How to Be a Stoic Today?

Question

How do you actually be a Stoic in the modern world? The question is practical, and the answer is practical: Stoicism is not a set of beliefs to be accepted but a set of disciplines to be practiced, and the practice is the same today as it was in the portico and the palace — adapted to the circumstances of modern life.

Quick Answer

To be a Stoic today is to practice the ancient disciplines daily. The foundation is the dichotomy of control: distinguish what is up to you — your judgments, choices, and actions — from what is not — your body, wealth, reputation, and the behavior of others — and invest your care only in the former. On this foundation, the practice has four parts. First, the morning meditation: before the day begins, prepare for what it will bring — the difficult people, the temptations, the opportunities — and resolve the disciplines. Second, the discipline of desire: throughout the day, want what is up to you and accept what is not; catch the impressions of fear, anger, and craving before you assent to them. Third, the discipline of action: act justly, courageously, and temperately, with complete commitment and without attachment to outcomes. Fourth, the evening review: examine the day, note what was done well and badly, correct the judgments, and resolve the improvements. To these are added the exercises: negative visualization, the meditation on death, the training of endurance, and the cultivation of the four virtues.

Historical Wisdom

The modern practice of Stoicism is the continuation of an unbroken tradition. The Stoics of antiquity practiced exactly these disciplines: Epictetus taught the distinction between what is up to us and what is not, the discipline of desire and aversion, and the daily watch on the impressions; Marcus Aurelius practiced the morning meditation and the evening reflection in the notebooks now called the Meditations; Seneca recommended the daily examination of conscience, the premeditation of evils, and the training of endurance. The modern revival, from William Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life to the daily practice of the modern Stoic community, has recovered these disciplines and adapted them: the cold bath becomes the hard workout, the meditation on death becomes the honest reckoning with mortality, the training of endurance becomes the discipline of the ordinary difficulties of modern life.

Philosophical Perspectives

The practice rests on the Stoic theory of value. The Stoics held that only virtue is good, only vice is evil, and everything else is indifferent. The disciplines translate this theory into practice. The discipline of desire trains us to want only what is genuinely good — the virtue that is in our power — and to be indifferent to the externals that fortune controls. The discipline of action trains us to act on this understanding in the world: to do what the situation calls for, with justice and courage, while accepting that the outcome is not ours. The discipline of assent trains the mind to examine its impressions before accepting them: to see the fear, the anger, the craving as they are — impressions, not facts — and to withhold the assent that would turn them into passions.

The modern practice adds the context: Stoicism is practiced in the office, the family, the clinic, and the market, not only in the study. The modern Stoic uses the disciplines to handle the pressures of work, the anxieties of modern life, the challenges of relationships, and the uncertainties of the age. What does not change is the structure: the distinction between what is up to us and what is not, the daily rhythm of preparation and review, and the goal — the four virtues and a life that fortune cannot disturb.

Lessons From Thinkers

From Epictetus: the whole of the practice is contained in the distinction — "some things are up to us and some are not." From Marcus Aurelius: the practice is daily — "when you arise in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant." From Seneca: the practice includes the preparation for loss — "whatever can happen at any time can happen today." And from the modern Stoics: the practice is adaptable — the ancient disciplines are applied to modern problems, from the workplace to the therapist's office, and the philosophy lives in the application.

Practical Application

The practice has a concrete daily form. Morning: upon waking, a few minutes of reflection — what will the day require? Who will you meet? What difficulties will arise? Resolve the disciplines: to see clearly, to act justly, to endure, to accept. During the day: keep the watch on the impressions; catch the judgments of fear, anger, and craving before the assent; act with full commitment; accept the outcomes. Evening: review the day — what was done well, what was done badly, what was learned? Resolve the corrections. To the daily rhythm, add the weekly and occasional exercises: the premeditation of evils, the reflection on death, the deliberate training of endurance, the reading of the Stoic texts. The practice is simple, demanding, and complete: it is the whole of the Stoic life, adapted to the modern day.

Quotes

Epictetus states the foundation: "Some things are up to us and some are not." Marcus Aurelius states the daily practice: "When you arise in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant." And Seneca states the preparation: "Whatever can happen at any time can happen today."

Related Questions

• What Is Stoicism? — the philosophy behind the practice.
• How to Practice Stoicism — the wider practice.
• Stoicism for Beginners — where to start.
• What Is the Stoic Dichotomy of Control? — the foundation of the practice.