Stoicism for Beginners: Where to Start

Question

How do you begin with Stoicism? The philosophy can seem intimidating — two thousand years old, dense with Greek terms, associated with emperors and slaves — but the beginning is simple. Stoicism is a philosophy of practice, and the beginner needs three things: the core ideas, the essential texts, and the first practices.

Quick Answer

To begin with Stoicism: learn the core ideas, read the essential texts, and start the first practices. The core ideas are three. First, the dichotomy of control: some things are up to us — our judgments, choices, and actions — and some are not — our bodies, wealth, reputations, and the behavior of others. Second, the doctrine of value: only virtue is good, only vice is evil, and everything else is indifferent — neither good nor evil in itself. Third, the three disciplines: desire (want what is up to you), action (act justly without attachment to outcomes), and assent (examine your impressions before accepting them). The essential texts for the beginner: Marcus Aurelius's Meditations (the private journal of the philosopher-emperor), Epictetus's Enchiridion (the fifty-three-chapter handbook of the practice), and Seneca's Letters (the moral letters of the Stoic statesman). The first practices: the morning reflection, the evening review, and the daily watch on the impressions.

Historical Wisdom

Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens around 300 BCE and developed by Cleanthes and Chrysippus into the most complete philosophical system of the Hellenistic age. The beginner should know that the philosophy has two layers: the system — the physics, logic, and ethics that the founders built — and the practice — the disciplines by which the philosophy is lived. The practice is the layer the beginner enters first. The Roman Stoics — Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius — are the teachers of the practice, and their surviving texts are the beginner's door into the tradition. The famous formula of the school — "living in agreement with nature" — is the summary of the goal: to live rationally, virtuously, and in harmony with the order of the world.

Philosophical Perspectives

The beginner should understand the framework within which the practice makes sense. The Stoics were thoroughgoing materialists: the universe is a rational body pervaded by the divine reason, the Logos. Human beings are parts of this whole, and their reason is a fragment of the cosmic reason. The ethics follows: to live well is to live in accordance with reason, which is to live in accordance with nature — to act virtuously and to accept the order of the whole. The famous doctrines — the dichotomy of control, the indifferents, the passions as judgments — are the working out of this vision in the conduct of life.

The beginner does not need to master the physics to begin the practice, but the practice makes sense in its light. The dichotomy of control is the practical form of the conviction that our happiness is in our power, because it depends on our judgments, not on fortune. The doctrine of the indifferents is the practical form of the conviction that only virtue is good. The disciplines are the practical forms of these convictions — the daily training by which the philosophy becomes a life.

Lessons From Thinkers

From Marcus Aurelius: begin where you are — "confine yourself to the present." From Epictetus: begin with the distinction — "some things are up to us and some are not." From Seneca: begin with the practice — "it is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." From the tradition as a whole: the philosophy is learned by practice, and the practice is begun today, not tomorrow — the beginner who starts the morning reflection and the evening review has already begun the Stoic life.

Practical Application

The beginner's program has three parts. First, the reading: begin with the Enchiridion (shortest and most practical), then the Meditations (the daily practice in action), then Seneca's Letters (the widest and warmest). Read a little daily, and reflect on what you read. Second, the practices: begin the morning reflection — what will the day require, and what disciplines will it demand? — and the evening review — what was done well, what was done badly, what must be corrected? Third, the watch: throughout the day, catch the impressions — the fear, the anger, the craving — and ask the Stoic question: is this up to me, or not? If not, let it go. The program is simple, and it is the whole of the philosophy in miniature: the daily training by which the ancient wisdom becomes a modern life.

Quotes

Epictetus states the foundation for the beginner: "Some things are up to us and some are not." Marcus Aurelius states the practice: "Confine yourself to the present." And the summary of the goal is the ancient formula: "Living in agreement with nature is the same as living virtuously."

Related Questions

• What Is Stoicism? — the full account of the philosophy.
• How to Be a Stoic Today — the practical guide.
• What Is the Stoic Dichotomy of Control? — the first idea to master.
• How to Practice Stoicism — the practices in detail.