Stoicism

1. Stoicism
Marcus Aurelius
Make for yourself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to you, so as to see distinctly what kind
of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell yourself its proper name, and the names
of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolv ed. For nothing is so productiv e of
elev ation of mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly ev ery object that is presented to you in life, and
always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of univ erse this is, and what kind of use ev erything
performs in it, and what v alue ev erything has with reference to the whole.
Constantly regard the univ erse as one liv ingbeing, hav ingone substance and one soul; and observ e how all things
hav e reference to one perception, the perception of this one liv ing being; and how all things act with one
mov ement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observ e too the continuous
spinning of the thread and the structure of the web.
Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, v iolent, treacherous, env ious, uncharitable men.
All of the ignorance of real good and ill... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will inv olv e me in
wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we hav e come into the world to work together...
 "Get rid of the judgment, get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself." (v iii.40)
 "Ev erything is right for me that is right for you, O Univ erse. Nothing for me is too early or too late that
comes in due time for you. Ev erything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, O Nature. From you are all
things, in you are all things, to you all things return." (iv .23)
 "If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, v igorously, calmly, without
allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your div ine part pure, as if you were bound to giv e it
back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to liv e now according to nature,
speaking heroic truth in ev ery word that you utter, you will liv e happy. And there is no man able to
prev ent this." (iii.12)
 "How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything that happens in life!" (xii.13)
 "Outward things cannot touch the soul, not in the least degree; nor hav e they admission to the soul, nor
can they turn or mov e the soul; but the soul turns and mov es itself alone." (v .19)
 "Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man;
but if anything is within the powers and prov ince of man, believ e that it is within your own compass also"
(v i.19)
 "Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of
endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of all those applauding hands. The people who praise us
— how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region in which it all takes place. The whole earth
a point in space — and most of it uninhabited. How many people there will be to admire you, and who
they are?" (iv .3)
Epictetus
 "Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the remov al of desire." (iv .1.175)
 "Where is the good? In the will. Where is the ev il? In the will. Where is neither of them? In those things that
are independent of the will." (ii.16.1)
 "Man is disturbed not by things, but by the v iews he takes of them." (Ench. 5)
 "If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone." (iii.24.2)
 "I am formed by nature for my own good: I am not formed for my own ev il." (iii.24.83)

2.  "Permit nothing to cleav e to you that is not your own; nothing to grow to you that may giv e you agony
when it is torn away."(iv .1.112)
Chrysippus, in Cicero
The univ erse itself is god and the univ ersal outpouring of its soul; it is this same world's guiding principle, operating in
mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality that embraces all existence; then
the foreordained might and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements whose
natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth, and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the
univ ersal existence in which all things are contained.
Seneca the Younger
 "The point is, not how long you liv e, but how nobly you liv e." (Ep. 101.15)
 "That which Fortune has not giv en, she cannot take away."(Ep. 59.18)
 "Let Nature deal with matter, which is her own, as she pleases; let us be cheerful and brav e in the face of
ev erything, reflecting that it is nothing of our own that perishes." (De Prov id. v .8)
 "Virtue is nothing else than right reason." (Ep. 66.32)
Three Types of Act
 Judgment
 Desire, and
 Inclination
Stoic Philosophical and Spiritual Practices
 Logic
 Socratic dialogue and self-dialogue
 Contemplation of death,
 Training attention to remain in the present moment (similar to some forms of Eastern meditation), and
 Daily reflection on ev eryday problems and possible solutions. NB: Philosophy for a Stoic is an activ e process
of constant practice and self-reminder.
Three Sub-Classes of "things indifferent" Developed
 Things to prefer because they assist life according to nature
 Things to av oid because they hinder it; and
 Things indifferent in the narrower sense.