Mind the Beginner

This blogpost is part three in a series of five exploring the Stoic psychological tactics that can be used to rediscover joy in your life.

Let go of the past and the present. That’s what fatalism is here. In certain religions and in the Roman Empire it’s accepted that we as individuals and we as a society have a predestined path to walk. In other words fate or as Seneca puts it “it’s a great consolidation that it is together with the universe we are swept along”. The Stoics believed firmly in the Fates and that we are all nothing more than actors in a play that has already been written. Things simply put, are just as they are and “happen as they do happen”. According to Marcus, a good man will welcome “every experience that the looms of fate may weave for him”.

Complaining about the fates

As I said the Roman Stoics like all Romans took it for granted that they had a fate and that they could not escape that fate. For the Romans life was a written play or a fixed race, the plot or outcome was already known to the Gods. (Or to the three Fates to be more precise: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos)

Now it might seem a bit strange that the Stoics believe in the dichotomy of control and at the same time advocate fatalism. After all, if the future was set in stone already we wouldn’t have control over anything in life now would we.

This is where things get a bit confusing. Although the Stoics believed in the Fates they didn’t practice fatalism with regards to the future. No, they only practiced it with regards to the past and the present. The future was left open until it became the present. They didn’t just sit round moping and complaining that everything was already decided. If things were already decided, complaining wouldn’t do them any good now would it.

Combined fatalism and burning your finger

What the Stoics did do however was combine fatalism with the dichotomy of control. This very instant and everything before it that we know as the past can not be changed anymore. We have no control over the past or the present and thus we should not concern ourselves with it. The fact that the past can’t be changed is widely accepted. But why can’t we change the present? This is again a bit of a mind game. As soon as we act on the present the present is the past.

Stick your finger in a flame and your body will react to it by pulling back your finger even before it hurts. But how long did the neurons take to tell your muscles to contract because of the flame? More than enough time to make the finger in the flame a matter of the past.

We didn’t change the fact that our finger was in the flame, but with some control over things to come (a blister if we don’t cool our finger under running water) we do have some control over the future. It is of course possible to affect what will happen ten years from now, or a week, an hour or even half a second. But as soon as it’s the present it’s our of our hands.

The paradox of ambition

You see, the past and present can never be changed, so why worry about them any longer, they will only make us uncomfortable and distressed all over again without doing us any good. We can learn from the past, but that’s about all it’s good for.

In this regard and combining this tactic with the first two I described you might think the Stoics were very unambitious, being happy with every experience the Looms of Fate weave for them. The truth couldn’t be more different. Seneca was (among other things) a political adviser, investor and play writer. Marcus Aurelius was (aside from a stoic philosopher) the Roman Emperor. You couldn’t get more ambitious than that back in those days. If anything these guys were highly ambitious and achieved great things in their lifetime.

A nice paradox is unfolding itself in front of our eyes it seems. Accepting that the future is already written and being happy and content with the simplest of things. The Stoics believed in living accordance with nature. Humans are by nature a social species and it’s for the best of society that everyone take part and did their social duty. If by fate Marcus found himself the Roman Emperor there is nothing there that prohibited him from enjoying that, the looms of Fate made him Emperor and it was his social duty to perform that task as best as he could. He kept in mind however that all things were temporary and that one day he would no longer be the Emperor, or be alive for that matter.

Stoic Riches

Note also that the Stoics were financially comfortable and that Seneca and Marcus in particular had riches beyond their dreams. That would seem strange if they didn’t care for such things and didn’t concern themselves with what we today can call consumerism. (Getting the latest gizmo’s just because..) Although they did have an income, they hardly spent it and certainly not on those trivial things. It’s through “living below your means” (As is being taught by hundreds of financial blogs and books) that they amassed wealth. Although they didn’t crave wealth it was because of their philosophy that they did achieve this.

Be happy about whatever comes on your path and enjoy it while it’s there, it will be in the past tomorrow. Don’t worry about it however, you can’t change it anyway.

De posts in the Stoic psychological tactics series:

1. Negative Visualisation

2. The Dichotomy of control

3. Fatalism

4. Self-Denial

5. Meditation

This blogpost is part two in a series of five exploring the stoic psychological tactics that can be used to rediscover joy in your life.

