The Stoic Art of

Living
A manual for discipline, persistence, non-attachment and
the joy of living


“When evening approached, I descended from the peaks

of the island. Sitting by the lake, on the beach, in some
hideaway; focusing my senses on the sound of the waves
and the water, driving any agitations out of my soul,
plunging into a delicious reverie, where the night often
took me by surprise. The ebb and flow of the water, its
continuous sound, undulating relentlessly in my ears and
eyes, replacing the moments of reverie that were being
quenched inside of me… this was sufficient to make me
feel content with my own existence, barely needing to
think.”
- Rousseau — 5th Walk

Such privileged moments of being connected with yourself

are becoming increasingly rare in our perpetually
connected society, where interruption is unceasing,
preventing ourselves from appreciating our surroundings,
entangling us in routines which are hard to break out of.
It might be sad to acknowledge or admit that we act like
gigantic, hollow puppets, which is only reactive,
responding to the demands which are flooding us from all
sides, preventing us from dedicating ourselves to the true
pleasure of living.
This goes as far that we avoid moments alone, or at least
reduce them to a minimum. We do not feel ready to face
ourselves in these moments of truth. Our connected world
offers us protection against self-consciousness, like vines
covering the real mountain before us in plain sight.

Neither does our standard education prepare us to face

life head-on. We are taught to read and write, but not the
most important of activities, how to live.

And even the discipline of philosophy, whose original

purpose was to teach the art of living, has lost its integrity,
since those teaching it – classroom philosophers – revel in
the realms of metaphysics, inaccessible to the common
man. Defending their precious meta-concepts, these
philosophers re-join the ranks of the semi-unconscious as
soon as the university closes its doors. They create
insurmountable walls between what they practice and
what they preach. When we think of philosophy today, we
think of gloomy types behind closed doors, buried in piles
of books inside their offices, using terms and opaque
concepts that are far removed from the true reality of life.

And what about us? Where can we turn to learn how to

live a better life? Some of us turn to religion, others lose
themselves in the dogmas offered by „ready to wear “,
one-size-fits-all pop philosophy. Few develop their own
way of life, and even fewer manage to integrate it into their
everyday life.

Chapter 1

You

Yes, you, who makes the most beautiful promises and

resolutions every time the earth has completed one more
journey around the sun, every time it’s time for the New
Years festivities and our inner voice tries to confront us.
On several occasions, in different ways, you have made
these promises to yourself, always the same affirmation:

Never again! Tomorrow I will be a new person. You jot

down your resolutions on a piece of paper, get a warm
fuzzy feeling in your heart, probably even tell your friends
about it and then let a few indulgences slip, as after all, it’s
the last time. Tomorrow, you will change. You manage to
stick to your resolutions, at least for a few days… before
again succumbing to the incessant calls of the whirlwind of
your life.

You, the heroic conqueror, upon bravely exploring your

inner worlds, soon find yourself as a mere mortal once
again, falling back into your complacent routine of life,
your old shortcomings and mistakes. Removing your
armor and weapons, you find yourself slipping into a ditch
of experiences and situations imposed by others.

And the consistency of your being is really quite

remarkable! With each new confrontation with yourself,
these heroic resolutions you make return to your mind
even stronger, more vivid. You may have forgotten those
revolutionary words in your excitement, but have you not
uttered them already a hundred times without following
through? No matter, you return to charge, you persist,
start again, sure that this time, it will work out, it will be
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different, because the shame of your recent defeat has

changed you, has made you stronger. Now, you are
marked by the aftermath of life, wiser and more insistent
on yourself.

However, after a few days you again find that despite this
flood of experiences that has poured into you, all these
beautiful words you have addressed to yourself, have not
succeeded in carving a better version of yourself.

Chapter 2

The one that

annoys you

What is it that you need? An unwelcomed sage: A

questioner in the style of Socrates, who waves at you,
stops you in your tracks when you are on your way, and,
without any solicitation on your part, begins to question
you, forcing you to face yourself, to see into the depths of
your very being.

As you try to hide, he stares at you unwaveringly and

asks:

“Do you think you are the only one on earth asking
themselves these questions?

