The Good Life: 27 Essential Principles

this story is available now in french : https://michelrayot.medium.com/le-manuel-de-philosophie-comme-art-de-vivre-le-plus-concis-aa3df7442f55?sk=b8eadbf93ccc60189f2581d15138d50e

Of late, I have been spending a lot of time translating Stoic books from English to French. My wife, who doesn’t know any philosophy, was curious. “I’ve no interest in reading philosophy,” she said, “But could you quickly summarize the main ideas of Stoicism for me, so I can at least understand what you are so interested in?”

I thought about it for a while. It seemed to me that the best place to start is with Epictetus’ Enchiridion. I just finished translating Chuck Chakrapani’s The Good Life Handbook (a modern rendition of Enchiridion) into French and this summary of Stoicism is based on that book.

Introduction: The human condition

Let’s start with the human condition: as human beings in this universe, we develop physically and intellectually. We reproduce ourselves and eventually die. In our childhood and adolescence we depend heavily on our parents or those who raise us. They allow us to achieve autonomy. We are grateful to them. Compared to our early ancestors, we invest much less effort in our efforts to survive. We are protected against natural elements and fully cared for by our parents until we can support ourselves. But here is the challenge. We don’t just want to survive, we want to thrive as well. We are social animals and need live in harmony with our nature and with others.

What is the easiest way to live harmoniously? Do we absolutely have to understand the universe, trust God?

Not necessarily, as the following precepts show.

Twenty-seven precepts to live by

If we define the art of living as a life in harmony with ourselves and our world (‘a life that flows well’, as Zeno put it), we can follow a few simple principles to achieve the good life. Here they are:

1 Understand what is under your control. To achieve freedom and happiness, let us just be concerned about what we totally control: what we believe, what we desire or reject, and what we are attracted to or avoid. [1]

2 Avoid only things under your control. If you desire and avoid only those things that are under your control, then you will not feel victimized by things you dislike. Direct your dislike only to things that are under your control and avoid things that are undesirable (that is, contrary to your nature). [2]

3 Remind yourself of the nature of things. When something is delightful or useful to you, remind yourself of its true nature, whether it is an object or a person. For example, when you kiss your spouse or child, remind yourself that it is a mortal that you are kissing, so if something happens to them you will not be devastated. [3]

4 Remember things can go wrong. Whenever you plan on doing something, mentally rehearse what can happen. Then, if things go wrong, you will remember that your priority is to be calm, even though things did not go as you expected. [4]

5 It is your judgments that disturb you. Events don’t disturb people; the way they think about events does. Even death is not frightening by itself. But our view of death, that it is something we should be afraid of, frightens us. When you blame others for your negative feelings, you are being ignorant. When you blame yourself for your negative feelings, you are making progress. You are being wise when you stop blaming yourself or others. [5]

6 You are not what you own. Don’t be proud of the things you own. Think about what actually belongs to you. What belongs to you is an intelligent understanding of your first impressions. Analyze them using reason. Don’t brag about your wealth. We do not exist by our wealth or by our faculties. [6, 44]

7 Always be prepared. You have taken many responsibilities: your spouse, your children, and the like. But remember; you must be prepared to give up everything when it is called back. [7]

8 What will be will be. Don’t wish for things to happen the way you would like them to. Rather, welcome whatever happens. This is the path to peace, freedom, and happiness. [8]

9 The mind is not affected by problems. Sickness is a problem for the body, not the mind, unless the mind decides that it is If you practice attributing the correct source to problems you face, whatever happens, you will soon find that nothing that happens outside of you pertains to you. [9]

10 You have the resources to cope with any challenge. Let’s mobilize our resources: against inappropriate attraction, restraint; against pain, endurance; against insults, patience. If you start thinking along these lines, soon you will find that you don’t have a single challenge for which you don’t have the resource to cope. [10]

11 You can’t lose what you don’t own. You cannot really lose anything because you don’t own anything in the first place — not the stuff you have, nor your spouse, nor your property. Think of everything you have now as things entrusted to you that you are free to enjoy for a while. [11]

12 Avoid anxious thoughts. When you choose not to be anxious, do it in spite of your unfulfilled expectations. Think of what you lose as something you pay for your peace of mind. [12]

13 Ignore what others think of you. To make progress, you should be able to accept being seen as ignorant or naïve. You cannot be in agreement with nature if, at the same time, you care about things outside your control. [13]

14 Avoid having unrealistic expectations. You can avoid disappointment and be free if you do not desire or avoid things that other people control. [14]

15 Be compassionate. When you meet people in moral or emotional distress, show them sympathy, use comforting words, and even share their misery outwardly. But make sure that you do not inwardly grieve with them. [16]

16 Don’t react impulsively. When someone provokes you, if you respond with anger or some other negative emotion, your mind is tricked into believing you are being harmed. Take some time before reacting. You will see you are in better control. [20]

17 Remember death. Whenever you face difficult situations in life, remember the prospect of death and other major tragedies that can and do happen to people. You will see that, compared to death, none of the things you face in life is important enough to worry about. [21]

18 Don’t seek outside approval. You compromise your integrity when you seek outside approval. Be satisfied that you live up to your rational principles. [23]

19 Keep your side of relationships. In all social dealings — as a father, mother, brother, friend, citizen, etc. — remember what your role is. It does not matter what the other person does. [30]

20 Be true to yourself. Decide first what type of person you want to be and stick to it. Be the same person whether you are by yourself or with others. [33]

21 Don’t try to do things beyond your means. Don’t undertake to do things that are beyond your means. If you do, you risk missing the opportunity to succeed in a well-controlled action. [37]

22 Care for your mind as much as you care for your body. You should spend some time cultivating the body by eating, drinking, exercising, etc. However, spending too much time cultivating the body at the expense of cultivating the mind shows lack of refinement. The mind must be carefully maintained to avoid attacks on our moral integrity. [38, 41]

23 Treat your critics with compassion. When someone criticizes you, they do so because they believe they are right. [42]

24 Avoid judging things in haste. Not judging others too quickly will save you from misperceiving their actions. [45]

25 Don’t brag about your principles. Don’t make a show of principles you live by. Instead, live by them fully and show others by your actions how much you have learned and made it your own. [46]

26 Help and harm come from you. Your only concern is to keep your focus on yourself, so you don’t damage your progress. [47]

27 Stand by your decision. Once you undertake to do something, stick with it and treat it as something that should be carried through. Don’t pay attention to what people say. [50]

The numbers in square brackets refer to the ‘chapters’ (there are 53 in all) in The Good Life Handbook. Although I tried to capture the essence of Epictetus’ manual, there is no substitute for actually reading it. If any of this appeals to you, I strongly recommend that you read The Good Life Handbook. It is available free on the Stoic Gym website , you also have more information about the author : Chuck Chakrapani who supported me with crucial help to write this article. If you also like the French version of The Good Life Handbook.