Stoicism : Clarity
Throughout Meditations, Marcus Aurelius is active in pointing out the value of looking beyond what we intuitively see on the surface in daily life to better understand the world. In his own words:
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”
Awareness is the state of being conscious. Conscious of relevant knowledge, conscious of surroundings, and conscious of personal feelings and thoughts. It’s a state of mind that aims to understand reality as close to the truth as possible.
The scope of your awareness defines the outer limit of what you can accomplish. The more you know, the more accurately you can understand your surroundings. The better you are at organizing your thoughts, the more possibilities lie ahead of you.
In this post, summarizing what I learnt from stoicism on how to think clearly and be self aware.
CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE
“We control our reasoned choice and all acts that depend on that moral will. What’s not under our control are the body and any of its parts, our possessions, parents, siblings, children, or country — anything with which we might associate.” — EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES
A wise person knows what’s inside their circle of influence and what is outside of it. The good news is that it’s easy to remember what is inside our influence. It’s just one thing: YOUR MIND. That’s right, even your physical body isn’t completely within the circle. After all, you could be struck with a physical illness or impairment at any moment. But this is all good news because it drastically reduces the amount of things that you need to think about. There is clarity in simplicity. While everyone else is running around with a list of responsibilities a mile long — things they’re not actually responsible for — you’ve got just that one-item list. You’ve got just one thing to manage: your choices, your will, your mind. So mind it.
CUT THE STRINGS THAT PULL YOUR MIND
“Understand at last that you have something in you more powerful and divine than what causes the bodily passions and pulls you like a mere puppet. What thoughts now occupy my mind? Is it not fear, suspicion, desire, or something like that?”
— MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS
Think of all the interests vying for a share of your wallet or for a second of your attention. Food scientists are engineering products to exploit your taste buds. Silicon Valley engineers are designing apps as addictive as gambling. The media is manufacturing stories to provoke outrage and anger.
These are just a small slice of the temptations and forces acting on us — distracting us and pulling us away from the things that truly matter. Stoics like Marcus, Seneca, thankfully, was not exposed to these extreme parts of our modern culture. But they knew plenty of distracting sinkholes too: gossip, the endless call of work, as well as fear, suspicion, lust. Every human being is pulled by these internal and external forces that are increasingly more powerful and harder to resist. Philosophy is simply asking us to pay careful attention and to strive to be more than a pawn.
As Viktor Frankl puts it ,
“Man is pushed by drives but pulled by values.”
These values and inner awareness prevent us from being puppets. Sure, paying attention requires work and awareness, but isn’t that better than being jerked about on a string?
PATH TO SERENITY
“Keep this thought at the ready at daybreak, and through the day and night — there is only one path to happiness, and that is in giving up all outside of your sphere of choice, regarding nothing else as your possession, surrendering all else to God and Fortune.”
— EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES
This morning, remind yourself of what is in your control and what’s not in your control. Remind yourself to focus on the former and not the latter. Before lunch, remind yourself that the only thing you truly possess is your ability to make doing so. This is the only thing that can never be taken from you completely. In the afternoon, remind yourself that aside from the choices you make, your fate is not entirely up to you. The world is spinning and we spin along with it — whichever direction, good or bad. In the evening, remind yourself again how much is outside of your control and where your choices begin and end. As you lie in bed, remember that sleep is a form of surrender and trust and how easily it comes.
And prepare to start the whole cycle over again tomorrow.
SEVEN FUNCTIONS OF THE MIND
“The proper work of the mind is the exercise of choice, refusal, yearning, repulsion, preparation, purpose, and assent. What then can pollute and clog the mind’s proper functioning? Nothing but its own corrupt decisions.”
— EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES
Let’s break down each one of those tasks:
Choice — to do and think right
Refusal — of temptation
Yearning — to be better
Repulsion — of negativity, of bad influences, of what isn’t true
Preparation — for what lies ahead or whatever may happen
Purpose — our guiding principle and highest priority
Assent — to be free of deception about what’s inside and outside our control (and be ready to accept the latter) This is what the mind is here to do. We must make sure that it does — and see everything else as pollution or a corruption.
Whoever we are, wherever we are — what matters is our choices. What are they? How will we evaluate them? How will we make the most of them? Those are the questions life asks us, regardless of our station. How will you answer?
The ability to think clearly is a keystone advantage, and it can be acquired like any other skill. Practice.
