Some photos from my workshop at Stoicon 2018 in London, courtesy of Dominic O’Ryan, Eoin Dixon Murphy, and Eduard Ezeanu.
Some photos from my workshop at Stoicon 2018 in London, courtesy of Dominic O’Ryan, Eoin Dixon Murphy, and Eduard Ezeanu.
Leo Bowder, who’s a philosophy teacher doing some research on Stoicism, gave me some interesting questions to answer about popularizing Stoicism. So I thought I might as well share my responses online because answering them properly helps me to think through my opinions about Stoicism. I find that’s both beneficial for me and also useful when people ask me similar questions in the future, which happens more and more these days…
Q1: There is still a certain connation of the word ‘stoic’ that might take some time to shift, if it ever does. How can we make Stoicism more appealing for a wider audience, and go beyond the dictionary definition of the term?
Yes. I think there are several things we can and should do to remedy this. You can tackle problems directly or indirectly. Often it’s a good idea to begin by trying the direct approach but actually I don’t think we’ve given that a fair crack of the whip. So I’m thinking of writing a series of blog articles myself directly addressing the most common misconceptions about Stoicism, one at a time. I’d encourage other people to do the same thing, if possible. Those are things like the misconception that it’s about being repressed or unemotional, that it’s overly-masculine, that it’s politically passive, and so on. Some of your other questions below touch on related issues.
I also think that we can address this problem more indirectly by teaching Stoicism in different ways. My new book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (in press), tries to do that by focusing on metaphors, anecdotes and the person of Marcus Aurelius, the most famous Stoic. I think we should be doing more of that by talking about the lives and personalities of ancient Stoics, and perhaps also modern examples. For instance, if someone thinks that Stoic acceptance means being a doormat or overly-passive, that misconception is more easily dispelled by talking about the very disciplined and active life that Marcus Aurelius led as Emperor. He was actually a workaholic and, with no military experience whatsoever, took command of the largest army ever massed on a Roman frontier – about 140,000 men strong – in order to defend Rome during a crisis, after a huge invasion. By telling these stories and then linking them to what he says about Stoic philosophy we can blow some of the misconceptions about it out of the water. That often seems easier than just trying to debate them in a more dry and philosophical way, by poring over the texts to discuss doctrines in abstraction from real life. So if we start with stories about Stoic individuals, such as Marcus, and then bring in the philosophy, I think we arrive at a more rounded and human conception of the philosophy. We put a human face on Stoicism.
Q2: (Related)- Stoicism has a reputation for upholding somewhat ‘macho’ approach to life- how can it be made more attractive to both men and women, as an approach to life?
Perhaps by talking more about the few women we hear about who were associated with Stoicism, such as Fannia (wife of Thrasea) or Porcia Catonis (daughter of Cato). There’s slender pickings in the histories, though. So looking at the work of modern female authors on Stoicism is important and maybe also non-Stoic role models whose example might be relevant to women.
I believe the overly-masculine misconception of Stoicism can also be addressed head on, as I mentioned earlier. I’m thinking about writing a book on what I call “Compassionate Stoicism”, for example. (Yes, I know it seems like an oxymoron, perhaps it’s not the best word to use although I find it starts a good conversation – the title How to Think Like a Roman Emperor is a bit of a puzzle that gets people thinking as well.) Stoicism, in my view, is a philosophy of love. That’s a perspective I’d like to develop more fully. There are many good quotes in the literature that help to support this view. Marcus Aurelius, for instance, says that real manliness consists not in anger but in the virtue of kindness. He says that the Stoic ideal embodied by one of his favourite tutors, a man he greatly admired, is to be “free from [irrational] passions and yet full of love” or natural affection (philostorgia). Marcus also refers many times to empathy and forgiveness as important aspects of Stoicism and he exemplified this in his own life when he shocked everyone by pardoing Avidius Cassius, the usurper who tried to intitiate a civil war against him to seize the throne. This is what I mean by “Compassionate Stoicism”. I think if we had a few books and articles that approach the whole philosophy through the lens of compassion, or if you prefer “kindness”, that would help to restore some balance and address the overly-macho caricature of Stoicism that people feel can be misleading.
Q3: How might Stoicism deal with modern technology and particularly social media- with the emphasis that many Stoic thinkers put on modesty and the simple life, as well as its shortness (re. Seneca)?
