stoicism - a lurking presence

Ethics? Logic? Metaphysics? What relevance has classical philosophical therapy to the 21st century? The answer, surprisingly, is quite a lot. Donald Robertson explains how modern theories of psychotherapy, counselling and personal development are indebted to Stoicism

Stoicism is an ancient European school of philosophy, which incorporates a comprehensive system of therapeutic exercises. Zeno of Citium founded the school in Athens, as a 'Socratic' sect, around 300 BC. However, Stoicism was more than just a philosophy, in the modern academic sense of the word. It was a far-reaching and long-standing cultural movement.

The Stoic school of philosophy can be situated within a broader philosophical tradition of 'practical philosophy' that lasted from around the time of Pythagoras of Samos (c. 6th century BC) - the original philosopher-therapist - to the superseding of pagan philosophy by Christian theology well over 1,000 years later. Following the closure of the great pagan academies by the Roman Catholic emperor, Justinian, in 529 AD the therapeutic practices of Stoicism and other philosophical systems survived only in so far as they were assimilated into Christianity, in other words barely at all.

As a living tradition, Stoicism's time was over. But its key concepts survived in literature and experienced a revival during the neo-stoicism of the Renaissance period, which explains the traces of Stoicism in the work of influential figures such as Erasmus, Calvin, Descartes, Spinoza, Shakespeare, Milton and Michel de Montaigne. More recently, Tom Wolfe, author of [Bonfire of the Vanities] (1987), published a novel called [A Man in Full] (1998) in which one of the lead characters adopts a philosophy of life based on the ancient Stoic [Manual] of Epictetus. Hollywood director Ridley Scott's epic [Gladiator] (2000) depicts the last days of the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and briefly alludes to his famous Stoic journal, [The Meditations].

The English language itself retains evidence of the therapeutic tradition of philosophy. The adjective 'philosophical' still alludes to the ancient ideal of emotional calm ([ataraxia]), virtually synonymous with the modern, popular meaning of 'stoical'. Indeed, the philosophical-therapeutic tradition continues to exert an unrecognised influence over our modern thought and language. Therapists, for instance, are often surprised to find that many familiar ideas, clichés, and proverbs are derived from Stoic philosophy.

Stoicism and modern psychotherapy/counselling

Stoicism is a philosophy of life fundamentally independent of political or religious dogmas. Some have seen it as a 'European Buddhism' or 'Western Yoga', similar in appeal to Oriental systems of thought. Though I shall focus on the therapeutic dimension of Stoicism, it does encompass certain metaphysical and spiritual themes, which provide the basis for a sophisticated kind of rational mysticism.

However, Stoicism is also the forgotten ancestor of our own psychotherapeutic tradition. The modern history of psychotherapy begins in the early Victorian era with the development of hypnotherapy as a medico-psychological treatment, from which Freud subsequently developed psychoanalysis. Yet thousands of years earlier, it was common parlance to refer to philosophy as a 'physician of the psyche' and many classical philosophers have more in common with psychotherapists than with modern academic philosophers.

• Psychoanalysis. Freud derived his concept of [katharsis] (psychical purification) from a superficial reading of Aristotle. However, as a classical scholar himself, he must have been aware that the word was more commonly used as a technical term to describe the separation of mind from emotional attachment to external, material things.
  
• Psychodynamic psychotherapy. This notion of the need to 'separate' and 'purify' the subjective (self) from the objective (other), so fundamental to Stoic practice, pre-empts the basic psychoanalytic concept of projection, which both Jung, and later Klein, inferred was among the most fundamental of all Freud's so-called defence mechanisms.
  
• Existential psychotherapy. More recently, existential therapies have drawn explicitly upon similar themes from classical philosophy. When existential therapists, following Heidegger, discuss the importance of an 'authentic being-toward-death', for example, they are continuing one of the central methods of ancient philosophical therapy, the [melete thanatou] or 'meditation upon death', dramatically portrayed in Plato's dialogues on the last days of Socrates.
  
• Gestalt therapy. The 'here and now' slogan of the human potential movement translates the Latin figure of speech [hic et nunc], one of the key themes of Stoic psychotherapy: returning awareness to the present moment.
  
• Cognitive therapy. Albert Ellis, the founder of REBT, openly acknowledges his debt to Epictetus, the author of the therapeutic [Manual] of Stoicism; many students of REBT already partially understand its derivation from classical philosophy. The ABC model widely used in cognitive therapy is essentially another re-iteration of the perennial philosophical notion of [katharsis], that is, separating out our subjective judgements from the external events to which they give emotive meaning. In this regard, cognitive therapists repeatedly cite the famous quotation from the Manual of Epictetus:¹ 'It is not things themselves that disturb people but their judgments about those things.'

These are a few examples of how all therapists operate in the shadow of the pagan psychological systems. We still speak the language and use the methods of an ancient therapeutics, whether we realise it or not. And thinkers continue to develop self-help systems and psychotherapeutic techniques which re-introduce elements of Greek and Roman philosophical-therapy.

The Basic Concepts of Stoicism

The name 'Stoic' simply refers to the [stoa poekile], the 'painted porch' within which Zeno of Citium delivered his lectures and training. However, Stoicism has a more descriptive name, it is also called the 'Natural Life' or 'Following Nature', and many variations of this phrase are used to describe the basic orientation of the system. The ancient historian of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius,² writes: 'The end [of Stoicism] turns out to be living in agreement with nature, taken as living in accordance both with one's own nature and with the nature of the whole [universe].'

He is alluding to the fundamental Stoic notion of a distinction between (internal) human nature, and the (external) Nature of the universe. Paradoxically, it is by making clear this distinction that we pave the way for a greater sense of unity between ourselves and Nature.

Stoicism, therefore, is essentially a philosophy of being at one ([homologoumenos]), or in harmony with, the totality of life. As psychotherapy, it equates mental and emotional health with integration or a sense of 'oneness' at these two levels of existence. This simple and intuitive distinction develops into the basic structure for applying Stoic psychotherapy, the 'Threefold Rule of Life.'

The Threefold Rule of Life

'Objective judgement, now, at this very moment [Logic]].

Unselfish action, now, at this very moment [Ethics]].

Willing acceptance - now, at this very moment - of all external events [Metaphysics]].

That's all you need.' (Marcus Aurelius³)

The Stoics divided their philosophy into three branches: Logic, Ethics and Metaphysics. Greek philosophy in general also recognised four 'cardinal virtues': Truth, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. We correlate these with the Threefold Rule as shown, and with what we term the three 'Core Qualities' of Stoicism: 'Objectivity', 'Integrity', and 'Acceptance'. The virtues of Fortitude and Temperance (ie courage and self-control) both fall under the Discipline of Fear and Desire, or Stoic Metaphysics (see diagram 2).

Fortunately for ham-fisted scholars trying to translate these ideas into plain English, we possess a beautifully concise and poetic expression of the Threefold Rule, which is easily connected with the other categories in the table shown (q.v.),

['The Serenity Prayer

God,

Grant me the Serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

and Wisdom to know the difference.']

This is the Serenity Prayer of the twelve-step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous. Although the earliest records attribute it to the late Victorian era, it is obviously derived from Stoicism, and tempting to speculate that it originates in a much earlier source, perhaps in Christian neo-stoic writings of the Renaissance period. It is, in a nutshell, the essence of Stoic philosophy; though precisely because of its simplicity it does not give full expression to the enormous breadth of ideas which that system contains. It expresses one of Stoicism's most fundamental principles: 'to know the difference between what depends upon me and what does not'. Stoics mean by this precisely the distinction we have made between that which is internal and directly subject to my will, and that which I must accept as external and beyond my immediate control, ie wholly, or even partially, contingent upon external events.

'What, then, should we have at hand upon [challenging] situations? Why, what else than to know what is mine, and what is not mine, what is within my power, and what is not.' (Epictetus¹)

Hence, a fundamental function of Stoic logic was simply the art of distinguishing between the other two disciplines: Ethics and Metaphysics, ie action and perception.

The first logical step was to distinguish between one's own internal nature, the field of Stoic Ethics, and the external Nature of the universe as a whole, the domain of Metaphysics; Stoic Logic aims to make this distinction objectively.