Think you have only been placed on this earth to witness

your lack of resolve and irrationality of your thoughts? The
only one who has found themselves prey to their own
emotions and mood swings?”

The undulations of life that you face today are pillars which
have accompanied humankind since the beginning of
time. They have accompanied our ancestors, from Calida
to Marc Aurel to Gandhi and Mandela in the more recent
times. The ancient Romans and Greeks were not
primitives bar of any refinement. They have loved,
suffered, made resolutions, sought to please, they
have enjoyed compliments, coveted power, and all have
sought to leave their everlasting mark on this earth.

In the past two thousand years of human history, we have

always fallen prey to the same worries and upheavals of
life. And we have always sought to change, improve and
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transform

In in these 2000 years of experimentation in the vast

laboratory of the human experience, various philosophies
of life have fallen by the wayside because they were
enveloped by an ideological fog that weakened and make
them crumble before the passage of time. Yet other
ancient philosophies of life, like Stoicism or Epicureanism,
have endured the successive turmoil of the centuries.

These philosophies remain valid today, because they are

practical and pragmatic. They are based
on fixed aspects of human nature which have remained
unchanged since the days of the Hellenistic wars
described in the Iliad.

Chapter 3

Drink from this

fountain

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In this guide, I would like to suggest that you drink from

this ancient fountain, to enjoy the experience of a
millennium of humankind, inscribed into our genes from
the very beginning, resurfacing time and time again, yet
limited to an audience of dawdling readers. This fountain
offers immaterial knowledge, the fruit of all human labor,
constantly renewed, discussed, edited.

The French historian Michelet wrote that antiquity had

managed to distill knowledge in its most concentrated
form, as a kind of elixir. Its philosophies of life are very
simple: They repeat metaphors and adages which seem
strikingly mundane yet manage to burn themselves into
your mind. This way, these maxims become an integral
part of your being, resurfacing to your conscious mind
whenever the situation calls for them.

Several recent studies have proven that daily self-study

helps the human mind in being able to recall better
information it has just learned. If you watched a TV show
today, you will be surprised to learn that you might find
yourself using the same vocabulary as a guest of the show
throughout the day. This information is immediately
accessible to you because it is recent.

This brings to mind movie scenes where a handicapped

adult decides to transform their life. As they face
themselves in the mirror, they tell themselves that they are
the strongest, the most unique, the most capable of them
all.

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Unfortunately, this kind of forced self-persuasion if not

very effective, because our rational, skeptical mind is
always awake in our subconscious and tells us that what
we are trying to tell ourselves is just a bunch of nonsense,
disconnected from reality. This type of manufactured
incitement is not going to change your very being.

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Chapter 4

Humankind is
immutable

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Have you ever found yourself in awe faced with an

uplifting natural scenery? Have you ever felt joyful and
euphoric upon an unexpected success? Are you familiar
with the surprising feeling of tender affection towards your
countrymen or your favorite team?

These privileged states of mind are distinctively human.

We are able to feel them at every moment throughout our
lives, yet we instead decide to become unconscious and
live our lives in a deep state of drowsiness. We do not
even realize that we open our eyes only in specific
situations: the death of a loved one, an unfair dismissal,
condescending disregard.

Events such as this force us to look up from the worries of

our daily life, if only for a few moments. In moments such
as this, we realize the absurdity and smallness of what we
regularly complain about.

Regardless, this is a privileged state, since some people

never even notice this mental fog.

They continue living life half-weary of life’s torments and

pains, believing that living is suffering, even feeling a bitter
sense of satisfaction when life plays tricks on them,
because this confirms their belief that they are condemned
to a lifetime of unhappiness

Even when these people manage to lift their heads out of

the brackish water for a moment, they cannot fathom the
sight of an invigorating, intense reality, a world full of
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beauty. They immediately plunge their heads back under

water, preferring their daily stupor to a painful, but
elevating resurrection.

Their destiny resembles that of the soldier in Dino

Buzzati’s novel "The Tartar Steppe”. In this story, the
soldier is assigned an isolated watch post from which he
was to await the enemy’s arrival. Eventually, he started to
interpret every movement and every illusion as the arrival
of the Tartars, and kept postponing his departure from his
post because he was sure the enemy would arrive the
next week.