I think we should be trying to turn Facebook into Zeno’s ideal Republic. One step at a time, of course, and obviously in a looser modern sense. We should reconceptualize the ideal Stoic community to fit modern Stoic values and we should try to dedicate every keystroke to that goal, pursuing our external values under the Stoic “reserve clause” by adding the caveat “Fate permitting”. Facebook is the modern equivalent of the Athenian agora, where Socrates talked with tradesmen about philosophy, or even the Stoa Poikile itself where Zeno lectured in public before strangers. It’s not Facebook (or other social media) that upset us but our (value) judgements about them. It’s neither good nor bad in itself but what matters is the use we make of it. Social media by nature, though, is as neutral as the proverbial pot of water that can be used either to boil an egg or to boil your granny alive. It’s a testing or training ground for Stoicism, if we approach it the right way. We just have to remember, and be mindful, that every keystroke is an opportunity to exercise either virtue or vice. We should, for example, ask ourselves before sending a Tweet whether it is in accord with reason and virtue and whether it contributes to our own welfare and the common welfare of mankind, or not.
Q4: (Related) aside from online communities, and occasional meet ups- how can Stoicism be manifested in ‘real world’ communities?
Resilience training for children and other groups, for prevention of mental health problems. Self-help book clubs. I talk to people in shops about Stoicism quite a lot. Yesterday I was chatting to a man I’d met for the first time about something Socrates reputedly said concerning reversals of fortune. I tell my daughter stories about philosophy and I’ve written some of them up and published them online. We should also be developing stronger links between the local meetup groups (through the Stoic Fellowship) and the Stoicon-x local annual conferences that Modern Stoicism encourages people to run, and helps them to promote. Those two things are reciprocally beneficial. People might attend a small conference in a nearby city run during Stoic Week and then decide to join the local meetup group, or vice versa. I also think there’s a lot more scope for art to be used in disseminating Stoic ideas and I’m particularly interested in the use of metaphors from classical philosophy for this purpose. (I’ve also been working on comic strips with an artist recently and I should mention that Rocio de Torres, our graphic designer for Modern Stoicism, has developed some very creative Stoic objects, as have other artists.) This year, of course, we had an art installation inspired by Epictetus at the Stoicon conference venue in Senate House Library, in the University of London.
Q5: (And this is very much tied into my project P4A- Philosophy for Adults) What is it that might appeal about Stoicism- and particularly Roman imperial Stoicism- to the over 40s, or those later on in life?
Well, when people reach the venerable age of forty, and decrepitude takes hold, they should be read Book One of Plato’s Republic, which funnily enough is all about that very subject. Youngsters should read it too. I read it when I was about sixteen and for some reason it always stuck in my mind. It begins with a short dialogue between Socrates and a wealthy old metic, an immigrant, called Cephalus, who ran a succesful business outside Athens. Ironically, in this dialogue it’s Cephalus who’s the proto-Stoic, although elsewhere similar arguments are put into Socrates’ mouth. Cephalus says that he knows lots of other old men who complain about their aches and pains, and so on, but he’s quite content. So if old age isn’t a burden to everyone, he concludes, it must be our judgements rather than the thing itself that upsets us. Socrates chides him about the fact that people will say it’s easy for him because he’s very wealthy. Cephalus replies with a lovely anecdote, which I won’t explain here, but the upshot is that wealth may indeed be an advantage to the wise but it won’t help the foolish very much – they’ll just be rich fools instead of poor ones, and still miserable.
There are lots of anecdotes and sayings in the Socratic and Stoic literature that directly relate to old age, and such challenges in life. (And texts such as Cicero’s On Old Age.) So I think it’s helpful to discuss those and focus on issues that might be relevant such as how to deal with children, or grandchildren, and perhaps how to cope with pain and illness, or our changing circumstances in life as we make the transition through different stages of life.
Q6: (Bearing in mind the answer to the above question) Alternatively, how can Stoicism appeal to youngsters?
