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| How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life (Princeton University Press) |
"Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgement, motivation, desire, and aversion. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations, and our official position. In short, everything that is not our own doing." -Epictetus
That is the opening paragraph to The Encheiridion, also known as The Manual, a book written by Lucius Flavianus Arrianus, based on the lectures of his teacher, the Greek Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. The book is believed to have been written circa 125 AD, yet its opening paragraph is still relevant today.
The book is made up of fifty three tenets, or what I call tenets, that cover a wide array of topics including: family and professional life, illness, poverty, and death. All areas of life that we still deal with. For those looking to get into philosophy, mainly the philosophy on how to live a better life, I suggest starting with this book as it is easy to read and you can take lessons from it immediately without having to take a lot of time to analyze each tenet.
The Encheiridion is the only Stoic writing I still own, because it is the only one I feel that I still need due to its simple, yet life changing writings. Though today we will be only covering The Encheiridion, and why its important to understand its teachings as part of your philosophical foundation, you have other options if you want to learn more about Stoicism, such as The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, the last of the good emperors of Rome, Letters from a Stoic, by Seneca, and of course, The Discourses, by Epictetus.
The first paragraph of the book is the foundation of Stoicism. We can only control what is in our power to control. Everything else beyond that is not within our control. When you try to control what you cannot, this leads to the feeling of anxiety which has crippled many in our society to the point of becoming a health crisis. Summarizing the opening paragraph, it is only how we decide to feel and act on a situation that is within our control. The Stoics believe that as long as your ability to reason isn't affected by anything, then you have no cause to worry. Because everything else doesn't matter in the long run.
"Right now, then, make it your habit to tell every jarring thought or impression: "You are just an appearance and in no way the real thing. If it involves one of the things not up to us, then say: It is not my business." Tenet 1
Anxiety is brought about when we feel that we're not in control of a situation, or something outside our expectations has happened that we didn't expect. The Stoics believe that these feelings that generate anxiety make us a prisoner in our own bodies. To truly be free the Stoics believe that we cannot be beholden to any master. What people think of us, our reputation, our financial situation, our bodies not cooperating, are all masters that most of us serve. They become the chains that bind us to our sad reality. With the advent of technology and social media it has become increasingly difficult to be happy. So how do we become free?
In order to be free, we have to realize what we can control and what we cannot. We can't control what people think, what people do, or how people view us. We have to utilize our minds as a safe space to keep out those negative thoughts and break those chains that bind us. Practice slowing down when something happens to you that you didn't expect, and think rationally about what it means in the grand scheme of things. Most situations that we think are dire, turn out to be nothing, not even a memory. Take the situation and use your reason to turn your anxiety into action or, just let the feeling go altogether. "It is what it is." By doing this daily, you'll create a barrier within your mind so that situations affect you less and less until you have mastered control of yourself, thus becoming free.
Identifying what is within our control and what is not, is the first step of laying the foundation to your new life. I encourage anyone who has an interest in being less stressed or anxious to pick up this book. It is the type of book that you can easily read in one sitting and reap the benefits for a lifetime.
