Some Self Analysis

Well it appears that we have been philosophically opposed to getting on with this project for a couple of months. The central issue, apart from pure laziness, is a difficulty in identifying a new “ism” which provides for clear rules and practical application.

So, instead of digging into a philosophy and adapting ourselves to meet the espoused principles, we are instead going to take a page out of one of the many books of English ponderer Michael de Montaigne. De Montaigne advised his friends that if they wished to know who he truly was, they should visit the library. The quotidian aspects of his own life were the subject of his musings and he was more open and honest with his readers than with anyone else. He analysed his own habits and behaviours, from what he liked to eat to his preferred circumstances for taking a shit. A novel concept in the 16^th century.

 Living an analysed life is central part of many philosophies and after a bit of poring over de Montaigne’s essays, we’ll be back with some rules on doing just that.

Montaigne, The Essays

Epicurean wrap-up

Well Geoffrey, I’d say you certainly had a more successful Epicurean experience this week than me, although I did rally towards the end, clocking up a number of specifically scheduled meals with friends in order to get my numbers up and try to savour the experience.

Despite that, my big lesson out of the week has been that making the most out of life (Epicurean style) can take quite a lot of effort to arrange, which feels counterintuitive. I’m sure that over time one could form established habits, but as a 7 day experiment, it was unexpectedly much harder to implement than the constant virtuousness of Stoicism.

I liked the “always eat when hungry and only then” rule - harder to implement than it sounds, but a great reason to snack the moment the munchies hit. Avoiding anxiety was also very tricky, but I did my best to take deep breaths on some current causes of such, and live more in the moment. Remembering the Epicurean viewpoint of no afterlife helped focus on enjoying the now - the only time we know we still have.

What did you learn last week Geoff?

“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.”

Epicurus in Letter to Menoeceus, from Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius, translated by Robert Drew Hicks

Simon.

* * *

Well Simon, I think the impediment for us was the inability to commit 100% to the specifications of this philosophy. While our rules moved us closer to the happiness espoused by the Epicurean philosophy – unsurprisingly feeding myself, addressing my worries rather than ignoring them, and spending an increased amount of time with people I like was all very pleasurable – we weren’t able to commit to one concept that I think was essential: freedom.

Without uprooting our lives entirely and moving into a commune with a like minded group of pleasure seekers willing to abstain from the modern world and live in self-sufficient harmony, I don’t think we were ever going to live quite as Epicurus and his mob suggested. If I could live in a world where going to a paying job each day and having to use the Myki system were not realities, it is quite apparent how much happier life could be. But you and I suffer the very fear that Epicureans advocated the need to free ourselves from. We were not willing to sacrifice the apparent security of this world, its pressures and expectations, to find happiness on our own terms.

As with the Stoic concept of virtue, it’s not that hard to identify just what it is that you find to be virtuous or pleasurable, it’s just difficult to commit to change even if that would lead to a good or happy life.

Geoff.

Three days of Epicureanism: a status report in chat form

Simon: So Geoff, how goes Epicureanism for you?

Geoff: Fucking peachy Simon. How about you?

S: Quite terrible. I am failing at this right now.

G: I don’t think that can be quite right. I have read quite consistently that there is a strong link between Epicurean and Stoic philosophies but I’ve actually found that while Stoicism required a real focus and a constant fear that you were “failing”, Epicureanism, if it has anything to do with the rules that we have set for ourselves (probably not?) is a wonderful excuse to enjoy life. I’ve been living three days of doing what I please. In fact, I have been pushed into doing more of the things that bring me pleasure than I otherwise would.

S: I think it’s just a confluence of events that is conspiring to have me fail, in particular, the friendship challenges we set ourselves. My day job and my hobby are all, this week in particular, taking up a lot of my time, and it seems that if there is one thing you need to maintain friendships, it’s time.

G: Yeah, but again, you can’t actually fail. By having to eat with other people, you’re pushed to value that time and to actually take the time to engage with people.

S: Sure, but the fact that I’ve eaten the majority of meals since Sunday alone, would beg to differ.

G: Mmm, maybe you need to write more journals at the end of the day and reflect on how you’re not using your time pleasurably...

S: Yes, well, I have been examining my anxieties...

G: Anxieties? I have no anxieties! Everything is pleasure and happiness.

S: Don’t interrupt, happy boy.

G: Okay, this blog post is weird and going nowhere. I’m leaving. Be sure that I’ll be enjoying whatever it is I move onto. Out.

S: Well, that’s our status report, I guess. Epicureanism in action?