I think young people are often more interested in stories and characters, because they’re often seeking role models. So that brings me back to what I said earlier about another way of approaching Stoicism, by telling stories about famous Stoics, such as Zeno, Cato of Utica or Marcus Aurelius, as well as honorary Stoics (Stoic heroes) such as Socrates and Diogenes the Cynic, or even the mythic heroes Hercules and Odysseus, who were admired by the ancient Stoics. Maybe even other fictional characters could be discussed from a Stoic perspective and I suppose a half-way house would be doing a Stoic reading of the Russell Crowe movie Gladiator, for example. These are ways I think we’re more likely to engage people in their early teens. Stoicism has an advantage over CBT here as many young people are put off by the whole notion of “therapy” or “counselling” whereas Stoicism might achieve similar things (or resilience-building) without the associated stigma, at least for some people.
Q7: What are the advantages of this philosophy over (a) particular religion(s) AND/OR can it be used alongside faith when it displays a range of interpretations as to the existence/nature of the divine?
Well the Neostoics show that Stoicism and Christianity can be combined, of course. So I think Stoicism has already, over centuries, shown itself to be flexible enough to accomodate different religious views. The ancient Stoic school was alive for nearly five centuries, in Greece, Rome, and the near east. From Zeno to Marcus Aurelius, a lot changed in the culture and language, and values, but Stoicism survived and adapted. I know from experience that many people today will say that their perception, put crudely, is that Stoicism offers a secular alternative to Christianity, or a more Western alternative to Buddhism, or a more down-to-earth alternative to academic philosophy, or a more philosophical alternative to CBT, and so on. So although these comparisons are simplistic, that’s how people tend to relate to the subject, at least to begin with.
So Stoicism appeals to people above other religions, in my experience, because they see it as being more philosophical and based upon reason rather than upon faith, revelation, or tradition. Westerners also sometimes say they relate to it if they like Buddhism, or other eastern religions, but find them a bit too exotic or obscure. Stoicism has its obscurities but people (Westerners) often say it feels more familiar to them somehow, and more relatable. It resonates with ideas they perhaps recognize from their education and the culture they’ve absorbed, from influences such as Christianity or the legacy of Greek and Latin poetry, and the influence of the Renaissance on the arts. So, for example, people have probably seen Hamlet holding Yorick’s skull and they “get” the idea of a memento mori. So when Epictetus talks about the origin of this concept – slaves riding in chariots behind triumphing generals and emperors, reminding them of their own mortality – it often rings a bell somehow. So I find people often have a déjà vu moment when they first learn about Stoicism because they suddenly join the dots between lots of fragments of wisdom they’ve absorbed from their culture. It’s as though they’d been standing among rubble and suddenly realized those rocks and stones were actually once the foundation of a magnificent ancient temple. They might not get that from Daoism, though, for example.
Q8: Very briefly: how can we use Stoicism in actual, day to day living?
Do Stoic Week to find out about that. There’s no substitute for reading the Stoic texts, and trying to put it into practice, though. Start where the Stoics tell us to start. Consider very deeply indeed what qualities you admire in other people. Socrates asks Critobulus: What qualities would you look for in the ideal friend? Then turn the tables and ask what you’re doing today to acquire those virtues yourself. Change your behaviour and improve your character one small step at a time. Review your progress. When you feel your emotions are getting in the way, ask yourself what’s actually under your direct control and what isn’t. Take more responsibility for the things you can change, and learn to accept other things, which are, to some extent, in the hands of fate. Think of the bigger picture, to get things back in perspective when you feel as if life is getting on top of you. Try to understand other people as acting out of weakness, or ignorance, rather than malice, so that you can forgive them and either tolerate them or set them right. Remind yourself that it’s not things that upset you but your judgements about them. And view them as transient in the grand scheme of things, because one day you’ll be gone yourself, and so these passing moments that seem like a nuisance should be nothing to you, in a sense. Make the most of the opportunity you have to fulfil your potential in life, by thinking clearly and exercising reason: dare to be wise.
On October 1, 2018, the seventh annual Stoic Week takes place and Modern Stoicism are inviting people in the UK and from around the rest of the world to participate and learn how to live like a Stoic for a week.
The idea behind the week is to give people an opportunity to see whether Stoic philosophy can help them live a more fulfilling life today.
In order to achieve this, a free online course with step by step exercises and audio meditations has been created and anyone wishing to take part can sign up here.
Participants will be provided with wellbeing questionnaires before and after the seven days, so they can measure their progress.
The Stoic Week Handbook consists of seven chapters, one for each day of the week.
It gives people the opportunity to join thousands of other participants around the world as they learn to apply Stoic concepts and techniques in their daily lives.
