How to Meet the Morning

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, "I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?

-Marcus Aurelius

I am a fan of warm blankets. Place a cup of coffee nearby and a good book in my hand and I will stay cozy as long as possible. Of course, I can't do that 24/7 without my life unraveling. So, like Marcus, I have to get up and face the day. I shouldn't complain about this, that wouldn't be very stoic after all. But how am I to prepare my mind for the day ahead? Well, thankfully we Stoics have a means of warming up our mental engines. It's a form of early morning reflection called premeditation.

The longer form name is the premeditation of evil but I had just mentioned cozy blankets and didn't want to shock your system. I think premeditation of ills is actually more fitting, but now I'm on a tangent. Premeditation is the act of mentally rehearsing the potential difficulties of the future so that you are better prepared when they actually arrive. We Stoics can take premeditation pretty far. We will mediate on the loss of loved ones, for instance. But let's start our day a bit less intensly with a general reflection that Aurelius used himself.

Begin each day by telling yourself : Today I will be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness--all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good and what is evil.

This premeditation is a way to orient your mind towards the realities of the day. When you step out into the world, you can simply recognize that no one has the exact same agenda as you. I find it helpful to mentally recite the quote a few times, in the stillness after waking. Premeditation is an exercise, effort is required to adjust your thinking. It's way too easy to assume you're going to approach the morning stoically and then get instantly upset at morning traffic (which is never a stoic response).

Now, I don't want anyone to think that the premeditation is asking you to intentionally start your day off on the wrong foot. I can see how Marcus' quote could be viewed as, "there's a bunch of jerks out there, be ready for them," and, yes...it kind of does say that. But first, let me point out that all the things mentioned, ingratitude, disloyalty, selfishness, etc...are considered non-stoic. So you certainly can't justify treating an ungrateful person ungratefully yourself. Second, Stoics are always quick to point out that bad actions come from bad thinking or, as Marcus puts it, "ignorance of what is good and evil." We're expected to soften our stance towards people who act poorly because we'd do the same with the same information and point of view. What I'm saying is, we do not prepare for the day in order to steel ourselves against the world. If your stoicism is walling you off, you're doing it wrong! Instead, we're preparing ourselves to embrace the world as it truly is, so that we can act meaningfully within it.

The general premeditation is a simple but potent morning routine. If you want to switch up the subject matter, you can always use Seneca's version (I'll end with it) or develop your own. Just remember that the point is to prepare yourself to live the day well. Recognize that unfortunate events will occur, then decide that you can accept them and respond artfully. By having a good morning, you can have a good afternoon, until it's time to say good night. Night time is a whole different article though, so I'll leave you with Seneca's premeditation on change. No matter when this finds you, have a great morning!

The wise will start each day with the thought, "Fortune gives us nothing which we can really own." Nothing, whether public or private, is stable; the destines of men, no less than those of cities, are in a whirl. Whatever structure has been reared by a long sequence of years, at the cost of great toil and through the great kindness of the gods, is scattered and dispersed in a single day. No, he who has said ‘a day’ has granted too long a postponement to swift misfortune; an hour, an instant of time, suffices for the overthrow of empires. How often have cities in Asia, how often in Achaia, been laid low by a single shock of earthquake? How many towns in Syria, how many in Macedonia, have been swallowed up? How often has this kind of devastation laid Cyprus in ruins? We live in the middle of things which have all been destined to die. Mortal have you been born, to mortals you have given birth. Reckon on everything, expect everything.

-Seneca

The Stoic Present: So Slender an Object

Don't panic before the picture of your entire life. Don't dwell on all the troubles you've faced or have yet to face, but instead ask yourself as each trouble comes, "What is so unbearable or unmanageable in this?"  Your reply will embarrass you. Then remind yourself that it's not the future or the past that bears down on you, but only the present. Always the present, which becomes an even smaller thing when isolated in this way and when the mind that cannot bear up under so slender an object is chastened.

Marcus Aurelius, The Emperor's Handbook 8:36

The stoic mindset is rooted in the present. The present is, after all, the only place where we can exercise mastery over what is in our control. The past is fixed and untouchable. The future is unknown. As one of my go-to Seneca quotes puts it, "These two things must be cut away: fear of the future, and the memory of past sufferings. The latter no longer concern me, and the future does not concern me yet." How much of our present stress is actually found in the present? Our worries come from an imagined future. Our shame comes from a past we can not change. If we put those intrusive thoughts aside and examine the present moment, what are we left with? I'd wager that 99% of the time, whatever distress remains is manageable. 

