How to Easily Memorize All of Stoicism
Transforming theory into story
It’s surprisingly easy to memorize all of Stoicism.
Or at least the 53 Stoic precepts that one of the most impressive polymaths of antiquity — Arrian of Nicomedia — thought were indispensable for executing the philosophy and living the good life.
Arrian wasn’t just a pen-and-ink philosopher who wrote about life. He lived it. Arrian made a mark on the world, and Stoicism was his personal operating system. He was an…
Explorer, geographer, and ethnographer of the Black Sea.
Repelled an invasion of Asia Minor.
Served as governor of Cappadocia and consul of the senate.
Became a confidant of the Emperor Hadrian.
Wrote at least eight popular books.
All this came after studying with the Stoic philosopher Epictetus as a young man. Afterward, he compiled a short handbook, the Enchiridion, which covers the most important and practical parts of Epictetus’s teachings, which Arrian had ready to help him confront any situation.
The Enchiridion only covers Stoicism’s “practical” side, and there are certainly other things to learn, but this method will help you memorize those things too, if you like. Here, we’ll stick to memorizing the Enchiridion. In doing this, we’ll bring ourselves in line with Epictetus’s teachings.
Epictetus thought it wasn’t enough to have a passing familiarity with powerful ideas. It’s not enough to have wisdom-filled books on your shelf. You have to make the ideas part of you — and your life — if you want to benefit from them.
"Sheep don’t throw up grass to show the shepherds how much they’ve eaten, but they digest their food inside and produce wool and milk outside. So don’t make a display of your philosophical principles to non-philosophers, but show them the results which come from those principles when they are digested."
— Epictetus, Discourses 2.9.15
Again and again in the Enchiridion, Epictetus tells us to "remember,” something he’s saying, and I think he didn’t use that word casually. He wants us to engrave these ideas on our minds, and the best way to do it is with the powerful Greco-Roman memory techniques of Epictetus’s day.
Of course, it makes no sense to memorize the meaningless; if you’re not familiar with Stoicism, read a good translation of the Enchiridion first. There’s also an ok version in the public domain, and you can read the whole book in about 30 minutes. If anything is unclear, Pierre Hadot’s The Inner Citadel and most of the modern books here should clear things up.
If you haven’t already, please read over my Link Method Crash Course. These directions won’t make a lot of sense without that information.
Then come back here and get started. You’ll find the first precepts below, and I’m adding more in batches each month.