The week uses the teachings of the three well-known philosophers, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. Each year the event adopts a new theme. This year the theme is “Living Happily”.
What is a happy life? It is peacefulness and lasting tranquillity, the sources of which are a great spirit and a steady determination to hold fast to good decisions. How does one arrive at these things? By recognizing the truth in all its completeness, by maintaining order, moderation and appropriateness in one’s actions, by having a will which is always well-intentioned and generous, focused on reason and never deviating from it, as lovable as it is admirable. Seneca, Letters, 92.3
Last year, more than 7,000 took part in the online course during Stoic Week and on September 29th, a special event called Stoicon will be happening in London, and will be attended by people from around the world.
Participants are encouraged to schedule their own Stoic Week events and share that information with Greg Sadler, the editor of Stoicism Today, which publicizes Stoic Week events worldwide. Here is a listing of Stoic Week events and Stoicon-X events happening around the world.
Find out more about Stoic Week and Stoicism Today by following Modern Stoicism on Twitter. To support Modern Stoicism via donation, visit their Patreon page.
Members of the Modern Stoicism organization are available to discuss Stoic philosophy, Stoic Week, and other related topics via interviews, lectures, and other appearances. Media Inquiries about the Stoicon conference are best directed to Donald Robertson. Those about Stoicism Today are best directed to Greg Sadler. You can find the full roster of the Modern Stoicism
team on the main website.
Download Stoic Week 2018 Press Release as a PDF.
You can enroll now for Stoic Week 2018, which will officially begin on Monday 1st October this year.
Everyone is welcome to take part and it’s completely free of charge. Last year seven thousand people enrolled so don’t miss out!
Stoic Week is a seven day introduction to Stoic theory and practice, applied to modern living. It’s been designed by Modern Stoicism, a multi-disciplinary team of academic philosophers, classicists, psychologists, and cognitive therapists, including some well-known authors in the field.
Enroll now and you’ll have access to the preliminary materials in preparation for the official start of the course on Monday 1st October, which will be accompanied by a live webinar at 9pm BST. (You’ll be able to watch a recording if you can’t make it along.) If you want to attend please follow the link below to set a reminder on YouTube, where you can also subscribe to our channel.
Set Reminder for Stoic Week Webinar
Stoic Week is now in its seventh year. See our main website for more information on the history of Stoic Week.
Stoicon is an annual international conference on applying Stoic philosophy to modern life, organized by Modern Stoicism. It’s now in its fourth year. Stoicon 2017 is scheduled for Saturday 14th October, and will take place in Toronto, Canada. The annual Stoic Week online course will begin the following Monday, running from 16th – 22nd October. If you’re interested in Stoic philosophy, whatever your background or occupation, this conference is meant for you. Modern Stoicism’s aim is to make Stoic philosophy accessible to everyone by highlighting its practical relevance to the everyday challenges people face in different aspects of modern life.
It opens this year with a brief introduction to Stoic philosophy followed by a series of talks by leading authors in the field of modern Stoicism. In the afternoon, you will be able to choose between attending different parallel sessions, including an introductory workshop for newcomers to applied Stoicism. The day concludes with the keynote presentation on Stoicism and Emotion by one of the leading experts in this area, Margaret Graver, Professor of Classical Studies at Dartmouth College.
Theme: Stoicism at Work
Date/Time: Saturday 14th October 2017
Location: Toronto. Holiday Inn, Yorkdale.
Contact: Email Modern Stoicism
Booking: Tickets can be booked online via EventBrite.
Stoic Sunday in Toronto events to be scheduled…
8 – 9am Registration and coffee
10.30am Morning break (30 min.)
1 – 2.30pm Lunch break
2.30 – 4pm Parallel Talks & Workshops
4 – 4.30pm Afternoon break
4.30 – 5.15pm Keynote: Stoicism & Emotion
Prof. Margaret Graver, author of Stoicism and Emotion
5.15 – 5.30pm Closing
5.30 – 7pm Reception
For more information subscribe to this blog, follow Modern Stoicism on Twitter, or Facebook.
Check for discounts and book your ticket online now via EventBrite.
Please note that details of this event may be subject to change.