He spent his entire life waiting, interrupted only by short

moments of doubting himself, but never deciding to give
up. He spent his entire life waiting, and only when he was
an old man, lying on his deathbed, was it announced that
the enemy was finally in sight. He spent his entire life
waiting in vain.

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Chapter 5

A philosophy of
the past and the
present

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Practical philosophy aims to lift us out of this state of

drowsiness and teaches us to appreciate the magnificence
that surrounds us. It allows us to access a state of
constant alertness and awakening, inviting us to
appreciate life and all that it offers to us, fully and
intensely.

These branches of philosophy teach us to care less about

the trials and tribulations of life. They teach us to observe
ourselves, recognize that we let our lives pass us by, lost
in thoughts and worries, filled with regret and nostalgia,
and encourage us to spread our wings, take flight and
experience life fully.

These philosophies of life are based on a set of daily

mental exercises. In this article, I will introduce some of
these to you. Some have remained unaltered since the
beginning of time: Seneca, Goethe, Pascal and Rousseau
have been praising them in their works. Others have been
created based on the necessities of the modern world.
Again: Philosophy was never meant to be a pastime of the
elite or recluses, never meant to reflect on eternity and the
mysteries of our origins.

The true philosopher is a practical and pragmatic person,

who lives their life fully and conscientiously without
becoming a slave. The modern philosopher is an
authentic, rational and skeptical being who might give in to
the necessities of life, but knows deep down that they are
able to reconnect with their soul at any time.

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Chapter 6

Mental
exercises

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The wall

The wall you are facing is made of ash colored bricks, its
height seems to reach beyond infinity. No matter how
much you strain your gaze, you cannot make out its
edges. This wall has been built by the laborers of your
own mind, your own experiences are the bricks. And
whenever you find yourself facing a difficult situation, such
as your manager refusing a pay rise, your mind resisting a
promising opportunity or being turned down for a romantic
encounter, you find yourself before this wall, imposing and
final, demanding you to turn back and give up on the
opportunities of life.

You may try to climb it, but the walls are wet and slippery,
so you take a hammer and try to hit it forcefully instead.
Nothing works. This wall is unshakable. And in this
moment, hesitation starts to move into your mind. Maybe
you are after all, not ready to start your own business, the
problems with your coworkers can never be solved, you
doubt that you are able to succeed in this project before
you die, and that special person is just too far out of reach
for you to ever find them.

So, you prefer to remain in this lethargic state, yet it only
provides an uncertain comfort, as you are constantly
shaken by the deep desires of your very core. You try to
smother them, without much success.

Every time, your desires arises more painfully, reminding

you of your torment. Or you try to resist its calls, moving in
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close to the wall, working on it diligently from early

morning until late at night.

Every now and then, you take a step away from the wall
for a better overview, try different approaches, a new
hammer, take a seat and ponder the wall, looking for
vulnerable spots. Whenever the sun becomes too fierce,
setting you on fire, you create a canopy to protect you.
You ignore your pain, see it as an enemy that tried to
sabotage you, and build an even stronger fortress.
Meanwhile, beside you, you notice hordes of assaulters,
trying to hit their fists on the wall, endless rows of tents,
hoping to climb the wall or find a gap… but with the
passing weeks, their willpower fades.

The tents are taken down. Whole processions of people

give up, go home. Soon you are one of the last few people
facing the wall. Through all the trying, all the suffering,
sweating, watching, relentless toil, you begin to notice,
doubtful but content, the first cracks appearing on the wall.

And suddenly, without a warning, the wall begins to shake

and tremble and finally collapses! Behind the wall, you find
the fruit of your endless months of work and agony! The
story of lovers found! New hope! A child, saved! Newfound
health!

This wall, you now understand, represents all the

obstacles you face. You will face it often, whenever you
encounter a defeat or difficulty that seems impossible to
overcome.
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This wall, with its imposing height, manages to overwhelm

the vast majority of people who try to overcome it. The
choice is yours: Do you want to belong to the 2% who
persist and succeed? Or to the big majority who turn back,
claiming that the obstacle was impassable?

Persist. You may take a step back to get a better view,

but
persist. Learn how to let go when required, but still, just
persist ... the wall WILL fall.

