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Stoic Attitudes Script

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Zeno-Poster-British-Museum.jpgThis script is being recorded now, after some changes were incorporated based on feedback to the initial draft version.  Thanks to everyone who contacted me.  However, if you want to add any further suggestions for future revisions please feel free to do so.

[Feel free to post your comments or feedback below…]

Preamble

Take a moment to settle down and make yourself comfortable…  either lying down somewhere or just reclining in an armchair…  Find a position where you can be at ease and rest for a while without having to move around much…  Lie down with your legs straight and your arms by your sides, if possible, or sit with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting on your lap…  If you wear glasses, you can take them off …  Close your eyes and relax…  Allow yourself to enter a more contemplative or receptive frame of mind…

Notice the sensations in your body and any thoughts or images that pass through your mind…  Become a detached observer of these things for the time being…  If you notice any sensations in your body or hear any sounds from around the room, or outside, that’s okay…  Develop indifference toward potential distractions, rather than trying to block them from your mind…  Just acknowledge whatever enters your awareness, shrug it off, and return your attention gently to the process at hand…  If you doze off, that’s fine too… for a few minutes after awakening, just continue to imagine what it would feel like to really adopt a more profoundly Stoic attitude toward life…

By listening to this recording, you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to contemplate certain typical ideas from Stoic philosophy…  We’d like you to use it at least once per day, for a few weeks, so that you can really observe the consequences of doing so…  If these ideas are new to you, you can just begin by contemplating them patiently in a detached manner, studying their meaning…  You can always choose what to accept and what to disregard from this recording…  However, if the words you’re listening to are consistent with your own beliefs and values, you might want to try absorbing them more deeply, by mentally-rehearsing these attitudes and ways of thinking…

If you like, imagine that with every inhalation of breath, you’re absorbing Stoic values and beliefs more deeply into the core of your being… and with every exhalation you’re allowing wisdom and virtue to spread through your character and out toward the world around you, through your words and actions…  Imagine what it would be like to completely identify with the attitudes being described…  Ask yourself, what would it be like to really absorb these attitudes, take them for granted, and live in accord with them?  What sort of person would you become if you accepted Stoic ideas and made them part of your character?  What would it feel like to really think about things this way?  Keep the Stoic goal in mind: you’re listening to every word with the intention of improving your character and progressing toward wisdom and virtue…

Induction

Now let’s begin…  In a moment, I’m going to start counting from ten, all the way down to zero…  Imagine that with each number I count you’re relaxing more deeply into a comfortable posture and state of mind…  becoming more absorbed in this process and the ideas you’re now contemplating…  If you’re ready to absorb these attitudes more deeply you might want to imagine that you’re now entering a progressively more open and receptive frame of mind…  Let go of everything else for the time being… relax… and allow your attention to become totally absorbed in these words…

Now take a deep breath in… hold it… exhale slowly… relax… and let go completely…  Breathe naturally…  Now on the count of ten…  Let go and relax more deeply…  On the count of nine…  Keep letting go and relaxing…  On the count of eight…  Relaxing deeper and deeper…  On the count of seven…  More and more relaxed…  six… keep letting go…  five… half-way there…  four… relaxing deeper and deeper and deeper… three… almost completely relaxed… two… relaxing in your body and deep within your mind… one… letting go of everything else… and zero… just let go…  relax completely…  and do nothing for a while… give all of your attention to the words and ideas you’re hearing right now…  Allow yourself to relax into a positive frame of mind and to benefit from what you’re doing…

Attitudes

Now listen carefully to these words and try to imagine what it would be like to really hold some of these Stoic attitudes very deeply indeed…

Some things are under your direct control and other things are not…  You’re mindful of this distinction throughout the day, especially when faced with challenging situations…  Your priority is to do what’s up to you to the best of your ability, with wisdom, integrity, and strength of mind.  You calmly and rationally accept that external events sometimes do not turn out as you may have wished, and that some things are not under your control in life…  The most important thing in life is the quality of your own actions, that they should be wise and good, healthy and praiseworthy in your own eyes…  everything else is of secondary importance…