This blogpost borrows heavily from William B Irvine’s A guide to the good life. Although I don’t cite him literally the info in this blogpost can be found in the chapter of his book on the subject of the trichotomy of control. The split from dichotomy in trichotomy is Irvine’s idea. I merely wrote about it here because I found it so valuable that I had to share it. I hope both my readers and the publisher understand this and let this blogpost stay as it is. I say again, I borrowed this in from from Irvine’s book. If you like what you read here, please do read the book! it’s brilliant.

Today I would like to write about the dichotomy of control or rather as Epictetus puts it ” Some things are up to us and some are not up to us”. If we explore this further we come to the understanding that in life, we want things that are up to us, and things that are not up to us.

If we are constantly wanting things that are not up to us chances are that we won’t get them and we will feel miserable and perhaps upset about it. If we do however manage to get that what we want (which was not up to us) we will of course be happy with it. How long wil the happiness last, Hedonic adaptation remember? And how much anxiety will we feel before we get it. We buy a lottery ticket and get totally hyped about winning the jackpot. In our minds we’re already driving around in that Ferrari. When the winning numbers are announced we of course don’t win and are depressed about it.

Wanting things that are not up to you will disturb your sense of tranquility within yourself. Even if you do manage to achieve it you will have had the anxiety that came with the game of chance. Is your peace of mind worth that constant abuse?

Dichotomy or Trichotomy

There is a small problem with the Dichotomy however. If we look at Epictetus’ statement either something is completely under our control, or it’s not under our control at all. Now there are things we can influence and thus have some control over. In a dancing competition we don’t control who wins but we can train hard and do our best, that way we do have an influence.

There are three branches to this control phenomenon:

• Things over which we have complete control (The goals we set for ourselves)
• Things over which we have some but not complete control (That dancing competition)
• Things over which we ave no control at all (The yearly cycle of the seasons)

Everything in life will fall into one of these three branches.

How do we use this to our advantage

So now we have devided everything in life into these three branches, now what can we do with them. First off, does it make any sense at all to worry about things we have no control over whatsoever? Our worrying won’t do us any good at all, it will probably only cause distress. I know it’s hard, but try not to worry about those things anymore. Logically it would just be foolish to keep worrying about them wouldn’t you say. We should instead concern ourselves more with the things we do have (some) control over. Because we have total control over some things, these would need just a little energy to manifest. The things that we have partial influence over are the ones that should deserve most of our attention. It is here that we can make a difference.

What are the things we completely control

Our goals in life are just about the only things we truly control. If I decide to take a sip from the cup of tea that is standing on my desk right now I’m in control of that. (A very minor goal) I however am also the only one who has control over if I manage to complete the MSc. I’ve decided to get. Sure, there are those small things that might set you back a bit, but it’s all about me and if I decide to do all the homework and study no-one can influence me making my homework right? Your goals are under your control and you can easily mold them to fit the situation at hand so we have control.

Back to the dancing competition

So we train long and hard, but we don’t manage to win the contest, what a depressing thing that must be.

Let’s examine that a little closer. What was our goal here? To win the contest. Not something we have total control over and thus we might get disappointed. We didn’t win after all. But what if you internalize your goal. Internalizing your goal here would be to “dance the best you can”. You’ve now made it into something you can control. Whether or not you win doesn’t matter, you’ve accomplished your goal of doing your best and can be proud of your accomplishment. A huge difference compared to being disappointed over not winning.

This all look like a mind game right now, and perhaps it is. But our mind is very powerful tool. In the dance competition we will likely have a little fear of loosing. Not an all to comfortable feeling. (Although the adrenaline this feeling produces might help you get an edge.) By internalizing your goal you can’t loose, or the only one to blame is yourself.

By setting internal goals and worrying only about those things you have (some) control over you can spare yourself a considerable amount disappointment and frustration.

The posts in the Stoic psychological tactics series:

1. Negative Visualisation

2. The Dichotomy of control

3. Fatalism

4. Self-Denial

5. Meditation