Introduction

There have been many posts over the year about application of Stoic philosophy to specific circumstances. This is my attempt at a general schematic. It is less historically oriented than most of my posts are. It should be regarded as Stoic inspired, rather than Stoic.

Personally, I am more an eclectic than a Stoic. I have other major influences, and I consider Stoic psychology to be far too simple to be realistic. There is some truth and insight in it, however, and it has the advantage of being simple enough to apply in difficult circumstances. I begin here with a quick discussion of it, because it is needed to understand what follows.

In the middle of a "situation" is not really where philosophy is at it's best. It's like looking for advice from an athletic coach in the middle of a game. As the old proverb goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But, sometimes what one needs is cure.

Stoic theoretical background

Values and emotions

Emotions are associated with values and goals. For example, fear corresponds to a value judgement that something that might happen is bad, distress to one that something that is happening is bad, hope and desire to the judgement that something that might happen is good, etc.

The Stoics analyzed feeling and emotion into two steps.

1. Initially, there is an impression. In the case of values, these are experienced as feelings and impulses, but there is a sense in which they have cognitive content. For example, if my gut reaction to something is distress, then it "looks" to me like it is bad. At this point, though, it is not an actual belief that it is bad, although such a belief often proceeds so quickly it is difficult to distinguish. It is analogous to seeing a physical object (say, an apple) and recognizing that it looks like an apple. The actual value judgement corresponds to believing that there is an apple there. If I am on the set of a movie, and know there are wax props that look like apples, I might not form such a belief, although it will still look to me like there is an apple there. I will not attempt to eat the object if I think it might really be a wax prop.

2. A value judgement then might follow. Often, this proceeds so fast it isn't noticeable. If I am served something that looks like an apple as part of my lunch, I probably never actually stop to consider whether it actually is an apple, or just a wax prop, but rather just immediately assent to the impression. Making such an assent or value judgement is a prerequisite to it being integrated into rational thought. For example, if I think about how to do something with the intention of doing it, it implies that I have decided that the object of the action is good. If my inner monologue uses emotionally charged or value-laden language, then it implies that I have made such a judgement. In more extreme cases, such value judgement leads to my inner monologue engaging in elaborate speeches and polemics to myself. All of these correspond to making plans that assume that object in front of me actually is an apple an not a wax prop, or making statements in my inner monologue that are only true of it is an apple.

These to stages can form a feedback loop. The feeling leads to a value judgement, and the value judgement amplifies the feeling, which in turn exaggerates the value judgement.

Much more can be found on this wiki page.

Internalization of goals

One of the central themes of Stoic philosophy can be presented in two ways, an older way and that used by Epictetus:

1. Virtue is the only good, and externals are indifferent.
2. Some things are up to us, and some are not up to us.

The idea here is that it is foolish to judge externals (things outside of our control) as good or bad. Multiple factors enter in to whether something external happens. These factors can be divided into things that are our own decision, and those that are not. If something appears to be influenced by a combination of these, influences on it can be further subdivided until we reach a set of factors that are either entirely our decision, or over which we have no influence.

When I make value judgements about things that are not in my control, I am effectively demanding of or forbidding to myself things that I have no influence over.

So, according to the Stoics, what I should do is reformulate any goals I have in terms only of what I can control. If I am a paramedic, my initial impulse (step 1) will probably be to save the life of my patient. The Stoic would say yes, that impression is a fine starting point, but instead of assenting to the impression that saving the life is good (moving directly to step 2), I should reformulate the proposition, and instead assent to the judgement that what is good is that I form and execute the plan most likely to save the life of the patient. (This comment may be helpful.)

Application

I generally try to apply the "three disciplines". The thoroughness depends on the situation. Sometimes, simply repeating a one-sentence summary of the three is all it takes. ("Think objectively, act responsibly, and abandon yourself willingly to fate", for example.) Sometimes I just need to sit and think by myself for a few minutes, or think about them over a long walk in a park. Harder situations can require regular journaling in great detail spread out over weeks.

Objective thought

The first step is to try systematically describe the situation without application of any value judgements at all. There are a variety of "tricks" for doing this.