Epicureanism - A Week in the Pursuit of Pleasure

March 30 - April 5

"Pleasure is the beginning and the goal of a happy life" Epicurus as cited by Botton in The Consolations of Philosophy, p.50

Epicureans believe that:

• the pursuit of happiness is the purpose of life
• there is a hierarchy of humans needs; in order to be happy we must first address our primal needs for shelter, food and warmth
• happiness is acquired through:
• the possession of friendship;
• the experience of sensual pleasures;
• the avoidance/cessation of pain;
• ataraxy: freedom from anxieties and the fear of death.
• there is no life after death

Alain de Botton, author of The Consolations of Philosophy, has been accused of grossly oversimplifying philosophical concepts. This has worked in our favour and we will be basing our rules this week predominantly on his sifted version of Epicureanism...

1. Friendship

"Of all the things that wisdom provides to help live one's entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship" Epicurus as cited by Botton in The Consolations of Philosophy, p.57

• Rule: dedicate time every day to maintaining friendships

"Before you eat or drink anything, consider carefully who you eat or drink with rather than what you eat or drink: for feeding without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf" Epicurus as cited by Botton in The Consolations of Philosophy, p.57

• Rule: always eat in company

2. Meeting basic needs

"... happiness (eudaimonia), according to Epicurus, is ... a form of pleasure in its own right - ... kinetic pleasures involve ... the pleasurable elimination of hunger or thirst. As the need is met, however, the pleasure associated with replenishment diminishes: one does not enjoy eating for replenishment when full." Epicurus; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• Rule: always eat when hungry and only then; enjoy the moment; choose quality over quantity

3. Living an analysed life

"Mankind is perpetually the victim of a pointless and futile martyrdom, fretting life away in fruitless worries through failure to realise what limit is set to acquisition and to the growth of genuine pleasure" Epicurus as cited by Botton in The Consolations of Philosophy, p.70 

• Rule: at the end of each day write down your anxieties. Reflect on their impact on your pursuit of happiness. Are they baseless? What can you do to eliminate them?

March: Epicureanism

Reading list:

Letter to Herodotus by Epicurus, from Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius, translated by Robert Drew Hicks

Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus, from Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius, translated by Robert Drew Hicks

Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius, translated by William Ellery Leonard

Epicurus; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Takeaways after 7 days

Gotta agree with Geoff - a lot of perseverance was required to get through this week. I was very glad to see Aurelius himself pardoning my failures, for they were many, and they weighed on me (which is another failure, I guess!)

Today I attempted some reflection on my week, with a focus on any lessons learnt. My self-imposed virtuous restrictions directed a lot of my energy over the last 7 days to ticking things off a to-do list. That list still has a lot of things on it, but I'm genuinely happy to have made a dent in it, and I'd like to keep chipping away at it. The 100% focus was obviously too much, but perhaps I can set a somewhat more forgiving routine that none the less schedules mandated daily time to the task. It'll take resolve, but I know I'll appreciate the results. We'll see.

Stay tuned for news of Simon and Geoff's next adventure in philosophy - a new subject and a new reading list should be coming your way soon.

Simon

On Having a Go

With one more day of Stoicism through which to persevere, and it has felt like perseverance, I thought I might reflect briefly on how the week has gone and what has come of it.

We've eaten plainly but not avoided flavour entirely, nor ignored hunger. We've slept on soft beds with pillows and blankets. We've paid little attention to our dress (not much of a change there) but not stepped bravely outside societal norms to meet some utilitarian ideal. We've held our tongues and reflected on our actions. We've avoided (mostly) the idle, shallow pursuits that are usually our daily companions and focused our energies instead on what we knew needed to be done.

Were we successful? Were we good Stoics? Well, we had a go.

As always, I'll let Marcus weigh in on the subject:

"Your attempt was always subject to reservations, remember; you were not aiming at the impossible. At what, then? Simply at making the attempt itself. In this you succeeded; and with that, the object of your existence is attained." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VI, 50)

Geoff

On the fifth day, did Simon contain his excitement?

This evening I unexpectedly hit a milestone on a personal project I've been putting a lot of effort into for some time now. And I got energetically happy. Couldn't help it. Felt great.

Then I remembered that good Stoics contain their emotions. And that annoyed me, because feeling joyful is nice, so why would Stoics not want that?

The thing about Stoics is they achieve happiness by being virtuous in the moment. Every moment. There's no space to dwell on past virtuousness. Gotta be virtuous again. The time to be happy about my achievement was when I was doing the virtuous things that would eventually lead me there. The virtue was in the doing, not the outcome. When I felt joy this evening, what I wasn't doing, at that moment, was anything virtuous. I was basking, which is inherently self centred, and not virtuous. A good Stoic finds no happiness there.

