## Bewertung Der Autor geht mir ein bisschen auf den Sack, weil er offenkundig Exegese nach Gutdünken macht und sich die Texte so zurechtbiegt, damit sie in seine Argumentation passen. Gibt es sogar zu. Finde ich irgendwie billig und flach. Nichtsdestotrotz hat das Buch viele gute Anstöße und interessante Punkte. Ist aber auch etwas seltsam aufgebaut und mit unnötig langen zusammenfassenden Kapiteln. Rating: 3/5 ## Notes Furthermore, these ancient philosophers did not keep their discoveries to themselves or share ([Location 100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=100)) - them only with their fellow philosophers. Rather, they formed **schools** and welcomed as their pupils anyone wishing to acquire a philosophy of life. Different schools offered different advice on what people must do in order to have a good life. Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, founded the Cynic school of philosophy, which advocated an ascetic lifestyle. Aristippus, another pupil of Socrates, founded the Cyrenaic school, which advocated a hedonistic lifestyle. In between these extremes, we find, among many other schools, the Epicurean school, the Skeptic school, and, of most interest to us here, the Stoic school, founded by Zeno of Citium. ([Location 100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=100)) - I discovered, though, that the goal of the Stoics was not to banish emotion from life but to banish negative emotions. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=146)) - For the Stoics, a person’s virtue does not depend, for example, on her sexual history. Instead, it depends on her excellence as a human being—on how well she ([Location 470](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=470)) - performs the function for which humans were designed. ([Location 471](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=471)) - And for what function were people designed? ... From this we can conclude, Zeno would assert, that we were designed to be reasonable. ([Location 475](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=475)) - And if we use our reason, we will further conclude that we were designed to do certain things, that we have certain duties. Most significantly, since nature intended us to be social creatures, we have duties to our fellow men. ([Location 478](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=478)) - The Romans also made subtle changes in the Greek Stoics’ ethical program. As we have seen, the primary ethical goal of the Greek Stoics was the attainment of virtue. The Roman Stoics retained this goal, but we find them also repeatedly advancing a second goal: the attainment of tranquility. And by tranquility they did not have in mind a zombie-like state. (To advocate that kind of tranquility, after all, would be a rejection of the rationality that the Stoics thought essential to virtuous living.) Rather, Stoic tranquility was a psychological state marked by the absence of negative emotions, such as grief, anger, and anxiety, and the presence of positive emotions, such as joy. ([Location 507](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=507)) - Besides thinking that philosophy should be practical, Musonius thought the study of philosophy should be universal. Indeed, he argued that both women and men “have received from the gods the same reasoning power.” Consequently, women, like men, can benefit from education and the study of philosophy.17 Because he held these views when he did, Musonius has been applauded by modern feminists. ([Location 646](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=646)) ## New highlights added August 20, 2021 at 9:36 PM - hedonic adaptation. ([Location 805](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=805)) - As a result of the adaptation process, people find themselves on a **satisfaction treadmill**. ([Location 818](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=818)) - They are unhappy when they detect an unfulfilled desire within them. They work hard to fulfill this desire, in the belief that on fulfilling it, they will gain satisfaction. The problem, though, is that once they fulfill a desire for something, they adapt to its presence in their life and as a result stop desiring it—or at any rate, don’t find it as desirable as they once did. They end up just as dissatisfied as they were before fulfilling the desire. ([Location 818](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=818)) - In other words, we need a technique for creating in ourselves a desire for the things we already have. ([Location 826](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=826)) - THE STOICS THOUGHT they had an answer to this question. They recommended that we spend time imagining that we have lost the things we value—that our wife has left us, our car was stolen, or we lost our job. Doing this, the Stoics thought, will make us value our wife, our car, and our job more than we otherwise would. This technique—let us refer to it as negative visualization—was employed by the Stoics at least as far back as Chrysippus.5 It is, I think, the single most valuable technique in the Stoics’ psychological tool kit. ([Location 829](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=829)) - This, however, is not what the Stoics had in mind when they advise us to live as if today were our last day. To them, living as if each day were our last is simply an extension of the negative visualization technique: As we go about our day, we should periodically