“Keep death and exile before your eyes each day, along with everything that seems terrible — by doing so, you’ll never have a base thought nor will you have excessive desire.”
EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 21
I have to admit, I’m struggling a bit with the message from today’s page in The Daily Stoic book.
It’s saying that we have to keep terrible thoughts in the forefront of our minds… and that feels like it runs directly counter to some of the other core teachings of stoicism, like not putting a down payment on misery, and reminding ourselves that irrational fear is worse than the thing we’re afraid of.
Further, the specific teaching of Marcus Aurelius that we should shut out the negative from our minds seems to run in direct contradiction to what Epictetus is suggesting above.
So, what are we to make of this? How do we reconcile?
As I read the quote above again, I’m keying in on the phrase “everything that seems terrible” — meaning that not everything that appears terrible actually is. And that actually is aligned with other Stoic teachings. Things that are hard for most people to contemplate (death, misfortune, loss) are things that Stoics actually seek to think about in advance, so that they’re ready.
So I guess I that sense, this isn’t misaligned. It’s simply the basic teaching that we should expect the unexpected, so that it doesn’t bowl us over. We should keep in mind that everything could be taken away from us in an instant — we don’t really own anything, so it could change without warning. And by preparing for the worst, it keeps those terrible thoughts in the forefront of our mind, so that we’re not crushed when it happens.
