Practice like a Stoic: 35, Question every action

The art of paying attention

Image by Midjourney.

[This series of posts is based on A Handbook for New Stoics—How to Thrive in a World out of Your Control, co-authored by yours truly and Greg Lopez. It is a collection of 52 exercises, which we propose reader try out one per week during a whole year, to actually live like a Stoic. In Europe/UK the book is published by Rider under the title Live Like A Stoic. Below is this week’s prompt and a brief explanation of the pertinent philosophical background. Check the book for details on how to practice the exercise, download the exercise forms from The Experiment’s website, and comment below on how things are going. Greg and/or I will try our best to help out! This week’s exercise is found at pp. 206-208 of the paperback edition.]

“Of every action ask yourself, what does it mean for me? Shall I repent of it? A little while and I am dead, and there is an end of all. Why crave for more, if only the work I am about is worthy of a being intellectual, social-minded, and on a par with God?” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.2)

Mindfulness has very different meanings in different philosophical traditions and practices. In Stoicism it refers to paying attention, as well as arriving at judgments and making choices deliberately. It is the opposite of acting out of habit or, as it were, mindlessly. One of the Stoic mottos, after all, is hic et nunc, Latin for “here and now,” as in “pay attention to what you are doing, right here, right now” (see Week 11). This doesn’t actually mean that we should pause and deliberate before literally every action, or that habit doesn’t have a role to play. Sometimes there’s no time to pause, and a quick response is required.

The Stoics were great at developing heuristics that could be used to guide their actions in these situations to save from going through a complete analysis every time. The rules themselves, however, are the result of thoughtful questioning, so that we develop proper (mindful) habits, guided by reason.

Think of the difference between a novice and an experienced car driver. The novice has to do things in a very mindful way, paying explicit attention to the dynamically evolving situation both within and outside the car. A mistake could be fatal. The point of practicing is precisely to begin internalizing the many necessary actions and decision procedures so that you become more efficient and able to react rapidly to an unexpected occurrence. Rapidly, yes, but not randomly, since your training was mindful.

This approach is also validated by modern cognitive psychology. In Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman summarizes decades of research he conducted along with his colleague Amos Tversky in which they imagine two “systems” of thinking in our brains. System 1 is fast and instinctive (and affected by our emotions), but is also imprecise; system 2 is slow and deliberate (and also more logical). A person could not function well by relying on just system 1 (they would make many rash, irrational decisions) or just system 2 (they would be too slow in response to sudden situations). Stoic training balances the two systems so that what we decide is good becomes automatic. Just like a good, experienced car driver.

Marcus, at the beginning of the chapter, gives us a good outline of the sort of questions we should be asking to generate mindful action. Once we answer them, we then need to ingrain the action into habit across a variety of situations. The basic idea is to ask yourself: What is the meaning of what you are about to do, and is it something you are likely to regret? If so, don’t do it. If not, work to make it second nature. Broadly speaking, the only things that are really worth doing are those that stem from being an intelligent and social animal, which for the Stoics are the quintessential characteristics that define humanity. Commit to habit actions that benefit humanity at large.

[NOTE: This concludes our study of the discipline of action, the second of the three disciplines of Epictetus. We will now take one week break and then come back for the last batch of exercises, focused on the discipline of assent.]