The final presentation


On September 18, 2007, scientist Randy Pausch taught
his last class at a meeting of 400 people at Carnegie
Mellon University. He began his presentation with a slide
showing the results of his last medical scan, showing the
ravages of pancreatic cancer wreaking havoc on his
insides. Randy explained to the audience that he only had
a few months left to live. That day, he was energetic,
cheerful and enthusiastic, although he realized that this joy
would only last a short time. In his presentation, he spoke
of the wall that prevents each of us from fulfilling our
childhood dreams. Please enjoy Randy’s last lesson,
“Achieving your childhood dreams”: http://goo.gl/89hYe

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Chapter 7

The child and the

sage

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Our existence is marred by constant ambivalence. We

constantly swing back and forth between the impulses that
we want to act on and what our sense of responsibility
tells us to do.

On one hand, there is the promise of a better future, a

tranquil mind and deep satisfaction within ourselves, on
the other, instant gratification, fleeting pleasure, following
by bitter regret.

Inside each of us, two beings vie for our mind and dictate
our actions: A spoiled child, unable to resist any
indulgences. And a wise, thoughtful and rational sage,
wishing what is best for our future, who rewards us for
work done well, promising big incentives to the little one if
it follows his advice.

When a desire arises within us, takes us by surprise, and

we run towards its accomplishment, without even realizing
what happens, we leave all theories of free will behind,
remain in a sleepy state of automatic action… a voice from
the core of our being tries to interrupt, but we easily
suffocate it because we are so absorbed and caught up in
what we are doing or saying.

Painful regret begins to accumulate, haunting us in our

thoughts throughout the day, and finally, we decide to get
down to do the work. We start only when the pressure has
become too much to bear, or when our future and career
are at risk. We employ titanic efforts to finish up on time.
When we make it, we tell ourselves that it’s in our nature
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to leave things to the last moment and that it’s meant to

happen like this anyway, priding ourselves original,
rebellious. If we don’t make it, we see the mistake and
promise ourselves to change.

You have been invited to an evening event that is

important for your further career, but are intimidated by the
guests present. The wise man inside you is excited and
happy to go.

“What an unexpected opportunity! Maybe you will have the

defining encounter you have been waiting for a long time!”

For now, the child inside you is not acting yet, it’s
malicious and cunning, waiting for the last moment: Just
before you leave the house, it tells you that it would be
good to rest a moment. You sit down in an armchair and
despite your vigilance, sleep overwhelms you. When you
wake up, you try to convince yourself that it is already too
late to leave.

In the morning, you feel a little under the weather, and the
child inside you chimes in: “You are sick! Take a rest.” In
that moment, you enter a special, addictive state of mind,
the mindset of a sufferer. Being sick, you permit yourself
any indulgences and do not need to put any pressure on
yourself.

You try to forget yourself by sleeping or watching TV,

forgetting that you might be able to go through your day
perfectly normally except for that belief you have instilled
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in yourself: That a sick person needs to stay in bed.

Let’s assume you have a meeting in an hour, and decide

to get there early, having made the resolution that you
want to be a punctual person. But the child inside you
reminds you that the meeting is only 15 minutes away
from your current location, and convinces you that it’s
enough to leave 15 minutes early. It persuades you that
you live in a perfect, orderly world where everything goes
as planned.

When it’s time to leave, the child encourages you to check

your email one last time, and minutes past without you
realizing, because your mind is occupied with the fleeting
moment of pleasure that emails can offer us. Suddenly
you check the time and realize you’re running late. You
rush to the public transport and start making apologies
towards the person you have kept waiting.

During an intense exercise session, the child inside you

tells you that you’ve suffered enough and that it’s time to
rest. It makes you believe that your body has already
reached its limits. The wise man, however, is trying to tell
you that your willpower is limitless, that you can always
take another breath and keep going.

If you accepted to suffer a few moments, you will come to

exceed your limitations and what seems painful today
would just be a small, imperceptible niggle tomorrow. But
you’re not listening, take a rest and complain about how
you have been short on energy recently.
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You are sitting at your desk, ready to start an important

but boring project. Eventually, you decide to quiet your
mind and devote two hours of solid work to it.