pause to reflect on the fact that we will not live forever and therefore that this day could be our last. Such reflection, rather than converting us into hedonists, will make us appreciate how wonderful it is that we are alive and have the opportunity to fill this day with activity. ([Location 863](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=863)) - The negative visualization technique, by the way, can also be used in reverse: Besides imagining that the bad things that happened to others happen to us, we can imagine that the bad things that happen to us happened instead to others. In his Handbook, Epictetus advocates this sort of “projective visualization.” Suppose, he says, that our servant breaks a cup.15 We are likely to get angry and have our tranquility disrupted by the incident. One way to avert this anger is to think about how we would feel if the incident had happened to someone else instead. ([Location 970](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=970)) - Engaging in projective visualization, Epictetus believes, will make us appreciate the relative insignificance of the bad things that happen to us and will therefore prevent them from disrupting our tranquility. ([Location 975](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=975)) - In response to this objection, let me point out that it is a mistake to think Stoics will spend all their time contemplating potential catastrophes. It is instead something they will do periodically: A few times each day or a few times each week a Stoic will pause in his enjoyment of life to think about how all this, all these things he enjoys, could be taken from him. ([Location 984](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=984)) - Furthermore, there is a difference between contemplating something bad happening and worrying about it. Contemplation is an intellectual exercise, and it is possible for us to conduct such exercises without its affecting our emotions. ([Location 987](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=987)) - Negative visualization, in other words, teaches us to embrace whatever life we happen to be living and to extract every bit of delight we can from it. But it simultaneously teaches us to prepare ourselves for changes that will deprive us of the things that delight us. It teaches us, in other words, to enjoy what we have without clinging to it. ([Location 1018](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1018)) - By contemplating the impermanence of everything in the world, we are forced to recognize that every time we do something could be the last time we do it, and this recognition can invest the things we do with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent. We will no longer sleepwalk through our life. ([Location 1039](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1039)) - A better strategy for getting what you want, he says, is to make it your goal to want only those things that are easy to obtain—and ideally to want only those things that you can be certain of obtaining. ([Location 1053](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1053)) - While most people seek to gain contentment by changing the world around them, Epictetus advises us to gain contentment by changing ourselves ([Location 1054](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1054)) - precisely, by changing our desires. ([Location 1055](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1055)) - Your primary desire, says Epictetus, should be your desire not to be frustrated by forming desires you won’t be able to fulfill. Your other desires should conform to this desire, and if they don’t, you should do your best to extinguish them. If you succeed in doing this, you will no longer experience anxiety about whether or not you will get what you want; nor will you experience disappointment on not getting what you want. ([Location 1058](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1058)) - This in turn suggests the possibility of restating Epictetus’s dichotomy of control as a trichotomy: There are things over which we have complete control, things over which we have no control at all, and things over which we have some but not complete control. Each of the “things” we encounter in life will fall into one and only one of these three categories. ([Location 1094](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1094)) - I think that when a Stoic concerns himself with things over which he has some but not complete control, such as winning a tennis match, he will be very careful about the goals he sets for himself. In particular, he will be careful to set internal rather than external goals. ([Location 1164](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1164)) - Thus, his goal in playing tennis will not be to win a match (something external, over which he has only partial control) but to play to the best of his ability in the match (something internal, over which he has complete control). ([Location 1166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1166)) - Stoics would recommend, for example, that I concern myself with whether my wife loves me, even though this is something over which I have some but not complete control. But when I do concern myself with this, my goal should not be the external goal of making her love me; no matter how hard I try, I could fail to achieve this goal and would as a result be quite upset. Instead, my goal should be an internal goal: to behave, to the best of my