Peace of mind comes from abandoning fears and desires about things outside your control…  It’s not things that upset us but our judgements about things, especially irrational value-judgements… or placing too much importance on external things beyond our direct control… You can rationally prefer that things go one way or another, without demanding that they do so, and becoming upset if they do not…  You’re prepared to face either success or failure, in external events, with equal calm and serenity…  Difficult or challenging situations don’t have to make you distressed.  You remind yourself of this daily, especially when faced with challenging situations: It’s not things that upset us, but our judgement about things…  Dwelling on unhealthy feelings such as excessive anger increasingly seems pointless and unnecessary to you.  You can take a stand against things and assert yourself without becoming upset…

You love the truth…  You love wisdom, truth and understanding… and you seek to grasp your own nature and that of the world around you…  Virtue, or strength of character, is grounded in practical wisdom, and knowledge of what’s genuinely good, bad, or indifferent, in life.  Your true values are becoming clearer to you, and your actions more consistent with them…  You love virtue, excellence, and strength of character…  You admire wisdom, justice, courage and self-mastery in others… and seek, day by day, to cultivate these virtues in your own life…  You love to contemplate heroic, admirable and praiseworthy individuals…  Historical figures, fictional characters, and people you’ve encountered in your own life…  You pinpoint their good qualities, study them, and seek to emulate their virtues appropriately in your character and actions…

You view strength of character as both healthy and praiseworthy, and as the basis of true fulfilment in life…  A good person can have a good life even when facing difficult circumstances.  It’s your attitude toward life that determines whether it is good or bad, whether you flourish or not as a human being.  Other people’s opinions are far less important to you than your own sense of what’s wise or foolish, right or wrong…  Health, wealth, and reputation may sometimes be preferable in life but they’re not necessary to excel and flourish as a human being – all you truly need is virtue and strength of character.

You dare to be wise…  You dedicate each moment of the day to improving yourself, to living wisely and in accord with your own true values and the virtues you hold most dear.  You don’t allow negative feelings to hold you back but you act in accord with wisdom and your underlying values, even if it takes you outside of your comfort zone, and requires patience, courage, endurance, and self-discipline…  You take pride in your ability to face adversity calmly and rationally…

You love what’s best in yourself and others…  You feel a growing sense of affinity for your own true nature, as a rational and social being, and your place within the world…  You feel a natural affection toward the rest of mankind, and a sense of being at one with the universe as a whole…  You never lose sight of your own and other people’s capacity for wisdom and virtue…

Behaviours

You live centred in the present moment…  You’re constantly aware of the transience of material things, including human life itself.  You’re conscious of your own mortality… and make the most of each day that’s given to you, as if it were a sacred gift…  The past is gone and the future is unknown.  You focus your attention where it belongs in the “here and now” and on the quality of your voluntary thoughts and actions, as they shape your life.

You’re mindful of your thoughts, actions, and feelings…  You pay attention to your character, the type of person you’ve become, in any given situation…  When you notice the early-warning signs of distress, you respond by telling yourself that your initial thoughts and feelings are merely impressions in the mind, and not the things they claim to represent.  You take a step back from troubling thoughts and feelings…  You view them calmly and rationally, from a distance, almost as if they were the thoughts of another person.  You consider where they’re leading you and whether or not they’re  contributing to genuine happiness and fulfilment in life.  Do they serve your fundamental values?  How would someone who truly lives with wisdom respond to the same situation?  Do your initial impressions upset you by placing too much importance on external events?

You enjoy contemplating what the ideal Stoic or wise person would say or do in the face of different challenging situations.  You train your mind in emotional resilience, by facing the full range of human catastrophes in your imagination while your practice rising above them and viewing them serenely, with detached indifference.  You patiently wait for your feelings to settle down, allowing you to reflect on things calmly and rationally and to consider how best to respond in accord with your values.

