Practice like a Stoic: 38, Observe and counter four moods of the mind

Beware of challenges coming from your own mental life

An ancient Roman matrons who succumbed to the first of the moods Marcus warns us about. 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. 227-229 of the paperback edition.]

“There are four moods to which your Inner Self is liable, against which you must constantly be upon the watch, and suppress them as soon as detected with such reprimands as these: It is a needless fancy; or, It is antisocial; or, It does not come from your heart, and not to speak from one’s heart is a moral inconsequence; or, fourthly, you will never forgive yourself, for such a feeling implies subjection and abasement of the diviner element in you to the perishable and less honorable portion, the body and its coarser apprehensions.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.19)

There are four mental movements that pose a recurring challenge to our philosophical progress. These are explicitly listed by Marcus; now let’s carefully go through them. First, “it is a needless fancy.” You shouldn’t dwell on certain things (“fancies”) that don’t directly relate to your nature as a rational, prosocial human being, such as pondering a delicious gourmet meal, pining after nice clothes, or worrying about something you said to someone years ago. While it isn’t necessarily un-Stoic to have nice clothes and good meals—after all, this is a course on Stoicism, not Cynicism—a Stoic wouldn’t dwell needlessly on pleasures or pains. If these thoughts do surface in your mind (which you don’t have control over), it’s a good exercise to pause and reflect on whether thinking about these things is really necessary, and what doing so does to your character little by little.