ability, in a lovable manner. ([Location 1180](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1180)) - IT IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT, I think, for us to internalize our goals if we are in a profession in which “external failure” is commonplace. ([Location 1187](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1187)) - A practicing Stoic will keep the trichotomy of control firmly in mind as he goes about his daily affairs. He will perform a kind of triage in which he sorts the elements of his life into three categories: those over which he has complete control, those over which he has no control at all, and those over which he has some but not complete control. The things in the second category—those over which he has no control at all—he will set aside as not worth worrying about. In doing this, he will spare himself a great deal of needless anxiety. He will instead concern himself with things over which he has complete control and things over which he has some but not complete control. And when he concerns himself with things in this last category, he will be careful to set internal rather than external goals for himself and will thereby avoid a considerable amount of frustration and disappointment. ([Location 1226](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1226)) - THIS LEAVES US, of course, with a puzzle: Although the Stoics advocate fatalism, they seem not to have practiced it. What are we to make, then, of their advice that we take a fatalistic attitude toward the things that happen to us? ([Location 1257](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1257)) - To solve this puzzle, we need to distinguish between fatalism with respect to the future and fatalism with respect to the past. ([Location 1259](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1259)) - When a person is fatalistic with respect to the future, she will keep firmly in mind, when deciding what to do, that her actions can have no effect on future events. ([Location 1259](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1259)) - When a person is fatalistic with respect to the past, she adopts this same attitude toward past events. She will keep firmly in mind, when deciding what to do, that her actions can have no effect on the past. Such a person is unlikely to spend time and energy ([Location 1261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1261)) - thinking about how the past might be different. ([Location 1263](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1263)) - Furthermore, they did not inflict these discomforts to punish themselves; rather, they did it to increase their enjoyment of life. And finally, it is misleading to talk about the Stoics inflicting discomforts on themselves. This creates the image of someone at odds with himself, of someone forcing himself to do things he doesn’t want to do. The Stoics, by way of contrast, welcomed a degree of discomfort in their life. What the Stoics were advocating, then, is more appropriately described as a program of voluntary discomfort than as a program of self-inflicted discomfort. ([Location 1348](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1348)) - To begin with, by undertaking acts of voluntary discomfort—by, for example, choosing to be cold and hungry when we could be warm and well fed—we harden ourselves against misfortunes that might befall us in the future. ([Location 1355](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1355)) - A second benefit of undertaking acts of voluntary discomfort comes not in the future but immediately. A person who periodically experiences minor discomforts will grow confident that he can withstand major discomforts as well, so the prospect of experiencing such discomforts at some future time will not, at present, be a source of anxiety for him. By experiencing minor discomforts, he is, says Musonius, training himself to be courageous. ([Location 1361](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1361)) - A third benefit of undertaking acts of voluntary discomfort is that it helps us appreciate what we already have. ([Location 1366](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1366)) - TO HELP US ADVANCE our practice of Stoicism, Seneca advises that we periodically meditate on the events of daily living, how we responded to these events, and how, in accordance with Stoic principles, we should have responded to them. ([Location 1439](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1439)) - quite active during a bedtime meditation. He will think about the events of the day. Did something disrupt his tranquility? Did he experience anger? Envy? Lust? Why did the day’s events upset him? Is there something he could have done to avoid getting upset? ([Location 1458](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1458)) - Epictetus takes Seneca’s bedtime-meditation advice one step further: He suggests that as we go about our daily business, we should simultaneously play the roles of participant and spectator.3 We should, in other words, create within ourselves a Stoic observer who watches us and comments on our attempts to practice Stoicism. ([Location 1460](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1460)) - The most important sign that we are making progress as Stoics, though, is a change in our emotional life. It isn’t, as those ignorant of the true nature of Stoicism commonly believe, that we will stop experiencing emotion. We will instead find ourselves experiencing