tamhonkhoe.comStoicism 2 – Week 1: What belongs to us
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This week: read two passages of Epictetus on the three areas of training slowly, then each evening spend 20–25 minutes on one page of a three-column journal: Desire, Action, Judgement.
Measurable goal: fill all three columns on at least 5 of 7 evenings.
1. Traditional teaching
[Traditional teaching] Stoicism teaches that living well has to be practised daily, like an athlete trains. Epictetus (about AD 50–135) divides this training into three areas: what we desire or avoid, what we do towards others, and what we accept as true. This course goes through all three in 8 weeks, each week leaning towards one area.
There are three things (topics) in which a man ought to exercise himself who would be wise and good. The first concerns the desires and the aversions, that a man may not fail to get what he desires, and that he may not fall into that which he does not desire. The second concerns the movements towards an object and the movements from an object, and generally in doing what a man ought to do, that he may act according to order, to reason, and not carelessly. The third thing concerns freedom from deception and rashness in judgment, and generally it concerns the assents. Of these topics the chief and the most urgent is that which relates to the affects (perturbations); for an affect is produced in no other way than by a failing to obtain that which a man desires or falling into that which a man would wish to avoid. […] The second topic concerns the duties of a man; for I ought not to be free from affects like a statue, but I ought to maintain the relations natural and acquired, as a pious man, as a son, as a father, as a citizen.
In another discourse, Epictetus speaks of what a learner should always have ready, and says it should be written down every day:
What then should a man have in readiness in such circumstances? What else than this? What is mine, and what is not mine; and what is permitted to me, and what is not permitted to me. I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment? […] These are the things which philosophers should meditate on, which they should write daily, in which they should exercise themselves.
Reading it in context
- [Verified] The scholar Pierre Hadot read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations through three "disciplines" taken from Epictetus: the discipline of desire, of action, and of judgement (or assent). This course takes its name from that reading; Epictetus himself speaks of three "topics" (topoi).
- "Not free from affects like a statue": Epictetus says plainly that a Stoic learner still keeps the roles of child, parent and citizen. The training here is not about cutting off feelings or withdrawing from life.
- The second passage is addressed to someone threatened with chains and exile. The man saying it had once been enslaved. [Expert judgement] "Going with smiles" is the ideal of a long-time practitioner, not a demand placed on someone who is struggling.
- "I must die" appears only as an example. Death is the subject of Stoicism 3 and is not discussed here.
2. What science finds
- [Verified] A meta-analysis of 146 randomised studies of writing about one’s experiences and feelings (expressive writing) found a positive but very small overall effect (r = 0.075) on mental and physical health. (Frattaroli 2006)
- [Inference] This week’s three-column journal is not the same as the writing tasks in those studies: here we record and sort, rather than write deeply about feelings. The result only suggests that regular writing may help a little; it does not prove this course’s method.
- [Verified] A pre-registered study of 1,307 people found that a common misreading of Stoicism (wanting to show fewer emotions, wanting to feel less) goes with lower well-being. This is correlational. (Karl et al. 2022)
Limits: we have not found a peer-reviewed review that evaluates a programme based on Epictetus’ three disciplines as such.
3. Practice for adults
20–25 minutes a day in total.
- Slow reading (3 minutes, morning). Read the first passage. Remember three words: Desire – Action – Judgement.
- Three-column journal (15 minutes, evening). Draw three columns on a page and write a few lines in each: - Desire: what did I want today, what did I fear? Was it up to me or not up to me? - Action: what did I do today for someone, in one of my roles (child, parent, friend, colleague)? - Judgement: was there a thought I believed too quickly?
- Choose one thing for tomorrow (3 minutes). Underline one line you want to do better tomorrow.
- Tick it. At the end of the week, count the evenings with all three columns filled; the goal is at least 5 of 7. If a column is empty, leave it empty; there is no need to invent something.
4. Kids' corner 6+
Game: "Three questions before bed" (5 minutes, with an adult)
- The adult asks three questions, one finger for each: - "What did you want today?" - "What good thing did you do for someone today?" - "Was there a time you thought something and then found you were wrong?"
- The adult answers the three questions too, briefly and honestly.
- There are no right or wrong answers. If the child can’t remember, move on to the next question.
5. Stop practising if
- You feel panic, have flashbacks of trauma, have a lasting sense that you or the world are "not real", lose sleep for several nights, or have thoughts of harming yourself.
- Journaling makes you blame yourself more or go over the same thing again and again. Then cut down to one column, or pause.
- People with a history of psychosis, bipolar disorder or severe PTSD should ask a doctor before practising for more than 20 minutes a day.
- If so, stop and see Get help now.
6. Foundation skills on daynentang
If one worry keeps coming back in the journal, daynentang has a lesson with short steps to step out of the loop: Worry and going round in circles (in Vietnamese).
7. Practice for today
Tonight write three lines, one per column: one desire, one action, one thought you believed too quickly.
Science sources
- Frattaroli J (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 823–865. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.823
- Karl JA, Verhaeghen P, Aikman SN, Solem S, Lassen ER, Fischer R (2022). Misunderstood Stoicism: The negative association between Stoic ideology and well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23(7), 3531–3547. doi:10.1007/s10902-022-00563-w
- On Pierre Hadot’s reading of the three disciplines: the review of The Inner Citadel in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1998.11.35.
Scripture sources
- A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion – George Long (Public domain) · link