1. I use illeism, describing the situation (past, present, and future) to myself from a 3rd person point of view.
2. I describe the situation without using value-laden or emotive words like good, bad, awful, disgusting, etc. Many words that are not overtly emotional or value laden might have such associations, and I try to eliminate those as well.
3. My own emotional reactions and values are sometimes vital parts of the situation, making a complete application of #2 necessarily incomplete. In such cases, I try to describe the judgements that led to each emotion as a specific events, and the emotions that result as physical processes. For example, "He judged a possible grade of D on the test to be bad, which triggered an increased heart rate and a release of cortisol."
4. I imagine that I am an alien anthropologist writing a scientific report on the sequence of events.
5. Sometimes, I become so agitated that actually doing this is impossible. It helps to do something analytical for a few minutes before making another attempt. Examples of such an activity include solving logic puzzles and doing math problems.
6. Again, if I am too agitaded for 1 through 4, I begin by stretching and exercising (or I sometimes just start with this on general principle).
7. Yet again, if this is too hard, schedule time for myself to spend a few hours thinking about it, preferably first thing in the morning, within the next couple of days. Oddly, sometimes (but not always) postponing thinking about it can actually work, if you just remind yourself of the time you have scheduled when you start to think about it. It only works if I actually believe I will do it, though, so I have to actually carry through.

I find trying to avoid unproductive approaches directly is mostly futile. Instead, I find it easier to over-write the unproductive approach with a productive one. For example, I find trying to follow this advice is nearly impossible:

• Don't describe the situation using value-laden language.

while this one is easier:

• Describe the situation using value-free language.

So, when I find myself doing the first, I don't try to "just stop it", but rather do the second instead. Similar, which I find my self worrying (repetative anxious thoughts), rather than trying to do this:

• Stop thinking about this problem.

I try to do this instead:

• Think of some new way of analyzing or looking at the problem, or consider some aspect or detail I have not before.

While it is not always practical, actually sitting down and writing things out is often very helpful. Doing all of this "in my head" is much harder to execute properly.

Responsible action

Next, I try to systematically consider the actions I might take. There is no simple algorithm I follow that arrives at an unambiguous result. But, if I think through things using the following techniques, often the best approach simply becomes apparent.

1. I reformulate the various value judgements and goals I catalogued in #3 of the "objective thought" step using "internalization of goals", described above. It this point, though, I don't try to accept even the modified versions as goals, simply state them in the internalizad form.

2. I consider my roles in society, and what actions are required to carry out each role responsibly. When there are conflicts, put the roles into a larger context. Note that I do not just blindly accept the roles conventionally assigned to me, but rather use my own judgement.

3. I imagine how a variety of different people (real or fictional) would handle the situation. People whose philosophies or temperments I have an intuition for are most helpful, but actual agreement or even sympathy is not necessary; variety is. Examples I have used include my grandmother, Epictetus, Jesus, Epicurus, John Stuart Mill, Gandalf, Gandi, Morihei Ueshiba, and often characters from whatever books I am reading or TV shows I am watching.

4. I imagine that I am recounting what I did many years later, with any of the possible results. Which would I be proud of? Ashamed of?

Often, this step results in actions like "make a plan for doing X", to which I attempt to immediately apply "internalization of goals." The actual creation of such plans is generally outside of the scope of philosophy, requiring the application of social, political, academic, or technical skills. (See this comment.) For these, I will seek help outside of philosophy as required.

I often need to bounce back and forth between this step and the "objective thought" step, adding new elements and candidate plans to the description of the situation. In doing so, I try to pay special attention to potential consequences of my actions for my family, my community, human society as a whole, and the world as a whole.

A systematic organization can be helpful, for example by creating a table of possible actions, likely consequences of each, which might be taken by which characters (in technique 3), what roles they fill or betray, my initial "gut reaction" to each and the value judgements that these gut reactions imply, whether these actions seem "childish" or "adult", how much I would be proud or ashamed of them in the distant future, whether I would admire or despise someone else who did that, and anything else that seems relevant.

Note that emotional reaction and value judgement is implicit in the application of this step: they are what lead from analysis to actual conclusion. The relevant difference between this step and the previous one is that in this step, what matters is my emotional reaction to my own decisions, behavior, or character, which are all appropriate things for a person to judge and have such reactions to, even from a purely Stoic perspective.

Although I've described this step as the "action step", it's really closer to a "contemplation of action" step than the action itself, and I think the action itself is more what I think the classical Stoics had in mind. However, I find it helpful to separate these steps from the other aspects of the "objective judgement" step, and action follows directly from them.

Acceptance of consequences

Finally, I try to adopt an attitude of acceptance and even gratitude for whatever the consequences might be. Some simple techniques include:

1. Put everything into a larger context, as in Monty Python's Galaxy Song. Reading history and science non-fiction can support this. Emphasize elements that both inspire a sense of connection and belonging, and also individual insignificance -- that simultaneouly inspire feelins of smallness and largeness, but in different ways.
2. Go for a walk in the woods, sit by an ocean, watch a sunrise or sunset, go star-gazing, and otherwise spend time in a natural environment, observing and contemplating #1, and placing even the outcomes that inspire the most attraction and aversion in that context.
3. Inspire myself with descriptions of heroic action, for example by reading Kipling's "If---" or thinking of any number of fictional heroes.
4. Appreciate religious art (in the general sense, including music, architecture, and other media). I do not have to believe -- or even understand -- the relevant theology (but I can't have negative associations with it either).