For a moment, you are soothed and content with your

responsible decision.

The child inside congratulates you, but then suggests

drinking a glass of water before starting this arduous task.
The old man objects, but you give in. Once you have your
glass of water, the child suggests that it would be a good
idea to look at your email or watch TV, just for a few
minutes - “You deserve that much!” The technology takes
care of the rest… you enter a different world, lose track of
time and the hours slip by unnoticed.

The daily face-off

The child manages to create the most outlandish excuses,

presenting them to you as the most intelligent of reasons.
It’s a cunning, irrational being that mostly responds to
instant gratification. It leads you to ignore the sage who
has been trying to convince you from the beginning.

The sage agrees to be punctual, to do the work on time, to

put aside instant, easy pleasures in favor of lasting
rewards, leading us from our daily comforts to an
experience of true sensual pleasure we can only feel after
passing a difficult trial.

The wise man represents your willpower, the child your

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frantic impulses.

Recent research conducted by Roy Baumeister at the

University of Florida found that our will power can be
compared to a muscle. Like a muscle, it atrophies if it’s not
put to the test often, for example if we fall prey to a routine
of comfort and idleness. Like a muscle, you will lose its
strength if you don’t call on it frequently.

Other studies have shown that even simple physical

exercises, which require discipline and willpower, lead
people to reduce their consumption of tobacco, caffeine
and impulsive spending.

It’s up to you to choose the character you give in to more

often: The spoiled child or the thoughtful sage? Making
this simple choice helps your favored character gain the
upper hand, making it the one that dominates your
personality.

The two wolves

An old Apache is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight

is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible
fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is
anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity,
guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority,
and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love,

hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy,
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generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is

going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then

asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Apache simply replied, “The one you feed.”

An Apache tale

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Chapter 8

The value of the

present moment

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In the last moments of your life, surrounding by your loved

ones, you lose consciousness for a moment. When you
wake up, you notice the faint lines of a silhouette
disappear in the room, hear a voice whispering in your
ear, weary, appearing from beyond the grave.

You see pictures of your life passing by before you,

passages from your entire existence, gone in seconds.

You are always thinking about the loved one you lost. You
imagine them asleep by your side, feel the sudden urge to
hug them. As you pretend to hug them, you experience a
hollow pleasure, sad, tinged with the harsh reality where
you find yourself in two footsteps at a time.

You are followed by solitary sadness, in a state of fragile

balance, mentally constantly switching between the past
and the present.

Meanwhile, all around you, cars are passing by, people
run past, the order of the world continues without worrying
about you. You are dreaming of a promotion. You work
long hours, imagining the day it finally happens and your
dream of financial comfort that comes with it: Will you use
the money to go on an adventurous trip? Or maybe you
want to take your family on an idyllic island vacation?

You hope, dream, already imagining your feet in the water,

and are overwhelmed by an intense pleasure and more
intense desire to achieve your goal, you are full of burning
energy and ready to face some more months of your
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boring routine! So, you start a new work day as always,

carrying in your heart the hope of a happy future which
you consider inaccessible in this very moment.

You live only for the events and expectations of the future,
never for the present moment. Meanwhile, around you,
relationships develop and fall apart, some houses are
built, others destroyed, life goes on without paying mind to
you. You start to regret this crazy behavior.

You keep reliving your imagined scene, coloring in all the

details more vividly adding sounds, feelings and even the
taste of the moment, but it keeps leaving a bitter
aftertaste. You should have behaved differently! “Why did I
do that? Why did I reply like that?” Then you wish you
could alter the course of history, and return to your
imagination, to scenes where you are the hero, conqueror,
cunning, charming, full of verve and wit.

Then reality returns, sharp as a sword, and does not allow

for any compromise. Meanwhile, around you, humans are
born, others die, time goes by without even noticing your
existence.

Only the present deserves our happiness

For a large part of our lives, we are drawn between

nostalgia and regrets about the past and our hopes and
expectations for the future, although we should dedicate
all our efforts to the present.

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The real range of our actions is reduced to this very

second, consisting of fleeting, successive moments. The
past and future are without our reach. We can ruminate
and hope, but that doesn’t change anything about our
reality. Only the present deserves our full attention. Yet
often, we get carried away by the flow of our memories or
the arrival of the boat towards bright hopes of a better
future.

