Rehearse them in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck. We should project our thoughts ahead of us at every turn and have in mind every possible eventuality instead of only the usual course of events… This is a reason for ensuring that nothing ever takes us by surprise. “What is quite unlooked for is more crushing in its effect, and unexpectedness adds to the weight of a disaster. Psychologically, we must prepare ourselves for this to happen. Not everything is as clean and straightforward as we think they may be. We don’t always get what is rightfully ours, even if we’ve earned it. It helps us prepare for life’s inevitable setbacks and develop resilience in the face of uncertainty. Premeditatio malorum (“the pre-meditation of evils”) is a Stoic exercise of imagining things that could go wrong or be taken away from us. “This is why we say that nothing happens to the wise person contrary to their expectations.” But to actually feel gratitude for what happens? To love it? That’s a recipe for happiness and joy. To wish for what has happened to happen is a clever way to avoid disappointment because nothing is contrary to your desires. Not merely bear what is necessary…but love it” “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati,” Nietzsche said, “that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. “Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it….but love it.” The great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, many centuries later, coined the perfect expression to capture this idea: amor fati (a love of fate). Instead of simply accepting what happens, they urge us to actually enjoy what has happened- whatever it is. Stoicism calls this the “art of acquiescence”- to accept rather than fight every little thing.Īnd the most practiced Stoics take it a step further. Accept what happened and change your wish that it had not happened. Which of these is easiest to change: our opinion or the event that is past? Without gratitude what is the point of seeing, and without seeing what is the object of gratitude?” “It is easy to praise Providence for anything that may happen if you have two qualities: a complete view of what has actually happened in each instance and a sense of gratitude. “Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will- then your life will flow well.” Let that determine what you do and say and think.” That was a personal reminder to continue living a life of virtue NOW, and not wait. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “You could leave life right now. And then in the morning they are ready to go-hoping to come back in one piece but prepared for the possibility. They don’t have time for quarreling or petty matters. They tell their children or their family that they love them. Not knowing whether they’ll return or not, what do they do? They get their affairs in order. How reasonable would that be anyway? Surely Seneca isn’t saying, in the above quote, to forsake laws and considerations-to find some orgy to join because the world is ending.Ī better analogy would be a soldier about to leave on deployment. “Live each day as if it were your last” is a cliché. “Remember thou art mortal.” “Remember, you too must die.” The perfect reminder during a man’s momentary immortalization. His four-horse chariot parted the streets lined with thanks-givers chanting “io Triumphe!” The roars of “Hurray, O Triumph” was muffled by the whisper of slave, positioned deliberately in the chariot behind his master’s throne, “Memento Mori, Memento Mori, Memento Mori,” the slave echoed. On the day of his parade, the victor wore a crown and a purple, gold-adorned toga, otherwise reserved for kings. There was a tradition in ancient Rome to celebrate the return of a victorious military general with a drawn-out spectacle to sanctify the triumphant leader. Let us balance life’s books each day.The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” “Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Here are 7 Ancient Stoic tenets to keep top of mind, to apply to your daily thought processes, and to practice today and every day: And finally, that the source of our dissatisfaction lies in our impulsive dependency on our reflexive senses rather than logic. How to be steadfast, and strong, and in control of yourself. It sets out to remind us of how unpredictable the world can be. Stoicism has just a few central teachings. They contain some of the greatest wisdom in the history of the world. Could some ancient and obscure pages-the private diaries of one of Rome’s greatest emperors ( Marcus Aurelius), the personal letters of one of Rome’s best playwrights and wisest power brokers ( Seneca), the lectures of a former slave and exile, turned influential teacher ( Epictetus)-really contain anything relevant to modern life?
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