You measure everything against your true goal in life…  You’re always watchful as to whether your thoughts and actions accord with your deeper values and the character strengths or virtues you wish to develop…  You’re gaining enough serenity to accept the things you cannot change, courage to change the things you can, and wisdom to know the difference between them.  You flourish by living wisely and in harmony with nature…  the nature of the universe as a whole… meeting with equanimity the events that befall you and the people that you encounter in daily life… and cultivating your own true nature as a rational and social being by making progress every day toward wisdom and strength of character…

Emerging

Now, just allow those thoughts to sink in for a moment longer, and continue to imagine what it would mean to live in accord with Stoic attitudes and behaviours… imagine becoming more and more Stoic every day and making progress toward genuine wisdom and strength of character…

In a moment, I’m going to begin counting from one up to five…  As I do so, allow your attention to expand throughout your body and out into the room around you, and the wider world, as you prepare to conclude the exercise…  You’re getting ready to take some of those ideas into the real world, and your daily life…  Taking them forward in your character and actions, and the way you deal with people you meet and whatever events may befall you…

Beginning now, on the count of one…  Expanding your awareness through your whole body, into your fingers and toes…  two…  beginning to breathe a little bit more deeply… three… getting ready to move and interact with the world around you… four…  starting to blink and open your eyes… five… opening your eyes in your own time… take a deep breath and begin to move your arms and legs… rub your eyes if you want and make yourself comfortable as you start to move your body…  Continue to be mindful of your thoughts, actions, and feelings, as you gradually begin to engage once again with the world around you…

[Please post your comments or feedback below…]

Script for a Stoic Mindfulness Exercise

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Stoic Mindfulness Exercise

Script for Audio Recording of Mindfulness-Based Stoic Exercise

Zeno-Poster-British-MuseumText copyright © Donald Robertson, 2012-2013. All rights reserved.  Image incorporates Stoic jewellery depicting Zeno of Citium, from photo copyright © Trustees of the British Museum.

[This is a draft, still being edited and updated.  I’ve put it up so that others can provide feedback.  It’s a mindfulness-based CBT exercise, involving imaginal exposure, that I’ve modified so that centres on the use of Stoic dogmas, based on the classical exercise called praemeditatio malorum.  Stoicism is a complex system, however the Enchiridion of Epictetus provides simplified guidance on psychological exercises, which he specifically describes as being for use in the first instance, presumably by novices.  So the Stoic maxims employed here are based as closely as possible on my reading of the original Greek Enchiridion, although they need to be phrased slightly differently for our purposes here, of course.]

[Induction]

Make yourself comfortable, close your eyes, and allow yourself to pause for a while and become more mindful, self-aware, and centred in the present moment… Take time to settle down and get comfortable before we begin.  Notice what’s going on in your body and mind, right now, in the present moment…  Your goal in this exercise is to learn to face troubling situations patiently in your imagination, rehearsing and strengthening a Stoic or “philosophical” attitude toward apparent adversities… You’re going to do so longer and more carefully than normal to develop greater mindfulness, or awareness of the role of your own thoughts and judgements…  viewing them with calm, rational, detachment…   You’re not trying to control or eliminate any of your feelings but simply to stay with them for a while, letting go of any struggle against them. You may find by doing this exercise that anger, anxiety or other unpleasant feelings tend to reduce naturally over time, but that’s not your immediate purpose, and initially you may even find that you actually become more conscious of uncomfortable feelings. Your goal in this exercise is simply to learn how to observe your own thoughts and separate them from external events…

For now, with your eyes still closed, just be aware of what you’re currently experiencing, from moment to moment, without evaluating it, analysing it, or interpreting it any further… If your mind wanders, that’s fine, just acknowledge the fact and bring your awareness patiently back to the exercise you’re doing… You’re going to choose a scene to picture throughout this exercise… You can start by working through a mildly upsetting event and then, in later sessions, progressively working on more challenging ones… So pick a situation to imagine yourself in, if you haven’t already… Employing all of your senses, as if it’s actually happening right now, and you’re seeing things through your own eyes… Make it as realistic as possible and pay close attention to the most upsetting parts of the scene rather than trying to avoid them… Turn it into a brief sequence of events, like a video clip, and imagine going through it as realistically as possible… Beginning…  middle… and end…  Don’t try to change anything… Just observe things in a detached way and allow yourself to accept and fully experience your internal reactions so that any novelty or surprise gradually wears off and events begin to seem more and more familiar as you get used to contemplating them…