Simon

Eating Stoically on Day Four

A great deal of Stoicism seems to be about consciously avoiding things that you might enjoy. With this in mind, it can be helpful to think of ways to make such things seem less appealing:

"When meat and other dainties are before you, you reflect: This is dead fish, or fowl, or pig; or: This Falernian is some of the juice from a bunch of grapes; my purple robe is sheep's wool stained with a little gore from a shellfish; copulation is friction of the members and an ejaculatory discharge. Reflections of this kind go to the bottom of things, penetrating into them and exposing their real nature." (Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, Book VI, 13, emphasis added)

Now, I'm talking about Stoics and food but I also can't help but think that either the translator was having fun here or dear Marcus was busy with self talk when he wrote this passage: "Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts..."

This morning I had a smoothie for breakfast. The inherent appeal of this was effectively diminished by its greenness, viscosity and tartness. The greenness was pureed silverbeet. It was a stoic smoothie.A small bowl of chickpeas made a morning snack and plain chicken with quinoa and olives was lunch.While I did go out for dinner it was to a cheap and grimy Chinese restaurant with notoriously indifferent service. I didn't mind. I'm focused on the higher goal of some sort of inner mastery.

While I haven't eschewed meat and flavour entirely, I have drunk only water and eaten mainly with nutrition and energy in mind. The important concept seems to be the value you place on the triviality of sensation, taste in this case. I'm not sure what there is to eat tomorrow but I will attend to it frugally. For now I must focus on what's most important: the present and the virtuous opportunities it affords.

Geoff

Day Three - on the matter of gossip

A good Stoic does not engage in gossip, nor any kind of negative talk behind someone's back. Such talk is unproductive, dishonest, and certainly not virtuous. The pleasure derived from secretly revelling in another person's inadequacies should be anathema to a good Stoic, who achieves contentment and happiness only through actions of purely virtuous intent.

I wasn't a very good Stoic today.

Yesterday I did a reasonably good job of curtailing my involvement in negative conversation. I passively and noncommittally observed a number of opportunities to follow another's lead in gossiping. On a couple of occasions I slipped and started to contribute, but quite quickly caught myself.

Today I had a generally busier and more intellectually challenging day and my mind was quite focussed. I think this focus had a side effect of lowering my Stoic guard, and on reflection I am aware of a number of occasions where I automatically participated in moments of conversation that were not very virtuous.

There is a euphoria that comes with sharing an unflattering story with a fellow conspirator. But it is fleeting and only self-serving within that brief moment. It does nothing to help anyone grow or improve their character or their contribution.

I wasn't a very good Stoic today, but I'll try to be a better one tomorrow.

Simon

Two Days of Stoic Reflection

When we started looking at Stoicism I thought of crotchety old men eating hard bread and sleeping on the floor. I thought austerity and hardship were the cornerstones of this philosophy. The idea seemed to be that suffering was virtue. Hardly very appealing. What is there to look forward to in life? In trying to follow the rules we have set down, I have found, as Simon has, that attempting to live up to Stoic ideals prompts reflection. Through this, the answer to the question "what is virtue" seems a little clearer than before.

My first two days consisted mainly of intense exercise, household chores, work and study. Having said this, there were many times when I realised, or it was pointed out to me (thanks Simon), that though the task on which I was focused could arguably be a virtuous and worthwhile pursuit, it was, perhaps, not the highest on a list of appropriate pursuits.

I have found myself suddenly aware of all the little luxuries that make life more pleasant: chocolate in my coffee to take away its bitterness; the snooze button on the alarm clock to stay the new day and its demands; or starting with the lesser of two unpleasant necessities. These choices fail to meet Stoic ideals on two levels. Firstly, the need for these luxuries is an acknowledgement that the lessened hardship was too much to bear. Secondly, they seem an acknowledgement of my sense of self-importance, that I should give over what little time I have on this Earth not to acts of virtue and utility but in search of my own comfort and relief.

I found myself very aware in these moments not only of what I was doing (which was what I wanted to do) but of what I should have been doing or needed to be doing. The ambiguity of what was and what was not virtuous, which I had felt before this week began, is gone. There is a mastery of the self that appears to be required of the Stoic. You are not to feel too keenly the pains and difficulties of life nor take too much joy in its pleasures. The payoff seems to be that along with your understanding of your own insignificance, you understand the insignificance of all others. And so, if you do only what you know to be right and virtuous (which you can only know within yourself), then no one can bring you down and you need no one else to raise you up.