fewer negative emotions. We will also find that we are spending less time than we used to wishing things could be different and more time enjoying things as they are. We will find, more generally, that we are experiencing a degree of tranquility that our life previously ([Location 1493](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1493)) - lacked. ([Location 1496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1496)) - We might also discover, perhaps to our amazement, that our practice of Stoicism has made us susceptible to little outbursts of joy: We will, out of the blue, feel delighted to be the person we are, living the life we are living, in the universe we happen to inhabit. ([Location 1496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1496)) - WHAT ABOUT those occasions on which, in order to do our social duty, we must deal with annoying people? How can we prevent them from disturbing our tranquility? Marcus recommends that when we interact with an annoying person, we keep in mind that there are doubtless people who find us to be annoying. More generally, when we find ourselves irritated by someone’s shortcomings, we should pause to reflect on our own shortcomings. Doing this will help us become more empathetic to this individual’s faults and therefore become more tolerant of him. When dealing with an annoying person, it also helps to keep in mind that our annoyance at what he does will almost invariably be more detrimental to us than whatever it is he is doing. ([Location 1629](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1629)) - Marcus, as we have seen, advocates fatalism, as do the other Stoics. What Marcus seems to be advocating in the passages just cited is a special kind of fatalism, what might be called social fatalism: In our dealings with others, we should operate on the assumption that they are fated to behave in a certain way. It is therefore pointless to wish they could be less annoying. ([Location 1644](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1644)) - One of their sting-elimination strategies is to pause, when insulted, to consider whether what the insulter said is true. If it is, there is little reason to be upset. Suppose, for example, that someone mocks us for being bald when we in fact are bald: “Why is it an insult,” Seneca asks, “to be told what is self-evident?”3 ([Location 1715](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1715)) - Another sting-elimination strategy, suggested by Epictetus, is to pause to consider how well-informed the insulter is. He might be saying something bad about us not because he wants to hurt our feelings but because he sincerely believes what he is saying, or, at any rate, he might simply be reporting how things seem to him. ([Location 1718](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1718)) - One particularly powerful sting-elimination strategy is to consider the source of an insult. If I respect the source, if I value his opinions, then his critical remarks shouldn’t upset me. ([Location 1721](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1721)) - Suppose, however, that I don’t respect the source of an insult; indeed, suppose that I take him to be a thoroughly contemptible individual. Under such circumstances, rather than feeling hurt by his insults, I should feel relieved: If he disapproves of what I am doing, then what I am doing is doubtless the right thing to do. ([Location 1726](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1726)) - In the same way that a mother would be foolish to let the “insults” of her toddler upset her, we would be foolish to let the insults of these childish adults upset us. ([Location 1731](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1731)) - Indeed, a Stoic sage, were one to exist, would probably take the insults of his fellow humans to be like the barking of a dog. ([Location 1736](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1736)) - By laughing off an insult, we are implying that we don’t take the insulter and his insults seriously. To imply this, of course, is to insult the insulter without directly doing so. It is therefore a response that is likely to deeply frustrate the insulter. For this reason, a humorous reply to an insult can be far more effective than a counterinsult would be. ([Location 1770](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1770)) - The Stoics realized this and as a result advocated a second way to respond to insults: with no response at all. Instead of reacting to an insult, says Musonius, we should “calmly and quietly bear what has happened.” This is, he reminds us, “appropriate behavior for a person who wants to be magnanimous.” ([Location 1776](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1776)) - The advantage of a nonresponse, of simply carrying on as if the insulter hadn’t even spoken, is that it requires no thought on our part. ([Location 1779](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1779)) - For one thing, as Seneca points out, our nonresponse can be quite disconcerting to the insulter, who will wonder whether or not we understood his insult. Furthermore, we are robbing him of the pleasure of having upset us, and he is likely to be upset as a result. ([Location 1785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1785)) - The danger in responding to insults with humor or with no response at all is that some insulters are sufficiently slow-witted that they won’t realize that by refusing to respond to