How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Overview

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (2019) is Donald Robertson's modern Stoic classic: a book that reads the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius through the lens of cognitive behavioral therapy, and that shows the ancient Stoic practices as the ancestors of the modern therapies. The book weaves together three strands: the biography of the philosopher-emperor, the exposition of the Stoic disciplines as he practiced them, and the demonstration that the Stoic therapy of the emotions — the correction of judgments, the discipline of the impressions, the practice of attention — is the direct ancestor of CBT. It has become one of the most widely read books of the modern Stoic revival, and it is the bridge between the ancient philosophy and the modern science of the mind.

Author

Donald Robertson is a British cognitive behavioral psychotherapist and the author of several books on the modern practice of Stoicism — including The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (2010) and Stoicism and the Art of Happiness (2013). He is one of the founders of the modern Stoic movement, and his distinctive contribution is the demonstration that the ancient Stoic practices are the historical ancestors of the cognitive therapies: the correction of the judgment is the cognitive restructuring, the discipline of the impressions is the cognitive defusion, and the Stoic therapy of the passions is the CBT of the emotions.

Historical Background

The book belongs to the modern revival of Stoicism, which has transformed the ancient philosophy into a practice for the contemporary world. The revival has two roots: the scholarly recovery of the Stoic texts (above all through A.A. Long's work on Epictetus) and the discovery, by the founders of cognitive behavioral therapy — Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck — that the Stoic insight that "it is not the things themselves that disturb us, but our judgments about them" is the foundation of the modern therapy of the emotions. Robertson's book unites the two roots: it returns to the ancient source — the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius — and it shows, with the precision of the psychotherapist, how the ancient practices are the living ancestors of the modern science.

Key Ideas

The book's central thesis is that Marcus Aurelius was already practicing a form of cognitive therapy: the emperor's Meditations are not the philosophical musings of a detached sage but the working notes of a man training his own mind — the daily examination, the correction of the judgments, the discipline of the impressions. Robertson demonstrates the correspondence at every point: the Stoic discipline of assent is the CBT practice of cognitive restructuring; the Stoic practice of attention (prosoche) is the CBT practice of mindfulness; the Stoic therapy of the passions is the CBT account of the emotions as products of the beliefs.

The book also presents the life of Marcus as the demonstration of the philosophy: the emperor who faced war, plague, betrayal, and personal loss, and who practiced daily the disciplines that he records in the Meditations. The famous episodes — the morning meditation on the difficult people of the day, the practice of negative visualization, the acceptance of fate — are presented as the living practice of the philosophy, and the reader is invited to practice them in the same way.

Important Passages

The book's most striking passages are those in which the ancient practices are translated into the modern idiom: the Stoic "dichotomy of control" as the CBT distinction between the cognitive and the behavioral; the Stoic "premeditation of evils" as the CBT technique of decatastrophizing; the Stoic "discipline of the impressions" as the CBT practice of cognitive defusion. The biography of Marcus provides the narrative spine, and the final chapters — on the emperor's death and his practice of memento mori — are among the most moving in the modern Stoic literature.

Influence

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor has had a significant influence on the modern Stoic revival. It has demonstrated, to a wide audience, the deep connection between the ancient philosophy and the modern science of the mind, and it has made the Stoic practices available to readers who would not approach them through the academic philosophy. It has also contributed to the professional discussion of the Stoic roots of CBT, and it has been praised by clinicians and philosophers alike for the precision of its historical scholarship and the practicality of its counsel. The book is now a standard entry point into the modern practice of Stoicism, alongside The Daily Stoic and the other works of the revival.

Sources

• Robertson, Donald. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019.
• Robertson, Donald. The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy. London: Karnac, 2010.
• Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. Trans. Gregory Hays. New York: Modern Library, 2002.