Keep imagining yourself in that situation, right now…  but throughout this exercise, also have the following advice from the ancient Stoics constantly in mind…  “People are not upset by events but by their opinions about events”, especially their value-judgements…  Keep reminding yourself, as you picture that scene before you…  There are many alternative ways to view external events and so different people feel differently about them…  Your attitude toward events is the most important thing in life rather than the events themselves…  Keep guard constantly, therefore, over your judgements and intentions, and watch them closely.  When automatic thoughts or feelings cross your mind, you always have the freedom to suspend your response…  withholding your agreement from your initial impressions, rather than allowing yourself to be carried away by them…  so pause for a moment and observe your thoughts…  Say to yourself in response to them: “You are just an impression, a mental representation, and not at all the thing you claim to represent.”  Take a step back from your initial impressions, rather than allowing yourself to be swept along by them…  Instead, silently examine whether they’re about things that are “up to you”, under your direct control, or not…  Remember that sovereign precept of Stoicism: That only things that are “up to us” are intrinsically good or bad, and that bodily and external things are “indifferent” with regard to our ultimate wellbeing… neither helping nor harming our character in themselves, but only through the use we make of them…

[Repeated Premeditation of Adversity]

You’re going to review that whole sequence of events very patiently, a few more times, from beginning to end… Start at the beginning right now… going through things slowly and with mindfulness… Remind yourself that it’s not events that upset you but your opinions about events, especially your value judgements…  So don’t try to change anything…  Instead, as you go through events, practice taking a step back from your thoughts and actively accepting your feelings as harmless and indifferent… As you continue to go through those events slowly, allow your mind to become more absorbed in the scene, using your senses, as if it’s happening right now… Notice what you see… Notice any sounds you hear… Notice what you’re saying or doing, and how you experience that… Notice any thoughts, images, or associations that go through your mind… Notice your feelings and the sensations in your body… Just allow yourself to acknowledge each experience as it arises… not trying to get rid of or change anything…  Patiently going through the whole event, using all of your senses, as if it’s happening right now… Stay with your feelings for a while, as if you’re creating a space around them, giving them the freedom to come and go naturally… Now gradually draw the scene to a close in your mind, and rate the level of discomfort you felt… From 0-100% how distressing was it to imagine? Just make a mental note of that number. [Pause]

Okay, now patiently go through the whole experience once again… from just before you noticed the earliest signs… through the peak or middle… to the end, once the scene is over… Remind yourself: it’s not events that upset you but your opinions and value-judgements about events…  Again, patiently watching your thoughts from a distance… while you radically accept your feelings… Don’t try to change anything; don’t try to stop anything from changing… Just take your time… Notice any sounds you hear… Notice what you’re saying or doing, and how you experience that… Notice any thoughts, images, or impressions that go through your mind… Notice your feelings and the sensations in your body… Just allow yourself to acknowledge each experience as it arises… Notice your automatic thoughts and feelings but don’t allow yourself to be carried away by them, pause and take a step back from them instead… Patiently going through the whole event, using all of your senses, as if it’s happening right now… [Pause] Now gradually draw the scene to a close… Make a mental note of your how distressing it was this time, from 0-100%. [Pause]

You will probably find it helpful to repeat this exercise daily, reviewing the same situation in detail in your imagination, several times, and visualising things more vividly and for longer than you normally would… You can use this time as an opportunity to practice both distancing from your thoughts and actively accepting your feelings… It will often help if you carefully observe and note down what effect the exercise has upon your problem, both immediately and over time… As your distress reduces, and you begin to feel more confident, you can also consider how you might solve problems and cope differently with similar situations in the future… However, the most important thing for a Stoic is to calmly evaluate whether the thoughts and feelings that you experience in response to apparent “adversity” refer to things that are “up to” you or not.  If they’re about external things, the Stoic practice is to remind yourself that these are neither good nor bad, but ultimately indifferent with regard to your moral character and wellbeing.  Over time, begin to ask yourself how a perfectly wise and just person, with complete self-control, would respond when faced with the same situation you’re imagining.  What would the Stoic Sage do under these circumstances?  Let that be your role-model and guide in this and similar situations…

