“Each day, therefore, acquire something which will fortify you against poverty, against death, and against other misfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be digested thoroughly that day.” — Seneca, Letters, 2.4
One of the most common ideas in all philosophy is the need to regularly return to the most transformative thoughts and bask in them.
In practice, it’s easy to never do this. Even if we’ve read books from great thinkers who wow us, even if we’re continuously reading new works with good ideas, we might spend little total time with thoughts that fortify us against misfortune and remind us of our ideals.
We need to institute a practice if we’re going to make these timeless ideas into our opinions and live them out in the world.
There are many ways to do this, but simply utilizing others’ hard work is one of the easiest. That means turning to books written in a style ideal for daily perusing and contemplation.
Here are five of my favorite options. Afterward, I discuss what to do with them.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
I’ve already described how the Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius scrawled a notebook that’s lasted 1,800 years. It’s an incredible story everyone should familiarize themselves with.
But since Meditations consists of short, impactful entries that are mostly in the 1-4 sentence range, they’re easy to review. Marcus is famous for compressing ideas drawn from the breadth of the classical canon into very tiny, striking packages.
Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year by Allie Esiri
There’s a reason why Shakespeare was called “the people’s bard.” His plays are approachable and not overly cerebral, but aren’t mindless entertainment. His stories are built around some of history’s wisest ideas.
Shakespeare will make you dwell on how we villainize the “other”, the treadmill of achievement we’re stuck on, and much else.
This book has 365 of Shakespeare’s best selections.
The Practicing Stoic by Ward Farnsworth
Farnsworth created a Stoic commonplace book, divided by topic and drawn from the greatest Stoic ideas. He offers brief commentary, but lets the Stoics speak for themselves. It’s brilliant, and probably my favorite modern books on Stoicism. It’s easy to pull out an entry and study it.
A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy
When his career as one of the greatest novelists of all time was mostly over, Tolstoy went to work editing and commenting on the ideas of some of the world’s greatest thinkers, which he’d been gathering for 15 years. The book — published in 1904 — is divided into 365 entries. You’ll find a few short related quotes per page and some commentary by Tolstoy. The range of voices is huge — every sort of philosophy, religion, and bend of humanism is represented.
My only caveat is that you should expect every quote to be a fiction informed by the spirit of the thinker rather than an accurate representation of their words. I’ve read two or three translations of this book, and the most interesting quotes in each are untraceable, either due to purposeful paraphrasing by Tolstoy or the result of the quotes being translated multiple times and losing fidelity like a message after a game of telephone.
Moral Sayings by Publius Syrus
This freed Roman slave had some incredible insights. He’s a little bit Cynic, a bit Epicurean, often Stoic, and much else besides. His short book is filled with about 1,000 one-sentence aphorisms, and many are worth your time.
Living The Ideas
You don’t have to read each book cover-to-cover. I often skip around based on what’s calling me. Some of these suggestions probably won’t be for you. If you hate Shakespeare, for instance, a compilation of his work is unlikely to change your mind.
Just find something that strikes you and spend some time mulling it over. It’s not enough to quickly scan it and then abandon it like a to-do item checked off. If we want to grow and increase in resilience and excellence, we have to stay with the ideas and try them on like a piece of clothing, seeing how they can be applied to us.
Maybe you read Publius Syrus and are struck by:
“Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself.”
So you start to think about the saying in relation to your life. In what areas are you ruled by others’ opinions or your own insatiable desires? Is your lack of sovereignty over yourself leading you in the wrong direction? As you go through the day, look for instances in which you’re failing in self-ownership. What tiny step can you take to wrest back some control?
Maybe you make some time to crack open a notebook and use the ancient illeism journaling technique to do a deep dive on the idea.
Don’t expect much off the bat. But each day might be a tiny chip knocked off the statue-in-the-making that’s you. Each day moves you closer to your ideal.
Do this for a few years and see how greatly those hammer blows have compounded. You might just have trouble recognizing yourself.
Thanks for reading Socratic State of Mind.
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I just ordered Shakespeare everyday. Looks interesting. Also, could not agree more about Farnsworth and the practicing stoic. I just finished that recently and loved it.
Good stuff. Gonna check them out.