u2014 indeed, by his sin he has already punished himself.<\/p>Seneca, On Anger, 2.29\u201330<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Seneca\npicks up the theme of pausing while angry, arguing that delay is, in fact, our\nchief defense against anger. Do not try to dominate anger, as it escalates\nquickly and easily overcomes reason in the heat of the moment.\nCounterintuitively, avoidance, not confrontation, is the winning strategy.\nSeneca then goes further by advising us to pick apart the causes of our anger;\nto examine them calmly and carefully, as if on an operating table (but not <\/em>while\nyou are angry). You need to consider who or what is the cause of your anger. It\nmakes no sense to be angry at a child, for example, since they are incapable of\nusing reason correctly. The better response is to patiently teach them how to\nbehave more reasonably. Perhaps it\u2019s an adult who is causing offense, maybe\nyour own father. In that case be tolerant of his misstep, because he has done\nso much for you in the past. Or maybe he is right in what he is saying and you\nshould be listening and learning, rather than going off in a huff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nif you are angry at an inanimate object, or a natural phenomenon, such as a\ndisease? What sense is there in that? Is getting upset and yelling at your\ncomputer going to make it apologize to you and stop glitching? We bet that your\nreaction is more likely to make things worse, not to mention make you look\nfoolish. Diseases and other calamities are part of life, and, again, attacking\nthem isn\u2019t going to help you; you\u2019ll simply feel worse than you might\notherwise. This doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t try to fix your computer or cure the\ndisease. On the contrary, reacting calmly and reasonably is far more likely to\nhelp you accomplish those goals than outbursts of rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seneca adds two important concepts for our consideration: not only should you not be surprised that some people do unethical things, but take comfort that they will likely get what\u2019s due to them. And in acting unethically, they are already hurting themselves. The first superficially sounds similar to the Stoic version of karma: Logos <\/em>keeps track of people\u2019s deeds, and in the long run balances out the ledger. Is Seneca somehow saying that we should put faith in karma? We don\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More likely, Seneca is deploying the Stoic notion that human beings are inclined to virtue by nature, or, as we moderns would put it, we evolved a tendency toward prosocial behavior. This means that most people will object, and sometimes react, to wrongdoing. So, the person who is hurting you today is likely (at least statistically) to get his due at some point in the future. This implies that virtuous behavior is a good bet for flourishing, which is an argument that some modern virtue ethicists, such as Rosalind Hurthouse, make as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsecond claim, that the wrongdoer is actually hurting himself, derives from the\nStoic notion that virtue is the only true good because it is the only thing\nthat can only be used for good. It follows that vice is the only true evil,\nwhile everything else is a preferred or dispreferred indifferent. We also know\nfrom the dichotomy of control that our judgments of what is good and bad are\nentirely up to us. So the man that Seneca describes is doing wrong of his own\nvolition, and, as a result is staining his soul or his character, depending on\nyour perspective. This is the worst thing someone could do, according to Stoic\nphilosophy. The joke is on the one who is doing wrong by you. There\u2019s no reason\nto get upset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this exercise you will practice\npausing when angry, but also take things one step further: recognize where your\nanger is pointed, and then counter the anger by analyzing it rationally. You\ncan try this on paper for the first few days of a week, but we encourage you to\ndo this on the fly if you\u2019re able.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seneca gives a few\ncommon objects of anger along with ways to rebut them. To warm up, identify\nobjects of anger and possible rebuttals. Writing your analysis and rebuttals\nout on paper may help you get the hang of things, but with repeated practice\nyou\u2019ll be able to do this even better in your head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that you\u2019ve\nwarmed up, here is the technique to practice whenever you feel the stirrings of\nanger:<\/p>\n\n\n\n