Geoff

Stoic Week: Day One

Well it has been quite a challenging day.

I started this morning with some reflection on the day ahead, and this morphed into writing a long to-do list of virtuous activities. Mainly things I've been procrastinating on, some new, some very old. I worked through a few of them today, and I do feel better for it, although the road wasn't always smooth.

It's interesting how it can take a deliberate behavioural change (like being a Stoic for a week) to shine a fresh light on your standard behaviours. The number of times today I automatically reached out to open a news website, or Facebook, or Reddit - literally all day long. It took a lot of self control to resist.

There were two clear moments of considerable frustration today - one of my own making and one of someone else's. I really struggled to let those moments go and not get worked up inside. I guess one of the things about Stoicism is constant reflection and awareness - being a perfect Stoic doesn't happen overnight. I'm doing ok for day one.

Simon

Stoicism - A Week of Austerity and Virtue

February 23 - March 1

Having dipped our toes into our reading list over the past weeks, what we’ve determined foremost is that properly understanding Stoic philosophy is a very difficult thing. It is dependent upon understanding and interpreting some subjective, and at times contradictory, concepts. This at least will be our claim whenever we misinterpret anything this year.

Before we set out our rules for a week of living stoically, we’re going to attempt to summarise our key takeaways about Stoicism in a series of dot points. Hopefully without Seneca rolling in his grave too many times, though as a Stoic he’d argue that the feelings and opinions of dead men are of little relevance to us anyway:

Stoics believe that:

• happiness is “living in agreement with nature”
• leading a virtuous life is the only way to lead a truly happy life
• virtues include moderation, courage, justice, and wisdom
• living virtuously involves avoiding procrastination, pretentious over-refinement, talkativeness, officiousness, uttering complaints, striking poses, craving solitude (or crowds), or being subject to your emotions
• virtuous behaviour is rational, as opposed to emotional, behaviour
• the pursuit of other things in accordance with our nature (money, health, friendships) is rational insofar as it does not clash with our virtuous intent
• emotions are the product of our judgments about what is good and bad in life
• if we make better, more rational, more virtuous decisions, we have no need for excessive emotions, either positive and negative
• making decisions with virtuous intent is enough for happiness; it is not necessary for happiness that outcomes beyond our control align with our intent
• death is coming and we must make use of the present before our time is gone
• a man should be self-sufficient, neither relying on the praise or recognition of others nor smarting from their disapproval

One of the central tenets of Stoicism is the maintenance of a kind of mindfulness, a virtuous self-control and self-awareness, which ensures you make proper use of the time you have and that you live a good life. With that in mind, Geoff’s quote of the month:

“Letting go all else, cling to the following few truths. Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant: all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed. This mortal life is a little thing, lived in a little corner of the earth; and little, too, is the longest fame to come - dependent as it is on a succession of fast-perishing little men who have no knowledge even of their own selves, much less of one long dead and gone.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book III, 10).

Geoff and Simon’s rules for living stoically:

• Try throughout the day to be mindful of each moment and each choice we make, and make rational, virtuous decisions that are not governed by emotion.
• make productive use of our time in the pursuit of things that we know to be use and benefit to ourselves and others:
• don’t procrastinate on things we know we should be doing; if it can be done now, do it;
• eat only simple and nutritious foods;
• wear only plain or utilitarian clothing.
• reflect each morning on the expected decisions ahead of us, and on how we can apply rational and virtuous thinking to them;
• reflect each evening on our choices and behaviours during the day, on where we may have failed to act with virtue, and on how we can improve in the future.
• Avoid behaviours and habits that are not virtuous, nor in agreement with our fundamental nature. This includes but is by no means limited to:
• the consumption of entertainment for entertainment’s sake, including television, movies, video games (including Words with Friends!), reading and gambling (no horse races sorry Paddy!);
• the consumption of alcohol;
• engaging in gossip;
• complaining about pain, perceived insults or the choices or actions of others.
• Avoid excessive emotion. Instead, apply rationality to circumstances beyond our control and accept things as they are.

That's about as many rules as we can stomach. Reports from the field will be dutifully appearing. This is Stoic week after all.

February: Stoicism

Reading list:

Of a Happy Life (De Vita Beata) by Seneca, translated by Aubrey Stewart

Of Peace of Mind by Seneca, translated by Aubrey Stewart

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, translated by Meric Casaubon

Stoicism; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy