🗓 Round-Up: The Stoic Dichotomy, Working with Desire, and Breaking Attachments to Possessions
The First Stoic Handbook Monthly Recap
Greetings, fellow Stoic ⚔️
We have just finished the first month of The Stoic Handbook. 📖
Below I’ll share the three posts I created in August.
This is a quick overview of the key ideas that were published, so if you’re in a rush or you don’t have time to read each post in detail make sure to read the monthly recaps.
At the end of each section you can click “Read The Full Post” for a more detailed breakdown.
The concepts we will cover today include the first three chapters of Epictetus’ handbook:
The Dichotomy of Control
Aversion and Desire
Attachment to Material possessions
For next months recap, you can expect eight posts not three…
New Stoic quote breakdowns every coming at you Monday, and an audio lesson or meditation every Thursday.
If you’re reading this in your inbox today, that means you are here right at the beginning of this Stoic journey.
This is awesome, because it means you will get each chapter of Epictetus’ handbook as they’re written, instead of needing to go back through hundreds of posts later.
If you stick with these posts week by week, your understanding and integration of Stoic philosophy will be immense.
In the meantime, if you know anyone who could benefit from learning about Stoicism, pass on The Stoic Handbook to them.
🔘 The Dichotomy of Control
“We are responsible for some things, while there are others for which we cannot be held responsible. The former include our judgement, our impulse, our desire, aversion and our mental faculties in general; the latter include the body, material possessions, our reputation, status – in a word, anything not in our power to control.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion, Chapter I
I/ Understanding the Dichotomy of Control
In Your Control
There are some things that are within your control, that are up to you, that you are responsible for, and it is wise to spend your energy trying to change these things.
These things include:
Your Judgment
Your Impulses
Your Desires
Your Aversions
Your Mental Faculties
Not In Your Control
There are some things that are not within your control, that are not up to you, which you are not responsible for, and it foolish to spend energy trying to change these things.
These things include:
Your body
Your possessions
Your reputation
II/ Conceptualising the Dichotomy of Control
What's in our control is unconstrained by externals, and what is outside our control is constrained by externals.
On the left side of the circle, you will see things in your control. This is where we act from as a Stoic. We are not blind to the right side of the circle, but we always place it second to the left side.
III/ The Benefits of Practicing the Dichotomy of Control
If you truly embody this practice by understanding what belongs to you and is up to and what does not, here's what you can expect:
You will feel liberated and free.
You will not have any hatred or resentment in your heart.
Every single thing you do will be chosen by you.
Nobody will have the power to hurt you.
IV/ Bringing The Right Intention to Practicing the Dichotomy of Control
If you want to receive the vast benefits that The Dichotomy of Control brings, you must practice it religiously. A fundamental life shift must occur if you wish to attain deep freedom and happiness.
V/ Practical Application of the Dichotomy of Control
Let's look at how we can put these ideas to immediate practice.
Here is a diagram that shows the step-by-step process:
🧁 2/ Aversion and Desire
“The faculty of desire purports to aim at securing what you want, while a version purports to shield you from what you don’t. If you fail in your desire, you are unfortunate, if you experience what you would rather avoid you are unhappy. So direct aversion only towards things that are under your control and alien to your nature, and you will not fall victim to any of the things that you dislike. But if your resentment is directed at illness, death or poverty, you are headed for disappointment.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion, Chapter II
I/ Desire and Aversion: Root of Suffering
There are some things that we desire to move toward and some things that we desire to move away from.
If we fail to get what we desire or we experience that which we want to avoid, we become miserable.
II/ Working With Aversion
As a starting point for working with aversion, we should only seek to avoid or change things that are within our control, which we saw in above, include our judgments, impulses, desires, aversions, and mental faculties—internal things.
Conversely, we should not seek to avoid things outside of our control, which would include our body, our material possessions, and our reputation—external things.
If you are desperate to avoid external misfortune such as illness, low status, and death you are setting yourself up for unhappiness. For such things out of our control, we would be well-advised to accept them and handle with wisdom.
If we want to live a happy life, the secret is to avoid thinking and acting poorly, and accept the world insofar as can’t control it, just as it is.
III/ Working With Desire
During your training to become a Stoic, drop desire to the fullest extent possible for the foreseeable future.
Desire is very powerful and can lead the untrained mind toward misery.
For now, do not fantasise about the things you want. Do not create a big wish list of material possessions and figure out clever plans to attain them. Just drop desire to the best of your abilities.
Instead, learn to desire what you already have and you will always be content.
📱3/ Attachment to Possessions
“In the case of particular things that delight you, or benefit you, or to which you have grown attached, remind yourself of what they are. Start with things of little value. If it is china you like, for instance, say, ‘I am fond of a piece of china.’ When it breaks, then you won’t be as disconcerted. When giving your wife or child a kiss, repeat to yourself, ‘I am kissing a mortal.’ Then you won’t be so distraught if they are taken from you.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion, Chapter III
I/ The Spell of Attachment
We very often delude ourselves about the true value of things.
If something makes us feel good, or benefits us in some way, we put that thing on a pedestal.
When we put things on pedestals, it is easy to become attached.
When we are attached to things, our emotional wellbeing becomes linked to something beyond ourselves.
As a result, we suffer due to our fear losing that thing or suffer from actually losing that thing.
II/ Breaking The Spell
To free ourselves from this deluded attachment, and ultimately suffering, we can practice clear seeing of our attachments and our relationship to them.
If you have a very expensive handmade ornament in your home, you can remind yourself that in reality, “I am fond of a piece of china.”
III/ How to Practice
Train your mind gradually.
Start with small things, and work your way up to the things you care most about in this life.
Break down the object into its simplest forms.
iPhone
Attached mind: My new iPhone is so powerful. The XDR, OLED, HDR screen is essentially magic.
Stoic mind: I am fond of a small block of metal, glass, and plastic which is in my pocket.