One of the most frequently asked questions on my Facebook group for Stoicism, and elsewhere, is “Where is the best place to begin if I want to learn about Stoicism?” People often want recommendations for reading, in particular. So I’ve written this post to summarize the advice I normally give. The answer is actually quite simple.
At the risk of stating the obvious, you can do a lot worse than start by looking at the excellent Wikipedia article on Stoicism. The Stoicism Subreddit (see below) also has a superb FAQ page on Stoicism. Read my blog article A Simpified Modern Approach to Stoicism, if you want an outline of a simple daily practice.
I’ve also created a free online course called Crash Course in Stoicism, which takes less than ten minutes to complete and provides a lightning guide to Stoicism.
At a rough estimate, less than 1% of the many ancient writings on Stoicism actually survive today. We have no complete texts by the Greek founders of Stoicism, only fragments. Most of our knowledge of it comes from three Roman Stoics: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. They lived in the first and second centuries AD, three hundreds years after Zeno of Citium had founded the Stoic school. By their time, the Athenian school of Stoicism no longer existed, and the Stoic school had no formal head (“scholarch”) to guide it. Nevertheless, we learn a great deal about Stoicism from their writings. We also learn a great deal about Stoicism from many comments made by non-Stoics, most notably the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero, who was a Platonist himself but nevertheless very sympathetic toward Stoic ideas. We do also have about a book’s worth of fragmentary sayings and passages attributed to the early Greek Stoics, although these tend to be of slightly more interest to academics than to newcomers.
You may also want to join my newsletter for updates and information about Stoicism articles, events, and courses, etc.
The first text on Stoicism that most people read is The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. It’s very small book, written in a beautiful aphoristic style. There are many translations available, and it’s easy to obtain older (out of copyright) editions free online. The only real limitation of this book is that it’s not a systematic account of Stoic philosophy. Having read it, people often still lack a basic understanding of the basic doctrines of Stoicism, at least in an explicit form. Nevertheless, it’s where I recommend beginning. The translation I recommend for modern readers is by Gregory Hayes.
The second book that I would recommend reading is the famous Handbook or Encheiridion of Stoic Philosophy, written by Arrian, a student of Epictetus, based on his teacher’s lectures. Marcus was greatly influenced by Epictetus, and probably thought of himself as a follower of this particular sect of Stoicism. The Handbook is very short and also written aphoristically, although in more confrontational style than The Meditations.
If you like Epictetus then it would be natural to follow reading his Handbook by reading the Discourses on which they’re based, also noted down by his student Arrian. (There are also a few fragmentary sayings of Epictetus worth reading.) If not, skip to the writings of Seneca below.
There were originally eight volumes of the Discourses but only four have survived to the present day. Marcus Aurelius appears to say that he was given a copy by his Stoic friend and mentor Junius Rusticus so it’s possible he had read all eight volumes. (It may even be that some passages from The Meditations are actually quotes or paraphrases from the lost Discourses of Epictetus as Marcus cites the known volumes several times.)
If you enjoyed the Handbook and Discourses then you should read the less well-known Lectures and Sayings of Epictetus’ own teacher, Gaius Musonius Rufus. Musonius’ surviving writings are relatively few and short. They’re written in a strikingly similar style to Epictetus’ Discourses.
This is where many people begin, so if you’re not drawn to Marcus or Epictetus, you might choose to start with Seneca. Seneca wrote in Latin whereas Marcus and Epictetus, though Roman, wrote in Greek. Marcus and Epictetus never mention Seneca, although he lived before them. His style of Stoicism is slightly different, and perhaps owes more to the “Middle Stoa” of Posidonius. His Letters to Lucilius go by different names but you’ll usually find them referred to as the main collection of moral letters (or epistles) by Seneca. These constitute a series of very well-written letters or essays addressed to a novice Stoic and they’re often read from start to finish, although they cover different themes.
If you liked Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius then we have many more surviving writings by him concerning Stoicism, which you should read. Either get a copy of his complete writings or look for abridged collections of his various essays (often other, longer letters) and dialogues.