their insults with counterinsults, we are displaying disdain for what they think of us. Rather than being humiliated by our response, they might be encouraged by our jokes or silence, and they might start bombarding us with an endless stream of insults. ([Location 1794](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1794)) - In such cases, though, the Stoic needs to keep in mind that he is punishing the insulter not because she has wronged him but to correct her improper behavior. It is, says Seneca, like training an animal: If in the course of trying to train a horse, we punish him, it should be because we want him to obey us in the future, not because we are angry about his failure to obey us in the past. ([Location 1803](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1803)) - Buddhists practice a similar thought-substitution technique. When they are experiencing an unwholesome thought, Buddhists force themselves to think the opposite, and therefore wholesome, thought. If they are experiencing anger, for example, they force themselves to think about love. The claim is that because two opposite thoughts cannot exist in one mind at one time, the wholesome thought will drive out the unwholesome one. ([Location 1956](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1956)) - When, as the result of being exposed to luxurious living, people become hard to please, a curious thing happens. Rather than mourning the loss of their ability to enjoy simple things, they take pride in their newly gained inability to enjoy anything but “the best.” The Stoics, however, would pity these individuals. They would point out that by undermining their ability to enjoy simple, easily obtainable things—bowls of macaroni and cheese, for example—these individuals have seriously impaired their ability to enjoy life. The Stoics work hard to avoid falling victim to this kind of connoisseurship. Indeed, the Stoics value highly their ability to enjoy ordinary life—and indeed, their ability to find sources of delight even when living in primitive conditions. ([Location 2085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2085)) ## New highlights added August 24, 2021 at 11:07 AM - To begin with, the Stoics recommend that we prepare for our dealings with other people before we have to deal with them. Thus, Epictetus advises us to form “a certain character and pattern” for ourselves when we are alone. Then, when we associate with other people, we should remain true to who we are.1 ([Location 1601](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1601)) - Stoics, however, have a three-part strategy for minimizing this fear or avoiding it altogether. To begin with, they will do their best to enjoy things that can’t be taken from them, most notably their character. Along these lines, consider Marcus’s ([Location 2434](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2434)) - comment that if we fall victim to a catastrophe, we can still take delight in the fact that it has not, because of the character we possess, made us bitter.4 Furthermore, as they are enjoying things that can be taken from them—the Stoics, as we have seen, are not averse to doing this—they will simultaneously be preparing for the loss of those things. In particular, as part of our practice of negative visualization, say the Stoics, we need to keep in mind that it is a lucky accident that we are enjoying whatever it is we are enjoying, that our enjoyment of it might end abruptly, and that we might never be able to enjoy it again. ([Location 2435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2435)) - Finally, the Stoics are careful to avoid becoming connoisseurs in the worst sense of the word—becoming, that is, individuals who are incapable of taking ([Location 2441](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2441)) - delight in anything but “the best.” As a result, they will be capable of enjoying a wide range of easily obtainable things. ([Location 2442](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2442)) - Because they have learned to enjoy things that are easily obtainable or that can’t be taken from them, Stoics will find much in life to enjoy. They might, as a result, discover that they enjoy ([Location 2448](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2448)) - being the person they are, living the life they are living, in the universe they happen to inhabit. This, I should add, is no small accomplishment. ([Location 2449](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2449)) - Stoics might also find that besides enjoying things in life, they enjoy the mere fact of being alive; they experience, in other words, joy itself. ([Location 2451](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2451)) - The Stoics pointed to two principal sources of human unhappiness—our insatiability and our tendency to worry about things beyond our control—and they developed techniques for removing these sources of unhappiness from our life. ([Location 2700](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2700)) - To conquer our insatiability, the Stoics advise us to engage in negative visualization. ([Location 2702](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2702)) - And besides simply imagining that things could be worse than they are, we should sometimes cause things to be worse than they would otherwise be; Seneca advises us to “practice poverty,” ([Location 2705](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2705)) - To curb our tendency