Logic: The Discipline of Judgement

'And progress for a rational mind means not accepting falsehood or uncertainty in its perceptions.' (Marcus Aurelius³)

We equate the supreme classical virtue of Truth with the core quality that we call Stoic Objectivity, the ability to separate internal from external nature.

In one sense, the heart of Stoic Logic is 'know thyself', the legendary maxim inscribed at the Oracle of Apollo in Delphi. However, such knowledge takes on a special character in Stoicism; true knowledge is seen as precisely this ability to clarify the boundaries of the true or inner self. That is, to continually distinguish, in the present moment, between internal and external nature, ie between mind and matter. As Epictetus¹ says, 'And to become educated [trained in philosophy] means just this, to learn what things are ours, and what are not.' We can picture this demarcation as the drawing of an imaginary boundary, a circle around the limits of the self. Indeed, the Stoics described the perfectly circumscribed mind of the ideal Sage as 'fencing itself off', an unassailable 'inner citadel', and a 'sphere in perfect equilibrium'.

The ancients generally defined the psyche in terms of activity, as 'that which moves itself'. Hence, for Stoicism, the essence of the self is the autonomous action of our freewill: our intentions, thoughts, and decisions. This is a deeply existential view of man; we are essentially freewill in action, everything else is extraneous to the self. The attitude we call 'Stoic Mindfulness' ([prosoche]), then, means constant self-awareness of the movements of the mind, assuming full responsibility for our own judgements, actions, fears and desires.

Mindfulness also entails owning our thoughts, re-owning our projections, and suspending all value-laden or emotive judgements. Our thoughts project meaning and form onto our perceptions - by separating the two we attain Truth and Objectivity. John Milton's Satan boasts,⁴ 'The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.' Shakespeare's Hamlet⁵ exclaims: 'There's nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so!' Marcus Aurelius³ provides many practical examples of this principle in his therapeutic journal:

'[Remember that] this noble vintage is grape juice, and the purple robes [of imperial office] are sheep wool dyed with shellfish blood. Perceptions like that - latching onto things and piercing through them, so we see what they really are. That's what we need to do all the time - all through our lives when things lay claim to our trust - to lay them bare and see how pointless they are, to strip away the legend that encrusts them.'

We ascertain the truth when we acknowledge and suspend our own prejudices and let the facts speak for themselves. This technique of stripping things down to their essence, phrased in a few words, is known by scholars as 'essential analysis'. Its goal is called 'objective representation' ([phantasia kataleptike]); to this alone the Sage's judgement assents.

At a practical level, the Discipline of Judgement was achieved by a variety of therapeutic methods. For instance, sophisticated rhetorical techniques and verbal formulae - language patterns - were used to reframe perceptions. Visualisation was employed, for example in imagining the presence of an ideal Sage, accompanying the student as a mentor and observer. Moreover, the therapy was conducted in three modes, which happen to correspond to the main surviving examples of Roman Stoic literature.

However, although the Discipline of Judgement was the logical cornerstone of the whole therapeutic system, practical training began with the following two disciplines.

Ethics: The Discipline of Action

'[Follow] your own nature, through your actions. Everything has to do what it was made for. Now, the main thing we were made for is to work with others.' (Marcus Aurelius³)

Stoic Integrity means to act at one with one's own innermost nature and the nature of all mankind. The cardinal virtue of [Dikaiosyne] has a dual meaning: it translates as either 'personal authenticity' or 'social justice'. Hence, the Discipline of Action involves taking responsibility for all of our actions and directing them toward the solitary goal of reconciling personal moral integrity with love for all mankind.

Our sense of identity determines self-interest and therefore Ethics, because 'wherever "I" and "mine" are placed, to there the creature inevitably inclines' (Epictetus¹). For the Sage, however, there is no conflict between self-interest and social-interest because he identifies his own nature with the collective nature of all mankind. This sense of existential kinship is exercised by deliberately practising 'brotherly love' ([philadelphia]) and 'exploring the minds of others'. The striking parallel with the core counselling qualities of 'congruence', 'unconditional positive regard' and 'empathic understanding' espoused by Carl Rogers will be obvious to any counsellor.

Motivation comes by making an affirmation of the first principle of Stoic moral psychology: 'The good man is always happy.' A sharp distinction is made between sensory 'pleasure' ([hedone]) which is superficial in so far as it depends upon external factors, and 'happiness' ([eudaimonia]) which comes purely from doing the right thing, ie Stoic Integrity.

