3 Having shown that our thoughts and judgments create our experience, the Stoics set out to change them. They use two kinds of strategies for the purpose, which we might describe as analytical and intuitive. The analytical side consists of rational arguments – using reason and evidence to show the futility of material desires, the needlessness of various fears, and so on. The intuitive approach consists of looking at life from perspectives that are meant to have effects similar to those produced by the arguments, but without the arguments. One just sees things from a new angle and has a different reaction to them. Equivalently, we might say the Stoics seek to persuade with words and with pictures.To begin with the intuitive side – that is, the pictures: we all have an ordinary and automatic point of view. We peer out from inside ourselves and see the world accordingly. This angle of observation makes us captive to a long list of deceptions. The Stoic seeks freedom from them by looking at events from a standpoint less obvious – comparing things or events to the scale of the world, or of time, or seeing them as they would look from far away, or seeing your own actions through the eyes of an onlooker, or regarding what happens to yourself as you would if it happened to someone else. Stoics gain skill at viewing life from perspectives that encourage humility and virtue and that dissolve the misjudgments we live by. (Chapter 3 and elsewhere.)The Stoic also works not only to overcome the fear of death but to treat mortality as another source of perspective and inspiration. Being mindful that existence has an end puts daily life into a new and ennobling light, in much the same way as contemplation of the scale of the universe or of time. (Chapter 4.) Stoics also practice thinking about comparisons that make us less neurotic than the envious ones with which we ordinarily harass ourselves. (Chapter 5.) These all can be considered more examples of seeking wisdom through adjustment of one’s point of view.
4 Turning to the analytical side of the project: the Stoics dissect the stuff of our inner lives – desires, fears, emotions, vanities, and the rest. Those states are shown to be products of how we think and to mostly amount to mistakes; the judgments that lie behind them are found on inspection to be false or idiotic. The Stoic remedies broadly amount to applications of the first two points above. We react not to things but to our judgments about them, and those judgments typically consist of scripts that follow convention or are otherwise foolish or fictitious. The Stoics try to dismantle the scripts and give us better ways to talk to ourselves about the subjects of them.The more specific Stoic analysis of desire, fear, and perception consumes the middle of the book, and it can’t all be summarized here. Much of it involves observing human nature very exactly and taking notes on the irrationality found in it. For example: we desire whatever we don’t have, we are contemptuous of whatever we do have, and we judge our state and our success by comparisons that are arbitrary and pointless. We chase money and pleasure in ways that can bring no real satisfaction; we pursue reputation in the eyes of others that can do us no real good. We torment ourselves with fear of things that are more easily endured than worried about. We constantly overlook the present moment because we are preoccupied with future states that will in turn be overlooked when they arrive. There is more, but this suggests the flavor of the Stoic diagnosis. In short, we vex ourselves with beliefs, mostly half-conscious, that came from nowhere we can name and that tend to make us unhappy and ridiculous. Thinking better and harder about the workings of our minds can free us from many subtle insanities.It might seem doubtful that analysis of the kind just sketched could change the way one feels about anything; you might suppose that people can’t be talked out of habits and feelings that they weren’t talked into. But sometimes they can. Besides, the point of Stoicism is that, without realizing it, we often were talked into our feelings – by our culture, and by ourselves. (Chapters 5–9.)
5 Stoics take a different view of adversity than is conventional. They don’t seek out pain or hardship, but they seek a mindset that isn’t thrown into disarray by those things and that is able to turn them to good. It is an unavoidable and important part of life to meet with what we don’t want; and unwanted developments produce great achievements, strong characters, and other things we do want. Stoicism therefore means applying one’s imagination to developments that seem unwelcome and using them as a kind of building material. The Stoic takes whatever happens and puts it to use. (Chapter 10.)
6 Some of the Stoic analysis just reviewed has a rich but negative character. It amounts to the reasoned annihilation of false beliefs that serve us badly. As a Stoic sees it, though, none of this should lead to despair. Quite the contrary: we can find more durable and satisfying pleasures in wisdom, and less anguish, than we ever did in our illusions. The Stoics propose an escape to reality, so to speak, not away from it. Seeing the world clearly, understanding life rightly, and being free from the fictions that drive most people crazy – this they regard as the good life. (Chapters 6 and 11.)Stoics also advocate enjoyment of pleasures that are natural, as opposed to the ones we invent to keep ourselves going on the hamster wheel. The usual Stoic goal is to enjoy or react or do most else in the world with moderation and a sense of detachment. (Chapter 6.) The detachment doesn’t mean a lack of attention or interest. It is better considered an aspect of moderation – moderation, that is, in our relationships to external things. Stoics avoid getting elated or crushed or otherwise worked up about them. A large share of Stoicism might be viewed, in effect, as interpretation of two famous inscriptions above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: know thyself; nothing in excess. The Stoics turn those maxims into a detailed philosophical practice.
7 Stoicism also offers a strong affirmative vision of what life is for: the pursuit of virtue. Living virtuously means living by reason, and the Stoics regard reason as calling for honesty, kindness, humility, and devotion to the greater good. It also calls for involvement in public affairs – that is, in the work of helping others in whatever ways are available. Instead of living to satisfy desires, Stoics regard themselves as meant to function as parts of a whole. There is great joy to be had in this, though it is not the variety that comes from the acquisition of things or approval from others. The happiness the Stoic seeks is eudaimonia – the good life, or well-being. Virtues bring about that type of happiness as a byproduct, and Stoics regard this as the only reliable path by which happiness can be secured. (Chapter 11.)
8 Stoicism is meant to be a practice, not a set of claims to admire. It is hard work, because many of our judgments, and the fears and desires that follow from them, are habitual and hard to change or set aside, and they are constantly reinforced by our surroundings and conventions. Taming the mind through reason takes the same kind of commitment that we associate with martial arts or other demanding physical disciplines. In return, Stoicism offers happiness, equanimity, and sanity. (Chapter 12.)
9 Stoicism has been criticized for advocating a lack of feeling or compassion, for asking the impossible of its students, and (because it is impossible) for making hypocrites out of those who claim to follow it. Chapter 13 offers some replies to those criticisms.