[Emerging]

Now let go even of the scene you were imagining… and gradually begin to expand your awareness throughout your whole body… and into your current environment… Continue to be aware of your breathing and any internal experiences that you’ve been attending to but, in addition, allow your awareness to begin spreading through the rest of your body… throughout the trunk of your body… your arms… your legs… your neck and head… your hands…  your feet… your face and eyes…  Become aware of your whole body as one… Now gradually spread your awareness out further beyond your body and into the environment around you, where you are and what you’re doing right now, in the real world… Continue to notice how you’re using your body and mind as you slowly open your eyelids and look around you… As you finish the exercise and begin interacting with the external world or other people, continue to be mindful of the way you’re using your body and your mind… and aware of how you relate to environment and any tasks at hand… becoming more focused on the real world around you and the way you’re interacting with life, right now, in the present moment, as you move forward into action…

Stoic Meditation in The Earl of Shaftesbury’s Philosophical Regimen

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Stoic Meditation

The Earl of Shaftesbury’s Philosophical Regimen

The following passages from the Earl of Shaftesbury are based on his reading of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus.  He describes a common Stoic and Platonic meditation exercise, which essentially involves trying to contemplate the whole of space and time, as if entering the mind of God:

Socrates-Clouds

View the heavens. See the vast design, the mighty revolutions that are performed. Think, in the midst of this ocean of being, what the earth and a little part of its surface is; and what a few animals are, which there have being. Embrace, as it were, with thy imagination all those spacious orbs, and place thyself in the midst of the Divine architecture. Consider other orders of beings, other schemes, other designs, other executions, other faces of things, other respects, other proportions and harmony. Be deep in this imagination and feeling, so as to enter into what is done, so as to admire that grace and majesty of things so great and noble, and so as to accompany with thy mind that order, and those concurrent interests of things glorious and immense. For here, surely, if anywhere, there is majesty, beauty and glory. Bring thyself as oft as thou canst into this sense and apprehension; not like the children, admiring only what belongs to their play; but considering and admiring what is chiefly beautiful, splendid and great in things. And now, in this disposition, and in this situation of mind, see if for a cut-finger, or what is all one, for the distemper and ails of a few animals, thou canst accuse the universe. (Shaftesbury, Philosophical Regimen, Deity, p. 19)

After quoting Marcus Aurelius, “To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are”, Shaftesbury wrote concerning the grand vision of the history of the universe, and the flux of things:

Consider the several ages of mankind; the revolutions of the world, the rise, declension and extinction of nations, one after another; after what manner the earth is peopled, sometimes in one part and then in another; first desert, then cultivated, and then desert again; from woods and wilderness, to cities and culture, again into woods; one while barbarous, then civilised, and then barbarous again; after, darkness and ignorance, arts and sciences, and then again darkness and ignorance as before.

Now, therefore, remember whenever thou art intent and earnest on any action that seems highly important to the world, whenever it seems that great things are in hand, remember to call this to mind: that all is but of a moment, all must again decline. What though it were now an age like one of those ancient? What though it were Rome again? What though it were Greece? How long should it last? Must not there be again an age of darkness? Again Goths? And shortly, neither shall so much as the name of Goths be remembered, but the modern as well as ancient Greeks and Italians be equally forgotten. […]

Such is the state of mankind; these are the revolutions. The tree sprouts out of the ground, then grows, then flourishes awhile; at last decays and sinks, that others may come up. Thus men succeed to one another. Thus names and families die; and thus nations and cities. What are all these changes and successions? What is there here but what is natural, familiar, and orderly, and conducing to the whole? Where is the tragedy? Where the surprise or astonishment? Are not these the leaves of the wood carried off with the winter blast, that new ones may in the spring succeed? Is not the whole surface of the earth thus? and are not all things thus? Is it not in these very changes that all those beauties consist which are so admired in nature, and by which all but the grossed sort of mankind are so sensibly moved? The sum of all this is, that be this what season soever of the world, be it the very winter that thou livest in, or be it in the spring, all is alike. (Shaftesbury, Philosophical Regimen, Human Affairs, pp. 70-71)