'Your integrity is your own; who can take it from you? Who but yourself will prevent you from using it? When you are eager for what is not your own, you lose that very thing.' (Epictetus¹)

Epictetus elaborates: 'Nothing is of concern to us except our volition.' The Sage, therefore, renounces attachment to material possessions and invests happiness solely in what is always within his grasp, moral integrity.

However, the Stoics recognised this was an idealistic vision. For practical purposes, they distinguish between the [absolute] value of internal acts and the [relative] value of external goods. For example, physical health is considered a natural thing to desire and worth having. However, its value is secondary and derivative. That is, physical health is worth having only in so far as it contributes to moral integrity. Yet the Stoics believed that in extreme circumstances even death could be a rational choice. The archetypal example being Socrates, who famously accepted forced suicide rather than accept the trumped-up charges made against him in court -choosing integrity over life itself.

Some of the Stoics' ethical views may seem challenging, even radical. However, their 'Ethics' was not about moralising, in the modern sense, but something more akin to a system of personal development. Classical philosophy in general predicated its ethics on a notion of enlightened self-interest, which aims for a state of personal fulfilment and happiness. Hence, Aristotle refers to ethics as [ethike arete], the science of 'character excellence'. Our moral character ([ethos]) is constituted by the principles of action which we develop into habits.

'[Philosophy is] doing what human nature requires. Through first principles. Which should govern your intentions and your actions.' (Marcus Aurelius³)

The process of 'essential analysis' central to Stoic Logic also creates the pithy slogans typical of their Ethics, eg 'Seize the day', 'Indifference to indifferent things' etc. Contemplation, repetition, and memorisation of such principles of action ([dogmata]) was a key psychotherapeutic technique, as can be seen from the journal of Marcus Aurelius. Hence, these statements were used as autosuggestions, or affirmations, composing a 'principle-centred' and inherently therapeutic Ethics.

Metaphysics: The Discipline of Fear and Desire

'Reasonable nature is indeed following its proper path if [...] it has desire and aversion only for that which depends on us; while it joyfully greets all that which is granted to it by universal Nature.' (Marcus Aurelius³)

Stoic Acceptance means living at one with the external Nature of the universe. The cardinal virtue of Temperance means mastering our [desire] for sensory pleasure, that of 'Fortitude' the conquest of our [fear] of pain and death. Hence, this discipline is about controlling [pathos], or (negative) emotion. The Stoics believed that both fear and desire result from excessive emotional attachment; the attitude of the Sage toward external things, therefore, is one of serene non-attachment, which he cultivates by contemplating the transience of material things (materialism) and personal reputation (egotism).

The primal and underlying fear which the Stoic seeks to conquer is that of death. 'The breast from which you have banished the dread of death', counsels Seneca,⁶ 'no fear will dare to enter.' Contemplating the transience of life was a standard therapeutic technique of classical philosophy in general. Indeed, Socrates famously insisted that all philosophy is preparation for death. In the wake of military victory, ancient Roman generals were followed by assistants whispering '[memento mori]' in their ears: 'Remember you must die!'. Traditionally, many clocks and watches carried Latin inscriptions meant for the same purpose, typically the [tempus fugit] (time flies) of the Roman poets. This philosophical theme spawned a vast genre of the same name in the history of art. Examples of [memento mori] are countless, from the 'deathsheads' and wilting flowers of classical [Vanitas] painting to the animal cadavers of Damien Hirst. All confront us with coolly dispassionate reminders of our own mortality.

The method of non-attachment and conquering death-anxiety is basically the application of Metaphysics. The original Stoic Metaphysics was wedded to pagan theology, but belief in God is not essential to Stoicism. As a system of psychotherapy it stands apart from any particular religion or set of spiritual beliefs, and is easily adapted to modern agnostic or even atheistic perspectives. Nevertheless, the early Stoics were mainly [pantheists] who believed that the totality of the physical universe is simply the Body of God, and the object of His eternal meditation. The aim of their mysticism is simply union with the Mind of God ('the One'). Hence, it was natural for them, like many earlier philosophers, to infer that by visualising the universe ('the All') they attained a Godlike point-of-view. From this God's-eye perspective, the key concepts of Stoic Metaphysics became more apparent: namely, the unity, transience, and interdependence of all material things.