to worry about things beyond our control, the Stoics advise us to perform a kind of triage with respect to the elements of our life and sort them into those we have no control over, those we have complete control over, and those we have some but not complete control over. Having done this, we should not bother about things over which we have no control. Instead, we should spend some of our time dealing with things over which we have complete control, such as our goals and values, and spend most of our time dealing with things over which we have some but not complete control. If we do this, we will avoid experiencing much needless anxiety. ([Location 2708](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2708)) - When we spend time dealing with things over which we have some but not complete control, we should be careful to internalize our goals. My goal in playing tennis, for example, should be not to win the match but to play the best match possible. ([Location 2712](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2712)) - IF SOMEONE ASKED ME why Stoicism works, I would not tell a story about Zeus (or God). Instead, I would talk about evolutionary theory, according to which we humans came to exist as the result of an interesting series of biological accidents. I would then start talking about evolutionary psychology, according to which we humans, besides gaining a certain anatomy and physiology through evolutionary processes, gained certain psychological traits, such as a tendency to experience fear or anxiety under certain circumstances and a tendency to experience pleasure under other circumstances. I would explain that we evolved these tendencies not so that we could have a good life but so that we would be likely to survive and reproduce. ([Location 2733](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2733)) - I would, at this point, pause to make sure my listener understands how our evolutionary past contributes to our current psychological makeup. ([Location 2741](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2741)) - Thanks to our evolutionary past, today’s humans find it pleasant to gain social status and unpleasant to lose it. This is why it is delightful when others praise us and painful when they insult us. ([Location 2763](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2763)) - WE HAVE THE ABILITIES we do because possessing them enabled our evolutionary ancestors to survive and reproduce. From this it does not follow, though, that we must use these abilities to survive and reproduce. Indeed, thanks to our reasoning ability, we have it in our power to “misuse” our evolutionary inheritance. ([Location 2770](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2770)) - More important, we can use our reasoning ability to conclude that many of the things that our evolutionary programming encourages us to seek, such as social status and more of anything we already have, may be valuable if our goal is simply to survive and reproduce, but aren’t at all valuable if our goal is instead to experience tranquility while we are alive. ([Location 2784](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2784)) - Note: ersetze tranquility mit Fähigkeit zu deep work und deep life ## New highlights added August 24, 2021 at 11:07 AM - To begin with, the Stoics recommend that we prepare for our dealings with other people before we have to deal with them. Thus, Epictetus advises us to form “a certain character and pattern” for ourselves when we are alone. Then, when we associate with other people, we should remain true to who we are.1 ([Location 1601](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=1601)) - Stoics, however, have a three-part strategy for minimizing this fear or avoiding it altogether. To begin with, they will do their best to enjoy things that can’t be taken from them, most notably their character. Along these lines, consider Marcus’s ([Location 2434](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2434)) - comment that if we fall victim to a catastrophe, we can still take delight in the fact that it has not, because of the character we possess, made us bitter.4 Furthermore, as they are enjoying things that can be taken from them—the Stoics, as we have seen, are not averse to doing this—they will simultaneously be preparing for the loss of those things. In particular, as part of our practice of negative visualization, say the Stoics, we need to keep in mind that it is a lucky accident that we are enjoying whatever it is we are enjoying, that our enjoyment of it might end abruptly, and that we might never be able to enjoy it again. ([Location 2435](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2435)) - Finally, the Stoics are careful to avoid becoming connoisseurs in the worst sense of the word—becoming, that is, individuals who are incapable of taking ([Location 2441](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2441)) - delight in anything but “the best.” As a result, they will be capable of enjoying a wide range of easily obtainable things. ([Location 2442](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2442)) - Because they have learned to enjoy things that are easily obtainable or that can’t be taken from them, Stoics will find much in life to enjoy. They might, as a result, discover that they enjoy ([Location 2448](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2448)) - being the person they are, living the life they are living, in the universe they happen to