Field Handbook

I carry notebooks everywhere. In particular, I use Field Notes 48-page Memo Books to jot down thoughts, remind myself of upcoming projects, and a myriad of other things. This has become a vey useful habit. I take red notebooks to every Red Cross disaster at which I volunteer. That way I have important phone numbers and such at the ready even if the power goes out and my own phone dies. I have a notebook that's just for writing ideas. I'm working on a fantasy novel and who knows when a good idea is going to strike? Most recently, I've begun developing a stoic handbook.

Stoic handbook #1 is a mishmash of quotes, personal thoughts, and drawings that have jumped out at me during my readings. My hope is to tease out some structure and develop a personal go-to handbook that I could use to help guide my day when needed. I figure a best practices notebook would help me when I'm having a less than stellar day and could also help me explain stoicism to people who ask. I still don't have a solid elevator pitch for this philosophy. There are other projects that take precedence, but I thought I'd share this one. Hopefully I'll have more to show in the coming months.

Review: The Emperor's Handbook

The Emperor's Handbook, a new translation of Marcus Aurelius' meditations by the Hicks brothers, is a must for any practicing stoic as well as for anyone who is interested in wisdom literature. Aurelius' writings provide the rare opportunity to share in the daily thoughts of a common stoic. Not common concerning his position as emperor, but common in that he is seriously applying stoic principles to his lived experience. He is not a teacher addressing students nor an old man addressing his protege. His only audience is himself. As such, the Handbook provides a guide for how high a bar stoics should set for their own judgments and actions. This new translation makes Aurelius all the more potent.

Prior to being gifted this translation (thank you Christy) I was using a free version of the Meditations on my Kindle. Here's some practical advice from Emperor Aurelius,

Use thyself even those things that thou doest at first despair of. For the left hand we see, which for the most part lieth idle because not used; yet doth it hold the bridle with more strength than the right, because it hath been used unto it.

Here's that same thought updated for modern eyes,

Practice also the things you don't expect to master. The left hand, clumsy at most things from inexperience, grasps the reins more confidently than the right because it's used to them. (Book 12, 6)

My guess is that the second version came off a bit less stilted, and Marcus is just pumping himself up to practice something he's not a natural at. When his writings are more philosophical and more technical, the difference in impact between the two translations is night and day.

The Emperor's Handbook has helped me to appreciate a strong stoic voice that I had previously dismissed. Before I would read him and think, "I get it, you've read Epictetus ..so have I pal." Then I'd go read Epictetus again. Now I find a brother in the pages. He's a peer who also struggles to live a joyful stoic life in a turbulent world. Every stoic should have this book on their nightstand or next to a favorite reading chair. If you do, Marcus will become a daily counselor and friend.

Iteration or Something Like It

Habits begin to form at the very first repetition. After that there is a tropism toward repetition, for the patterns involved are defenses, bulwarks against time and despair...Of course there was no such thing as a true repetition of anything; ever since the pre-Socratics that had been clear, Heraclitus and his un-twice-steppable river and so on. So habits were not truly iterative, but pseudoiterative. The pattern of the day might be the same, in other words, but the individual events fulfilling the pattern were always a little bit different. Thus there was both pattern and surprise, and this was Wahram's desired state: to live in a pseudoiterative. But then also to live in a good pseudoiterative, an interesting one, the pattern constructed as a little work of art. 

-Kim Stanley Robinson, 2312

I'm working on a stoic daily routine. Exciting, I know. I guess I could say daily ritual and gain the patina of ancient spirituality that "ritual" implies, but I'm willing to stick with the less grandiose term. A routine is necessary if I'm ever going to build consistency into my view of the world around me, and stoicism is all about point-of-view.

I'm already a fan of a patterned day. I'm big on easing into the morning. Wake up, make breakfast, sip coffee, shave (slowly with a straight razor if I have the time), shower, drink more coffee while perusing Google News, etc... It shouldn't be that difficult to add some intentional meditation, a mantra, the sacrifice of a goat to Zeus (not actually a thing), or some other helpful device to keep my attention focused during the day.

Evenings are covered. The ancient stoics pretty consistently recommend retrospection at the end of the day. Before going to sleep, I can review how I used my hours. I can look at both my failures and my triumphs and seek to learn from them. I've practiced this on and off and found it helpful. It's calming and, when I wake up, I remember, "Hey, X got under my skin yesterday so I better be prepared if it happens again today."

My mornings are more up in the air. I usually remind myself of a Marcus Aurelius quote,

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine.

Stoics are big on remembering that obstacles are going to be there whether you're prepared or not, so it's better to be prepared. I have a variety of other quotes stored in Evernote and I take time to review them as well. What I haven't decided is if I want to set aside fifteen minutes or half an hour just to center myself. Also, I have no idea how I would go about centering myself.

I opened with the Robinson quote because I love that view of life, the pseudoiterative. Like the character Wahram, I also want my day to be a little work of art. Stoicism gives me the tools I need to live that out. I just need to use them more consistently.