'The world as a living being - one nature, one soul. Keep that in mind. And how everything feeds into that single experience, moves with a single motion. And how everything helps produce everything else. Spun and woven together. Time is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.' (Marcus Aurelius³)

For the Stoic, the universe viewed in its entirety is objective reality. Our normal, embodied and earthbound perspective necessarily distorts reality because it is confined to a tiny corner of the universe. Hence, 'the All is One', and the [totality] is the only authentic reality.

Modern scholars call this meditation exercise the 'View from Above', and variations of it abound in ancient literature. Sometimes it entails contemplation of the entire universe as though contained in a sphere. Typically though, philosophers attempted to visualise the earth seen from outer space, a technique that created profound emotional detachment and tranquillity. In modern psychotherapy we refer to this as 'visual/kinaesthetic dissociation'.

Support for this ancient therapeutic intuition comes from the numerous observations of astronauts, who describe the experience of seeing the world from space in remarkably similar terms. General Thomas Stafford, commander of the NASA Apollo 10 mission, reports:

'[From space] you have an almost dispassionate platform - remote, Olympian - and yet [seeing the Earth from up there is] so moving that you can hardly believe how emotionally attached you are to those rough patterns shifting steadily below.' (Kelley⁷)

Marcus Aurelius³ writes of the ideal Stoic attitude in identical terms: 'To be free of passion ([pathos]) and yet full of love.' This meditation exercise may well have evolved from attempts to visualise the same perspective, that of Zeus looking down from Mount Olympus, that General Stafford metaphorically alludes to.

Such an attitude of serene affection is the goal of the Discipline of Fear and Desire. It is for this reason that Stoicism viewed the practice of pre-scientific, or 'phenomenological' physics as a therapy of 'fear and desire' in its own right.

Conclusion

'[After training in Freudian analysis] I gradually turned more and more to accumulated wisdom in the fields of philosophy. After all, philosophers have been thinking of some of the same issues that we have for the past 2,000 years and I've drawn a lot from philosophical insights.' (Dr. Irvin Yalom, interviewed in CPJ, July 2004)

Why does this philosophy stuff matter so much to so many therapists and counsellors? First, many people simply prefer the stylistic beauty and philosophical depth of classical literature to modern alternatives. Stoicism has demonstrated an appeal for more than two millennia. Former US President Bill Clinton recently named the [Meditations] of Marcus Aurelius as his most treasured read.

Second, many therapists feel the need for a broader philosophical framework. Psychoanalysis, perhaps Marxism, and to some degree religions such as Buddhism and Christianity, offer a broad ideological basis for therapy practice. Stoicism, however, offers a viable philosophy of psychotherapy that is not inherently wedded to religious or political dogmas. As some cognitive therapists have argued, in relation to modern, brief psychotherapy Stoic philosophy is, ironically, more relevant and up-to-date than traditional Freudian theories.

Third, the Stoic system contains basic therapeutic principles and techniques not found in modern therapy, which are still applicable today. We have only scraped the surface of Stoic psychotherapy in this article. There are a number of rhetorical strategies and therapeutic interventions - visualisation techniques etc - which are not discussed here but which I have found of considerable use in working with clients and workshop participants.

I would encourage those with an interest in this area to research the writings of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus for themselves. There is still a great deal to be learned from the ancient forebears of psychotherapy.

Donald Robertson is a UKCP registered psychotherapist. He can be contacted at HypnoSynthesis@aol.com

References

1. Epictetus. The discourses, the handbook, fragments. London: Everyman; 1995.

2. Laertius, Diogenes. Lives of the philosophers. Long HS (ed) Oxford: OUP; 1964.

3. Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations: living, dying and the good life. London: Phoenix; 2003.

4. Milton J. Paradise Lost. Oxford: OUP; 2004.

5. Shakespeare W. Hamlet. London: Penguin; 1994.

6. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Consolation to Helvia, in Dialogues and letters. London: Penguin; 1997.

7. Kelley KW (ed). The Home Planet. Boston: Addison-Wesley; 1988.