I used to live under the burden of the future. For years I doubt an hour went by in which I didn't create some calamity in my head. That toxic habit contributed to an anxiety/depression spiral that nearly killed me. It took additional years of practice to learn to stop damaging myself that way. Even now, I'm a very skilled doom predictor. Thankfully, I'm able to recognize and dismiss these fantasies as what the are, a piss poor use of the human mind.

Marcus Aurelius had similar issues. In Book 7, the emperor admonishes himself in quick succession with three statements:

• Wipe out the imagination.
• Stop pulling the strings.
• Confine yourself to the present.

It seems Aurelius was more than capable of imagining his own bad endings. He probably had a lot of help from historical examples, being the Roman emperor and all. Aurelius kept reminding himself that panicking before the tyranny of the future was foolish, because nothing he foresaw was real. He needed to stop what-if-ing and pay attention to the present, where he could actually affect change.

Thoughts of the future are a subtle trap. It doesn't do us any good to pretend tomorrow isn't coming, after all*. But we don't just think, "I need to do x and y before tomorrow, and not forget to bring z." Instead, we create stories and invest emotionally in them. We live out fights at work that never come to pass. Our pulse races at imagined rejections. And worse yet, by pouring energy into these fantasies, our mind often writes that effort off as work actually done. We check the box on a confrontation with our spouse that never happened, only to rage all the more when the thing we never addressed happens again!

Live in the slender present. Drop the heavy stress of your imagination and do the lighter work that's here for you in the real world.  It's freeing because, in the present, we find that we're capable people. And by doing the work of the present, we prepare ourselves for the actual future that will arrive. That's the best we get; the chance to fully participate in our own lives.

*Yes, we Stoics often take time to recognize that we could die at any instant, but it's still our duty to fulfill our tasks until the real end comes.

Basics: The Law of Nature

And what is the law of Nature? To guard what is your own, not to lay claim to what is not your own, but to make use of what is given you, and not to yearn for what had not been given; when something is taken away, to give it up readily and without delay, being grateful for the time in which you had the use of it.

Epictetus' Discourses 2.16 (transliteration mine)

Epictetus always brings his teachings back to the basics. In Discourses 2.16 he lays out the primary Stoic mindset. He calls it the law of God. I went with Nature, which Epic* wouldn't be that concerned with since he was a pantheist. Anyway, this is where he lays down the law. To Stoics, this perspective is law because eudaimonia , a good flow of life, can only be found through adopting a natural approach to life. We believe that the warp and woof of the universe demands a particular approach to itself. For us, Stoicism is a "best practices" manual for the rational mind.

The law of Nature is not difficult to state, but it can be pretty hard to practice. There's a lot of,  "you must unlearn what you have learned," training involved.  Take that first phrase, guard what is your own. To Stoics, your property is a vanishingly small portion of the universe. In fact, you basically get control over your judgments. That's it. Everything else, up to and including your own body, is outside your specific control, therefore you, shouldn't lay claim, to it.

At the same time, Stoics are expected to, make use of what is given you. If you have wealth, you should use it justly. If you have an education, use it to build a better world. Stoics are duty bound to live wisely (if we, in fact, have wisdom to use). We are to approach the various projects of our life like an archer views the target. An archer disciplines her every move while she aims, but once the arrow is released, she understands that whether it lands true is in the hands of fortune.

Which leads into the next two concepts, not yearning for what we don't have nor pining after that which we no longer have. Stoics train ourselves to be content in the present. If we embrace the idea that we only control our own judgments, it follows that we won't waste time desiring things outside of our reach. Of course, sustaining that Stoic mindset is the main work of our philosophy. It is not necessarily easy.  However, if properly applied this outlook makes us profoundly grateful for the time we've had with everything that's come our way. The universe does not us owe us nice things, fulfilling jobs, great friends, or good health. If fortune hands us such things, we strive to appreciate them in the moment. What's more, we understand that the loss of them can not tarnish the past without our permission.

I do not mean to imply that Stoics are only content with those preferred things. It was Marcus Aurelius who wrote, "misfortune nobly born is good fortune." Gratitude can be found at all moments in life. To us, fortune is neither good nor bad, it simply is. What's good or bad in this life is you and me. Morality is found in our intentional actions, not in the outside world. If we act according to virtue, we achieve a good flow of life which in turn generates joy.

The law of nature is built into the universe. It's the only option given to rational beings. If we expend our energy on things we don't control, we're going to be subject to the whims of fortune. Instead, we can focus on what we do control and leave behind the stress of the rest. With that stoic mindset, we're free to be grateful for everything, content at all times, and full of joy for life.

 *Yes. I have a nickname for Epictetus.  I think it works. Also, we could start calling the Enchiridion the EPIC HANDBOOK, which is awesome.