Cicero was a Platonist, not a Stoic. However, his writings provide one of our major surviving sources for information on Stoicism. He also wrote in Latin. He lived before the Stoics mentioned above and was very well-read in Stoic philosophy, which he travelled to Athens to study. Cicero’s form of Platonism was quite eclectic and he was happy to engage with Stoic ideas and integrate them. He has many writings which provide important accounts of Stoicism. Most notably, though, his De Finibus (“On Moral Ends”) consists of a series of dialogues in which philosophers representing Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Platonism take turns criticising each other’s philosophy and describing their own. The account of Stoicism in this book was put into the mouth of Seneca’s friend and rival the great Roman Stoic hero Cato of Utica, who had recently died opposing Julius Caesar. It draws upon early Greek Stoic thought and provides an much more systematic account of Stoic Ethics than you find in Marcus Aurelius or Seneca.
There are many other lesser known Stoic writings and other non-Stoic ancient sources that are of importance to the study of Stoicism. I can’t provide a full list here but I would particularly recommend the Philosophical Regimen of the Earl of Shaftesbury, if you liked Marcus Aurelius. Shaftesbury was an English philosopher and scholar of ancient Greek and wrote his own Stoic journal in the style of The Meditations. It can also be read as an insightful commentary on Marcus and Epictetus by a man who was trying to adopt a similar Stoic way of life, albeit in the early modern era. Likewise, special mention should go to US Navy Vice Admiral James Stockdale’s Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot. Stockdale was taken prisoner in the Vietnam War and used his knowledge of Epictetus’ Stoicism to cope with the ordeal.
There are many superb modern books on Stoicism. I can’t cite them all here, but I’ll mention in particular William Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life, which is perhaps the bestselling popular book on Stoicism. Irvine’s book is seen by some readers (myself included) as occasionally portraying Stoicism in a way that more resembles its rival school, Epicureanism. Nevertheless, it’s undoubtedly one of the best introductions to the subject.
I should mention my own book Teach Yourself Stoicism, which was written as a self-help guide based on Stoicism. I’m also the author of The Philosophy of CBT, a book about the history of science and philosophy that tries to provide a detailed analysis of the relationship between Stoic psychological practices and modern cognitive therapy. (My book, Build your Resilience, is also a self-help text, which combines elements of Stoicism with third-wave cognitive-behavioural therapy.)
If you want even more, take a look at this list of suggestions maintained by different members of Goodreads: Popular Books on Stoicism.
There are many excellent online discussion forums for Stoicism. Here are just a few suggestions:
Every Autumn since 2012, the Stoicism Today team has organised a free, international, online event called Stoic Week. Stoicism Today is a multi-disciplinary (non-profit) team of classicists, philosophers, psychologists, and therapists, with a special interest in Stoicism. Several of the team are authors of books on Stoicism and related subjects.
You can find more out about Stoicism Today on our blog, currently hosted by Exeter University. You can find out more about Stoic Week on the official website. Stoic Week challenges you to “live like a Stoic” for seven days, by following a structured daily routine consisting of readings, recordings, and psychological exercises. In 2015, we had over 3,000 participants from all over the world. It’s a great way to begin learning about applying Stoicism to modern living.
Notes from Talk in Morning
Part I
Overview of Stoic psychological strategies…
Part II: View from Above Script
“Plato has a fine saying, that he who would discourse of man should survey, as from some high watchtower, the things of earth.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
Take a moment to settle into your posture and make yourself comfortable… Close your eyes and relax… [Pause.] Be aware of your breathing… Notice the rhythm and pattern of the breath… Do nothing for while, just be content to contemplate your breathing more deeply… [Pause.] Now, begin by paying attention to the whole of your body as one… From the top of your head, all the way down into your fingers and down into your toes… Be aware of your body as one… every nerve, muscle and fibre… Don’t try to change anything. Don’t try to stop anything from changing… Some things can change just by being observed…
Just be content to notice whatever you notice, and feel whatever you feel… Be a passive, detached observer… As you continue to relax, turn your attention deeper within, and become more aware of your body… until you can almost imagine how you look right now… Begin to picture yourself as if seen from the outside… Now just imagine that you are taking a step back and looking at yourself. It really doesn’t matter how vividly you can picture yourself, it’s just the intention, just idea that matters. Imagine your body posture… your facial expression… the colour and style of your clothing…
Now keep looking at the image of yourself resting there, and imagine your own feet are gently leaving the ground. You begin floating serenely upwards, slowly and continuously, rising upwards. All the while your gaze keeps returning to your own body, now seated there below you as you rise above it. Keep looking down toward your body as you float higher and higher…. The roof and ceiling disappear, allowing you to float freely upward. Gazing down you see yourself seated comfortably below in the building, looking contented and contemplative. You see all the rooms, and any other people around.