We live in a constant state of detachment, telling

ourselves that we can do our work consciously and to the
best of our abilities, if we only decided to do so. Then we
work on projects half-heartedly, believing that our moment
to completely devote ourselves to a task has not yet come,
and fail to recognize the absurdity of this incessant
detachment.

It would be enough to realize that each moment

possesses an infinite value, and that it is worth pouring all
our abilities and efforts into the task at hand, even if it’s of
little importance.

If taken seriously, the simplest act turns into something

special. That way, even shelling peas can become an
interesting task:


“Shelling peas is easy. Press your thumb onto the edge

of the pod and it opens readily. Some pods, less ripened,
are more reluctant, but with an incision of the nail of your
index finger, you can tear through the green pod, feel the
denseness of the flesh under the thin skin. Then you use
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the fingers to remove the peas. The last one is really tiny.
Sometimes, we want to eat it right away. It’s not very
good, a little bitter, but fresh as cold spring water. Nearby,
by the sink, some crisp, fresh carrots drying on a rag. We
speak slowly, the melody of the words seeming to come
from within, peaceful, familiar. From time to time, we raise
our heads to look the other in silence, but our opposite has
to keep their head down – it’s part of the code.”

- The Small Pleasures of Life— Philippe Delerm.

Only the present deserves our full attention. This moment

is the only moment we can control and influence. THIS
MOMENT, which has already passed, THIS INSTANT,
that has just gone by. Do you see how fleeting time is? If
we choose to ignore it and instead think about our past of
hope for a bright future, we spend the large majority of our
life neglecting our actual life in that moment.

Feeling alive

Hear what's around you, feel your body, your right hand.
Hold out your hand, watch it move. Return to this moment.
Look at the painting in front of you as if you saw it for the
first time, paying mind to the details of the work, the story
behind it, imagining the artist who painted it.

Listen to the sounds that surround you. Rediscover those

sounds that have grown familiar to you, become mindful,
observe people, the details of their faces, the movements
of their breath, the expressions on their faces and the
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individual experiences of those before you, lost in their

own thoughts. Get up and imagine your neighbors’
houses, the thousands of people working on their own
lives. Feel what you felt a few moments ago… this is not
yourself anymore.

Every moment, every second, your being changes, gets

entangled, undulates, and then recomposes itself.

This very moment

But how to learn to fully appreciate the present moment?
The first step is to look around you, not simply by casting a
fleeting glimpse without going deeper.

It’s about reaching a state where you see the trees

moving, notice the movement of a leaf from a distance,
feeling the breeze of the wind touching your skin.

It’s about staying in a vigilant state that observes all that

surrounds us, to get rid of the dull addiction that removes
us from the bright spark of our humanity. It is to dedicate
oneself fully to what is in front of us, to devote ourselves to
it as if it were the work of our life. It is then to keep in
oneself the thought of death, not to turn gloomy and
fatalistic, but simply to appreciate the present moment at
its true value. It is to be able to look death in the eyes and
to rise from it revitalized, intoxicated and exalted by the
love of live.

Do you want to live a good life? Do not worry about the

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past, it is the least likely to harm you. Continually rejoice in

the present moment, show no hatred toward men. And the
future, leave that to God.
- Faust — Goethe

What do you see in a flower?

Richard Feynman is a Nobel Prize winning physician, who
is well-known for his simple, clear explanations. In this
video, he helps us realize all the possible ways of beauty
that are contained in a simple flower: http://goo.gl/eqqHX

The smallness of life and humanity

In between unknown stars, at the passage of comets, near

a flaming ball of fire, lies a tiny planet. On this planet,
below a cover of azure blue, barely visible: One of those
modern, sprawling cities. In this city, a house. You are
inside this house, in the middle of a reception, surrounded
by ten important people – at least, important to you. You
look around, watching out for any sly smiles, cynical faces,
wondering what everyone else is thinking about you and
your actions. You want them to hold you in high esteem,
and alter your actions to satisfy their possible opinions, at
the same time giving up on your own free will. You live,
not according to your own values, but to satisfy the
schemes of those around you.

