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#2 Stoic practice: acting wisely on what is up to me
This series of articles is my feedback on A Handbook for New Stoics, a book on the practice of Stoicism, by Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez. For one year, every week, I will experience the Stoic practices proposed by the handbook and I will share with you my weekly review. This will provide you with an overview of the different Stoic exercises and the benefits (or not) they can offer you.
💬 The quote (Epictetus)
Remember that following desire promises the attainment of that of which you are desirous; and aversion promises the avoiding that to which you are averse. However, he who fails to obtain the object of his desire is disappointed, and he who incurs the object of his aversion wretched. If, then, you confine your aversion to those objects only which are contrary to the natural use of your faculties, which you have in your own control, you will never incur anything to which you are averse. But if you are averse tio sickness, or death, or poverty, you will be wretched. Remove aversion, then, from all things that are not in our control, and transfer it to things contrary to the nature of what is in our control.
Epictetus, Enchiridion, 2.1–2
🔥 The practice: focusing on what is up to me
This practice is related to last week’s exercise. It consists in transforming the things we dread that do not depend on us into things we dread that do depend on us. For example:
- death does not depend on us
- the fear of death depends on us
If I am averse to death, it is better to be averse to fear rather than death, because fear is an emotion that depends on us while death does not depend on us. To overcome this fear, I need courage, which also depends on me (or anything else I deem useful and which depends on me).
So this practice allows us to put our attention on things that are completely up to us, both in terms of desire and aversion. It gives us back power and helps us identify the real (inner) cause of the things we fear.
