Stoic Week

Something I'm trying this month (via Rationally Speaking):

Be stoic for a week (stiff upper lip not required)
(2012)

The true meaning of stoicism has been lost over time, but Stoic Week aims to show it is still a relevant and useful philosophy

Live like a Stoic! Week: 26 November to 3 December. An interdisciplinary team of psychotherapists, philosophers and classicists are working together to find out the uses of stoicism for the modern day and you can too, by taking part in Stoic Week.

"Stoicism" comes with baggage. The stiff upper lip, unwholesome self-absorption, and emotional detachment combine to form the stereotype of a philosophy that could surely have nothing to offer us today.

And that would be correct, if that stereotype were also correct. However, just as epicurean hedonism is today associated with the pleasures of the gourmand (whereas even the briefest of glances at Epicurus's writings show a simple, almost ascetic, lifestyle), so too has the essence of stoicism been long forgotten.

When one turns to the original stoic texts, a very different picture emerges. Instead of emotional detachment, there is an emphasis on the cultivation of joy, benevolence and well-wishing. Instead of unwholesome self-preoccupation, there is a focus on the development of ethical motivation integrally linked to a sense of duty and care for others. Instead of the much-parodied stiff upper lip, there is an emphasis on creating a structured life based on a coherent and well-grounded ethical framework. Living in accordance with this well-grounded ethical framework, or "living in accordance with virtue" (as the stoics would say), brings about three specific qualities: the life of good flow; freedom from negative emotions; and beauty of soul. In contrast to all the aforementioned stereotypes, then, stoicism aims for human flourishing in a very full sense, and an ability to find ways through times of crisis.

From this, it is clear that stoic philosophy, unlike most versions of philosophy today, was not just a matter of theory and argument. Rather, its main emphasis was practical: philosophy conceived as a way of life supported by a sophisticated and credible understanding of human psychology and giving rise to a rich armoury of methods for mental discipline and training.

But who were the stoics that lived their lives in this way? The evidence for the early stoics, such as Zeno and Chrysippus, is fragmentary and often lost. However, we do have a wealth of information from three later stoics of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. They are: Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor who kept his own private philosophical journal, the survival of which remains both mysterious and miraculous; Epictetus, the former slave who set up his own school and whose Discourses provide a cogent expression of the application of philosophy to everyday problems; and Seneca, whose 124 letters to his friend Lucilius, are a powerful example of philosophical therapy in action.

But could the methods and principles of stoicism, as found in these sources, still be a viable option today? A team of classicists, philosophers and psychotherapists have been working together to find out. This collaboration builds on the recent surge of interest in stoicism and stems from a workshop held in October, which itself came from a wider interdisciplinary project at the University of Exeter to explore the possible uses of classical approaches to therapy and preventative medicine for our own society. One of the plans identified at this workshop was a "Stoic Week", to run from 26 November to 3 December, and over the past couple of months collaboration has focused on preparations for this week.

The outcome is a 30-page booklet that has modernised stoic advice and which includes instruction for stoic exercises such as: the art of the philosophical diary, the "anachoresis" or "retreat into oneself", the contemplation of the ideal sage, reflections for both morning and evening, and a suggested daily itinerary for living the stoic life. Importantly, there is the option for participants to input data for statistical analysis both before and after the week, a crucial first step in establishing an evidence base for the value of the stoic life under modern conditions.

Participating will be a core group of about 30 students at Exeter's classics department; and they are being joined by many from around the world who will be posting their experiences of the week on the project's dedicated blog. Everyone, whether they have previous knowledge of stoicism or not, is invited to join this week.

And this is just the beginning. A much larger two-week experiment is planned for the spring, which will expand and improve on what has already been done. Interest in the blog has increased hugely in the past 48 hours: from 25 hits per day to 2,500. Perhaps it is time for a stoic revival, and to see what this rich ancient philosophy could really offer us?