Even the simple act of sipping on your drink takes on a

new dimension, taking into account all the potential
reflections of those around you.

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Chapter 9

The view from

above

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What if you took a moment to rise above the behavior of

human beings and observed them from a mountain top? If
you took a moment to detach from these current affairs to
look at them from the perspective of Sirius?

You will see dozens of houses close together. You make

guesses about the lives living there, humans, each living
to the best of their ability: An aloof singleton, a divorced
woman, a happy family, leading their lives with their own
little worries, deeply convinced that the world revolves
around their concerns.

The sounds of the city come to you. You even manage to

distinguish the cries of the children, can almost hear the
discussion on a market. Then you raise your eyes a little
higher and get to see other countries. Memories of your
travels return to your mind.

You realize that right now, millions of people their own,

completely different life, without even suspecting your
existence.

In India, Hindu monks sing recitations from the Bhagavad-

Gita. In Morocco, singers in Jamaa el Fna are telling
stories of genies to groups of spectators surrounding
them. In other places, war is imminent, men are gathering
to plan their revenge. Yet in another place, a sickly child
can’t stop thinking what it will be able to eat before going
to sleep.

That is the diversity, eclecticism and complexity of human

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life, yet we often reduce it to a quick glance, taking into

account only what is within our view.

From this high perching point, you realize the ridiculous

smallness of the human existence: Hordes of people
concerned with their own lives and how to survive,
sometimes at the expense of others.

Will you, too, depend on others for living your life? Will you
adapt your actions, so they judge you favorably? Or will
you alone become the master of your destiny, setting your
own rules and ignoring the jealous opinions of others?

“Philosophy has taught me to rely on my own convictions

rather than on the judgments of others and to concern
myself less with whether I am well thought of than whether
what I do or say is evil.”

- Oration on the dignity of man, Giovanni Pico della

Mirandola

The only captain on board

Not only does this look from above make you realize that
you are the master of your own destiny, it allows you to
take a step back from your current issues.

By taking a broader and detached glance, you may realize

all the limitations of your current job, allowing yourself to
make the decision to quit it.

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You might find a different perspective on your relationship

with your parents, finding that a recent squabble is nothing
but the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding.

It is the same look from above that allows you to detach

from your person, your passions, your sufferings, the
kaleidoscope of your emotions.

It allows you to slip into the skin of the person opposite

you, feeling their troubles as if they were your own,
arriving at a better understanding of their behavior, which
seemed irrational to you until then.

It is this detached observation that makes you realize

many of your fears are just an irrational construct of your
mind, engineered to prevent you from living your life fully.

The fear that paralyzes you today will become nothing but
a vague memory in a few years’ time, an insipid idea, that
will dissolve into nothing, not a trace left in a dozen years’
time.

Elevation

Above the ponds, above the valleys,

Mountains, woods, clouds, and seas,
Beyond the sun, beyond the heavens,
Beyond the confines of starry spheres,

My spirit, you roam with agility,

And, like a good swimmer bracing the waves,
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You soar happily into profound immensity

With exquisite male delight.

Fly, far away from these noxious surroundings;

And cleanse yourself in the pure air above,
And drink, the clear fire that fills lucid spaces,
As you would a pure and divine liqueur.

Behind the nuisances, and the vast chagrins

Amassing with their weight our bewildered existence,
Happy is he who can with a vigorous wing
Propel towards the luminous and serene realms;

He whose thoughts, like larks,

Free, in the morning take flight,
— Hover over life, and understand with ease
The language of flowers and silent things!

- Les fleurs du mal — Charles Baudelaire

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Chapter 10

How to apply these

mental exercises?

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These exercises are wonderfully efficient and will

eventually permeate your very core and become a part of
your personality.

You probably are familiar with the sensation of being

deeply struck by the wisdom and depth of a metaphor as
you are reading it, but quickly succumbing back to lower,
more everyday matters. The beautiful lectures you have
read therefore never reach you beyond those few
seconds, not changing your inner core.

Reading and hearing wise words, without following up on

them with deep introspection and conscious meditation, is
no different than flitting from one book to the other without
really taking in the content.

This style of reading has entertainment value, but does not

lead to change.

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Chapter 11

How to influence
your own system of
values?