inhabit. This, I should add, is no small accomplishment. ([Location 2449](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2449)) - Stoics might also find that besides enjoying things in life, they enjoy the mere fact of being alive; they experience, in other words, joy itself. ([Location 2451](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2451)) - The Stoics pointed to two principal sources of human unhappiness—our insatiability and our tendency to worry about things beyond our control—and they developed techniques for removing these sources of unhappiness from our life. ([Location 2700](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2700)) - To conquer our insatiability, the Stoics advise us to engage in negative visualization. ([Location 2702](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2702)) - And besides simply imagining that things could be worse than they are, we should sometimes cause things to be worse than they would otherwise be; Seneca advises us to “practice poverty,” ([Location 2705](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2705)) - To curb our tendency to worry about things beyond our control, the Stoics advise us to perform a kind of triage with respect to the elements of our life and sort them into those we have no control over, those we have complete control over, and those we have some but not complete control over. Having done this, we should not bother about things over which we have no control. Instead, we should spend some of our time dealing with things over which we have complete control, such as our goals and values, and spend most of our time dealing with things over which we have some but not complete control. If we do this, we will avoid experiencing much needless anxiety. ([Location 2708](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2708)) - When we spend time dealing with things over which we have some but not complete control, we should be careful to internalize our goals. My goal in playing tennis, for example, should be not to win the match but to play the best match possible. ([Location 2712](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2712)) - IF SOMEONE ASKED ME why Stoicism works, I would not tell a story about Zeus (or God). Instead, I would talk about evolutionary theory, according to which we humans came to exist as the result of an interesting series of biological accidents. I would then start talking about evolutionary psychology, according to which we humans, besides gaining a certain anatomy and physiology through evolutionary processes, gained certain psychological traits, such as a tendency to experience fear or anxiety under certain circumstances and a tendency to experience pleasure under other circumstances. I would explain that we evolved these tendencies not so that we could have a good life but so that we would be likely to survive and reproduce. ([Location 2733](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2733)) - I would, at this point, pause to make sure my listener understands how our evolutionary past contributes to our current psychological makeup. ([Location 2741](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2741)) - Thanks to our evolutionary past, today’s humans find it pleasant to gain social status and unpleasant to lose it. This is why it is delightful when others praise us and painful when they insult us. ([Location 2763](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2763)) - WE HAVE THE ABILITIES we do because possessing them enabled our evolutionary ancestors to survive and reproduce. From this it does not follow, though, that we must use these abilities to survive and reproduce. Indeed, thanks to our reasoning ability, we have it in our power to “misuse” our evolutionary inheritance. ([Location 2770](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2770)) - More important, we can use our reasoning ability to conclude that many of the things that our evolutionary programming encourages us to seek, such as social status and more of anything we already have, may be valuable if our goal is simply to survive and reproduce, but aren’t at all valuable if our goal is instead to experience tranquility while we are alive. ([Location 2784](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2784)) - Note: ersetze tranquility mit Fähigkeit zu deep work und deep life ## New highlights added August 25, 2021 at 8:14 AM - The first tip I would offer to those wishing to give Stoicism a try is to practice what I have referred to as stealth Stoicism: You would do well, I think, to keep it a secret that you are a practicing Stoic. ([Location 2969](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2969)) - MY NEXT PIECE OF ADVICE for would-be Stoics is not to try to master all the Stoic techniques at once but to start with one technique and, having become proficient in it, go on to another. And a good technique to start with, I think, is negative visualization. ([Location 2977](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2977)) - AFTER MASTERING negative visualization, a novice Stoic should move on to become proficient in applying the trichotomy of control, described in chapter 5. ([Location 2995](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=2995)) - a quotation from Marcus Aurelius: “Nothing is worth doing pointlessly.”) ([Location 3004](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0040JHNQG&location=3004)) --- tags: [[@book]] [[Stoizismus|stoicism]] [[@booknotes]] [[1 Notes/deep life]]