Feelings of anxiety, greed, despair, resentment, and other emotions that interfere with decision-making are incompatible with wonder and awe, and a sense of connection with the world as a whole.

Of the three, this part is the hardest to describe or justify. Unless you already have an idea of what I am going for, I'm not sure any instruction I can give will be really helpful. Plenty of things that inspire others do nothing for me, and I'm sure much that inspires me does nothing for others, and sometimes everything just seems to fall flat. It all comes off as bit hokey, but life without it seems doomed to me to be either filled with anxiety or alienation, neither of which provide psychological support for acting virtuously.

Commentary

Avoiding repetition

One pitfall is being repetitive (worry), which isn't helpful, and even makes things worse. If I am obsessing over something, I tell my self "been there, done that," then look for a new way of viewing it and work on that -- for example by describing it from the perspective of yet another character or different philosophy (which may require doing research). In other words, if my attention is still called to it, I take it as an indication that I think I've missed something, and look where I haven't looked already.

The disciplines and the four cardinal virtues

Note that there is a correspondence between the disciplines and the four cardinal virtues: prudence/wisdom corresponds to the exercise of objectice thought, justice to action, and courage and temperance both to acceptance. Analyzing the situation in terms of the disciplines is not really different from trying to address the situation with all four virtues.

Moral beauty

The Stoics also associated virtue with moral beauty, which one can think of as what you are looking for when exercising the discipline of action (as I describe it, rather than the more purely action-oriented Stoic version).

Detachment

While it might seem like the goal of the first discipline is complete detachment, this is not really the case, at least not as I practice it. First, it is only the feedback loop between the impression and judgement that I am trying to disrupt. The original feeling, without the judgement, is something to be accepted, not suppressed. As part of long term practice (not when trying to deal with specific challenging applications), I go so far as to deliberately cultivate some of these reactions. I am not even sure that the classical Stoics were right, that it is always best to withhold assent concerning anything not part of my character.

I am confident, though, that it is better for me to withhold assent more than I do now. Even in regular life with nothing special going on, and especially in challenging circumstances, I am so far from fully achieving this that I don't think over-doing it is a significant danger.

Note also that detachment is almost the exact opposite of what I am working for in the "acceptance of consequences" discipline.

Long term practice

Regular practice outside of specific crisis situations forms a stronger basis for application during a crisis, or can avoid them altogether. For example, I have already thought through many of the roles I play, and I have an idea of how I think I should fill them. I know what kinds of impressions and impulses I get, and how I typically react to them. I have an idea of what kind of person I think I should be, and what realistic ambitions for progress in that direction are. I have people whose examples and points of view I consider. I have a library of writings I am familiar with, so I know where to go to remind my self of different ways of looking at things. I have thought through a number of different challenges in life already, when the situations are still remote or unlikely and I can think of them objectively without much difficulty.

What the classical Stoics would say is the most important thing, I think, is getting out of the habit of immediately assenting to impressions of externals being good or bad to begin with. This is also the hardest and the aspect on which I have made the least progress, and for which what progress I do make is least likely to "stick."

I have made some progress on withholding judgement on some kinds of impressions, but in other cases, I have not. For example, I am in the habit of assenting to the impression that food and a bed to sleep in are good things, so I expect that it will be nearly impossible to change that judgement if I become destitute and homeless. (On the other hand, these judgements are not so dominant that I live in constant fear of homelessness.)

Could I make progress here, if I practiced more and differently, for example by adopting a more ascetic lifestyle? Progress, probably, but I do not believe sagehood is actually a realistic goal. The human mind is more complex, and I think more limited, than indicated by the Stoic's simple model. In either case, though, I have not tried, and do not intend to.

Some Stoics, I think, would tell met that failure to do this is simple cowardice and lack of fortitude, and I acknowledge that there may be an element of this, but there is more to it than that. Getting into exactly why is beyond the scope of this document, but to give the kernel of why, begin by considering my descriptions of what I think are the basic sentiments behind Epicurean-like and Stoic-like philosophies described in this comment. When I think about the lives of most of the people who have adopted such ascetic or monastic paths in life, I react with a kind of grudging respect, yes, but not actually admiration. It seems like just a different variety of wasting ones life preparing to live.

edit: fixed link

edit 2: slight expansion of the "action" section, parenthetical remark in moral beauty section.

edit 3: added last sentence in the "detachment" comment.