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When you have an important decision to make, for

example regarding an indulgence of yours you have been
defending in the past and that you are tempted by right
now, your system of values kicks in.

At this moment in your life, ask yourself these questions:

What values do I honor above all others right now? Are
these few seconds of pleasure more important to me than
to stand up and follow through with the promise I have
made to myself? Is it more important for me to lie to
another person just to please them? Or am I deeply
convinced that the those lies will only cause trouble in the
long run?

This is about retaining some forceful precepts in your mind

that help you make the most rational decisions, taking
your own convictions into account in that very moment.

During a fateful moment of decision-making, these

maxims will serve you as a tool: They pop up in your mind,
helping you to regulate your thought processes, altering
your character and influencing your point of view.

They will make you consider other perspectives and might

even make you act differently from what you had planned
to do.

These rules can remind you, for example, of the smallness

of humanity when you are shaking from stage fright before
holding a speech in front of a difficult audience. They can
reveal the absurdity of your worry about a new, complex
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project, will encourage you to approach an attractive

person despite the inquisitive looks of those around you,
invite you to ignore a mean remark from someone who is
simply jealous of you.

Find these short, fundamental rules that manage to
restore serenity to your soul and to return you to a state in
which you accept everything that is in the world.
- Meditations — Marc Aurel

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Chapter 12

Your daily practice

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But how to root these mental exercises deep down in your

soul? There is only one way: Speak, write or meditate on
these maxims as much as you can. Remember only this
one rule: Choose a set time for daily meditation.
Everything else will follow.

So, take a moment now to decide on a fixed time every

day that you will practice your mental exercises. The
beginning of the day is a very useful time so that you start
your day in your optimal mental shape.

Writing

Your daily practice could take the form of writing a journal.

This way, you can elaborate metaphors and images from
your mental exercise in your journal, reproducing them in
your own words. It also gives you the opportunity to
develop new ways of approaching these exercises.

As you remember stories from your own experience, the

images will become even more striking, more personal.
Writing allows us to revive the human experience through
the simple force of words.

The book “Meditations” but Marc Aurel, the stoic Roman

Emperor, is the epitome of a personal journal. By writing
down his thoughts, Marc Aurel sought to engrain the
lessons of Stoicism in his mind. In different sections of the
book, he revisits the same concepts and ideas and tries to
make them more relatable for himself.

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Dialogue

Your exercise can also take the shape of a dialogue,

either with your mirror image, or through a discussion with
somebody else who is working to improve themselves.
Speaking out loud to yourself is a proven way to anchor
any mental exercise in your mind.

Exchange on a topic with another person, when well done,

is a very rewarding exercise, as well. Ancient philosophers
were taught in circles where discussion and exchange
were encouraged.

Sometimes, the truth is more beautiful when spoken by

the person opposite than when expressed in our own
words.

Walks

From Rousseau to Kant, walks have often been the basis

and source of the best ideas and revolutionary projects.
Taking strolls in nature is an art of life that ought to be
taught in schools. Spiritually speaking, it allows us a
moment of inner peace and dialogue with oneself.

From the scientific point of view, the continuous movement

of the body supplies our brain with more oxygen.

It’s therefore not surprising that we feel more creative and

alert during a walk than when sitting on hour chair at
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home.

“I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop, I

cease to think; my mind works only with my legs”
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Even with daily practice, we can never claim to have

reached a continuous state of supreme wisdom and strict
discipline.

We can always fall prey to our instincts and desires and

will remain torn by the trials and tribulations of life.

Every conquest must be earned.

Your daily conquest

Any fortress requires maintenance. Our habits, discipline

and daily exercises help us face the hordes of desires that
are constantly banging against the gates of our mind,
helping us to become our most resistant.

“Take flight every day! Take at least a brief moment, as

long as it is focused. Every day, take time for a mental
exercise, alone of with somebody else who wants to
improve themselves in the long run.

Strive to strip away your own passions… become eternal

by reaching beyond that.

Working on yourself is necessary, an honorable ambition.

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Many are absorbed by militant politics, preparing for the

social revolution. But very rare are those who, in preparing
the revolution, are willing to make it worthy.”

- Georges Friedmann

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