As you continue to float gently higher and higher, your perspective widens more and more until you see the whole surrounding area. You see all the buildings nearby from above. You see the people in buildings and in the streets and roads. You observe people far below working, or walking along the pavement, people cycling or driving their cars, and those travelling on buses and trains. You begin to contemplate the whole network of human lives and how people everywhere are interacting with each other, influencing each other, encountering each other in different ways…
Floating higher, people become as small as ants below. Rising up into the clouds, you see the whole of the surrounding region beneath you. You see both towns and countryside, and gradually the coastline comes into view as your perspective becomes more and more expansive… You float gently up above the clouds, above the weather, and through the upper atmosphere of the planet Earth… So high that you eventually rise beyond the sphere of the planet itself, and into outer space… You look toward planet Earth and see it suspended in space before you, silently turning… resplendent in all its majesty and beauty…
You see the whole of your home planet… the blue of the great oceans… and the brown and green of the continental land masses… You see the white of the polar ice caps, north and south… You see the grey wisps of cloud that pass silently across the surface of the Earth… Though you can no longer see yourself from so far above, you know and feel that you are down there on Earth below, and that your life is important, and what you make of your life is important. Your change in perspective changes your view of things, your values and priorities…
You contemplate all the countless living beings upon the Earth. The population of the planet is over six billion people… You realise that your life is one among many, one person among the total population of the Earth… You think of the rich diversity of human life on Earth. The many languages spoken by people of different races, in different countries… people of all different ages… newborn infants, elderly people, people in the prime of life… You think of the enormous variety of human experiences… some people right now are unhappy, some people are happy… and you realise how richly varied the tapestry of human life before you seems.
And yet as you gaze upon the planet Earth you are also aware of its position within the rest of the universe… a tiny speck of stardust, adrift in the immeasurable vastness of cosmic space… This world of ours is merely a single planet, a tiny grain of sand by comparison with the endless tracts of cosmic space… a tiny rock in space, revolving around our Sun… the Sun itself just one of countless billions of stars which punctuate the velvet blackness of our galaxy…
You think about the present moment on Earth and see it within the broader context of your life as a whole. You think of your lifespan as a whole, in its totality… You think of your own life as one moment in the enormous lifespan of mankind… Hundreds of generations have lived and died before you… many more will live and die in the future, long after you yourself are gone… Civilisations too have a lifespan; you think of the many great cities which have arisen and been destroyed throughout the ages… and your own civilisation as one in a series… perhaps in the future to be followed by new cities, peoples, languages, cultures, and ways of life…
You think of the lifespan of humanity itself… Just one of countless billions of species living upon the planet… Mankind arose as a race roughly two hundred thousand years ago… animal life itself first appeared on Earth over four billion years ago… Contemplate time as follows… Realise that if the history of life on Earth filled an encyclopaedia a thousand pages long… the life of the entire human race could be represented by a single sentence somewhere in that book… just one sentence…
And yet you think of the lifespan of the planet itself… Countless billions of years old… the life of the planet Earth too has a beginning, middle, and end… Formed from the debris of an exploding star, unimaginably long ago… one day in the distant future its destiny is to be swallowed up and consumed by the fires of our own Sun… You think of the great lifespan of the universe itself… the almost incomprehensible vastness of universal time… starting with a cosmic explosion, a big bang they say, immeasurable ages ago in the past… Perhaps one day, at the end of time, this whole universe will implode upon itself and disappear once again… Who can imagine what, if anything, might follow, at the end of time, in the wake of our own universe’s demise…
Contemplating the vast lifespan of the universe, remember that the present moment is but the briefest of instants… the mere blink of an eye… the turn of a screw… a fleeting second in the mighty river of cosmic time… Yet the “here and now” is important… standing as the centre point of all human experience… Here and now you find yourself at the centre of living time… Though your body may be small in the grand scheme of things, your imagination, the human imagination, is as big as the universe… bigger than the universe… enveloping everything that can be conceived… From the cosmic point of view, your body seems small, but your imagination seems utterly vast…
You contemplate all things, past, present and future… You see your life within the bigger picture… the total context of cosmic time and space… The totality is absolute reality… You see yourself as an integral part of something much bigger, something truly vast, the “All” itself… Just as the cells of your own body work together to form a greater unity, a living being, so your body as a whole is like a single cell in the organism of the universe… Along with every atom in the universe you necessarily contribute your role to the unfolding of its grand design…
As your consciousness expands, and your mind stretches out to reach and touch the vastness of eternity… Things change greatly in perspective… and shifts occur in their relative importance… Trivial things seem trivial to you… Indifferent things seem indifferent… The significance of your own attitude toward life becomes more apparent… you realise that life is what you make of it… You learn to put things in perspective, and focus on your true values and priorities in life… One stage at a time, you develop the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference… You follow nature… your own true nature as a rational, truth-seeking human being… and the one great nature of the universe as a whole…
Now in a moment you are beginning to sink back down to Earth, toward your place in the here and now… Part of you can remain aware of the view from above, and always return to and remember that sense of serenity and perspective.
