Stoicism Exercise for Inner-Peace - Phantasia Kataleptike
Do you want to know the Stoic secret to never having a bad day again? Let’s begin with a story.
One day, the old man used all his savings to buy a young and beautiful horse. The very same day he bought it, the horse jumped the fence and escaped into the hills. The neighbours came to express their concern, “Oh, that’s too bad. How are you going to work the fields now?”
The farmer replied, “Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?”
In a few days, his horse came back from the hills and brought eight fine horses with him. The neighbours again gathered around. “Oh, how lucky! Now you can do much more work than ever before!” They said.
The farmer replied, “Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?”
The next day, the farmer’s son fell off one of the new horses and broke his leg. “Such misfortune,” said the neighbours. The leg healed crooked and left the son with a permanent limp and endless pain. The neighbours were concerned again: “Now that he is incapacitated, he can’t help you around. That’s too bad.”
The farmer replied, “Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?”
Soon, the news came that war has broken out, and all the young men were required to join the army. The villagers were sad because they knew that many of the young men will not come back. The farmer’s son could not be drafted because of his broken leg. His neighbours were envious, “How lucky! You get to keep your only son!”
The farmer replied, “Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?”
Arete and Stoic Philosophy
The Ancient Greeks loved the word ‘arete’, which translates to excellence or virtue. Something is said to have arete when it fulfills its function to the highest degree. A knife has arete when it’s sharp and able to cut things effortlessly. A light bulb has arete when it’s long lasting and able to illuminate a room perfectly.
So, what is the function of a human being? The stoics believed that the principal function for us is to live in agreement with nature. Humans are animals, yet distinctly different. We have separated ourselves from birds, whales, bees, chimps, and every other animal through our ability to reason. To think of abstract concepts such as stories, religion, ethics and economics. A gazelle that escapes the mouth of a lion is thankful that it can live another day. It carries on as normal, and if it is smart will avoid roaming around the location it was attacked.
A human being in the same position will fixate on the attack, replaying the scene in their mind continuously. They will create safeguards to ensure it doesn’t happen again or even collaborate with others on a counterattack. This is all possible due to our more advanced neocortices allowing us to fulfil our nature of reasoning.
The downfall comes when we can no longer use our reasoning faculties objectively. When the scenes in our heads keep playing and the judgements of the events as good or bad don’t stop.
Remove the lion and you will have the same issues with your boss, the employee at Starbucks who spells your name wrong, and even your dog who poops all over the house. Our brains constantly find situations that we label as bad. This is not arete but a malfunction.
The stoics believed that there were two levels of response. The first being habitual and natural, like recoiling when you touch something hot. The second being self-created through our value judgement and how we perceive the event.
“Ouch, that really hurt. I am cursed and my life sucks.”
Epictetus famously said,
“Men are disturbed not by things but by the view which they take of them.”
The quality of your life is dependent more upon your inner tranquillity than your outside circumstances. If you want to change your life, you must begin by changing how you label the events happening to you.
Phantasia Kataleptike Explained
Start by first changing the words you say to yourself and use a more detached approach.
Instead of,
“I lost my job, what am I going to do? My life sucks and I always fail at everything”,
Look at the situation objectively.
“Yes, I lost my job. The economy is changing, and many people are going through the same thing. I will begin searching for something more secure.”
Instead of “My girlfriend dumped me, it’s the same story every time. There is something wrong with me”, say this. “My girlfriend dumped me. There is a pattern in my behaviour or the partners I choose that I need to uncover before I can have a successful long-term relationship.”
You can feel the emotions of the situation – it’s as normal as backing away from the stove – but you will not add fuel to the fire by labelling the events as bad. No pun intended. Look at the event more objectively without value judgements. The stoics referred to this as ‘phantasia kataleptike’.
Picture your life as a movie, and the event you are labelling ‘bad’ or ‘good’ as a single scene. We don’t judge movies based on scenes but instead on the ensemble. Life is much the same as you can never really know if an event was bad or good…until your death bed.
The easiest way I found to practice phantasia kataleptike is through changing your outlook on events, removing value judgements, and seeing them objectively. First start with your thoughts which will then transform the language you use.
Mindfulness meditation is the best tool to combat persistent thoughts and labelling. It involves you paying attention to sensations as they arise, whilst refraining from labelling them as good or bad. Mindfulness is like a muscle you have to exercise. The more you practice, the better you will become at it. Practice enough and you will notice more peace in your life.
Stoics also practiced evening reflections, which allowed them to review their day before sleep. During this reflection many stoics contemplated what they did well and where they needed to improve. You can also use this time to go through the events you labelled as being ‘bad’ and look at them more objectively.
“James at work was being an ass today, I think he hates me” can be transformed into
“James was being rude today, perhaps something is wrong with his personal life.”
Remember: Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows.
Do this and I promise you will be one step closer to living and dying well.