Now you begin your descent back down to Earth, to face the future with renewed strength and serenity… You sink back down through the sky… down… down… down… toward the local area… down… down… down… into this building… down… down… down… You sink back gently into your body… all the way now… as your feet slowly come to rest upon the floor once again…
Now think about the room around you… Think about action… movement… think about looking around and getting your orientation… raising your head a little… Begin to breathe a little bit more deeply… a little bit more energetically… let your body feel more alive and ready for action… breathe energy and vitality into your body… breathe a little deeper and deeper again… until you’re ready to take a deep breath, open your eyes, and emerge from meditation… taking your mindfulness and self-awareness forward into life… beginning now… take a deep breath… and open your eyes now… when you’re ready… entering the here and now with deep calm and serenity…
The Stoic Week 2015 Handbook is now available!
Before you download or read the Handbook, it’s very important that, if possible, you complete the following preliminary questionnaires:
We’d also like you, if possible, to enrol on our e-learning site as this helps us track the number of participants and their level of involvement. You’ll have access to the forums here, which are an important part of the course:
Enroll on the Stoic Week Course at Modern Stoicism
However, we appreciate that some people may be unable or prefer not to complete the questionnaires or register online. The Handbook is also available for download, in a range of formats that can be accessed offline. You can access EPUB, MOBI (Kindle) and plain text (MarkDown) versions of the Handbook from the Modern Stoicism website, via the link above. You may also download the PDF version of the Handbook by clicking on the link below:
Welcome to Stoic Week 2015: Modern-day Meditations Inspired by Marcus Aurelius!
Do not act as if you were going to live for a thousand years… while you are alive, while it is still possible, become a good person.
We’d like to keep track of the number of participants so please take a moment to enrol on the Modern Stoicism e-learning site if possible. (If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to create an account on the site.)
The e-learning site, managed by Donald Robertson, has many other resources to help you get the most out of Stoic Week 2015. It also hosts the discussion forums where you can meet other participants and share your Stoic journal entries for the week, if you wish. Take a moment to introduce yourself! At the time of writing, over 2,400 people have already enrolled in advance to take part and we look set to exceed last year’s total of 2,650 participants.
Once you’ve registered (or if you choose not to) you can complete the preliminary questionnaires for Stoic Week 2015 prepared by Tim LeBon:
Collecting data like this is of tremendous importance to the future continuation of Stoic Week. (We’re interested in the mean scores rather than your individual responses but you can choose to skip this step if you really want to.) It allows us to measure to what extent Stoic Week has an effect and to gather basic demographic information on the type of people who take part. In previous years, participants have enjoyed completing these forms because they found them insightful, especially the Stoic Attitudes and Behaviours Scale (SABS) developed by our own Stoicism Today team.
The Stoic Week 2015 Handbook will be available on Modern Stoicism in HTML format, and also for download in EPUB, MOBI (Kindle), PDF, and plain text (MarkDown) formats. That means you can read it on a mobile device, even if you’re offline, on a train for instance. If you’re completing the questionnaires it’s essential that you do so before downloading or reading the Handbook, or starting the Stoic Week exercises.
The Handbook will be available a day or two before Monday 2nd November, the official start of Stoic Week, to give people time to read the initial sections before they begin putting it into practice. We’ll announce via social networks, our blogs, and Modern Stoicism, when it’s ready for download. If you register at Modern Stoicism, though, you’ll receive an email notification.