[Practical Stoicism #14] Stoicon(-X) videos
Happy Monday, fellow Stoics!
Last week I realized how big Stoicism is becoming. Around the world, Stoicon gatherings are taking place. Not just in Athens, but also in London, Moscow, New York City, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Toronto, Brisbane, and Bogotá Stoics have come together to discuss practical philosophy.
While attending a Stoicon is as much about meeting people as it’s about the talks, it’s great to get the content online. That's why in this week's newsletter I share some of my favorite talks at the different Stoicon editions this year. There's a wealth of high-quality videos being released now, enough to keep you busy for an entire weekend.
I'll soon link to these videos on the resources page of Practical Stoicism. In case you know of more Stoicon recordings existing online, please respond to this email and share the links with me.
For now, happy watching!
Ramses
Stoicon-X NYC 2019: Bill Irvine
Watching and listening to Bill Irvine (Guide to the Good Life, The Stoic Challenge) is always a delight. He's full of energy, is a humble student of Stoicism, and knows how to extract practical exercises from ancient Stoic texts. I like how he describes the exercise premeditatio malorum; "premeditation of evils" aka “negative visualization”. He calls this Stoic exercise his “gateway drug”, and describes how he practices it for short moments throughout the day.
Stoicon-X Toronto 2019: Donald Robertson
Through his work as a therapist and his Stoic practice, Donald lives and breathes psychological exercises. In this talk at Stoicon-X Toronto, Donald identifies several psychological techniques in ancient Stoic texts that many modern CBT practitioners are not even aware of. This firmly establishes Stoicism as a psychological framework and not just an ethical framework. One of the most prominent exercises in Donald's talk is cognitive distancing. I recommend you watch the video, and then read Donald's excellent article from 2013 titled “Distancing” versus “Disputation” as the central process of Stoic psychotherapy. In it, he outlines 6 steps based on Epictetus's advice:
We should continually maintain attention (prosochê) to the leading faculty of the mind (hêgemonikon), watching our judgments as they happen; as if watching our steps, cautious of stepping on a sharp object, or as if looking out for an enemy in hiding.
When upset, we should always remind ourselves that it is our judgment that harms us and not the external thing itself, and we should guard against being “swept away” by upsetting external impressions
When something appears to be upsetting, you should imagine the same thing befalling someone else, so that you can judge it from a distance
We should abandon value judgments and stick instead to a bare description of the facts of a situation, which forces us to see our value judgments as something we’re imposing on events rather than an intrinsic characteristic of external events themselves
We should remind ourselves how the wise man would judge the same thing differently because noting that different people view things differently helps us to distinguish our thoughts from external facts. Epictetus’ favoured example: Death cannot be intrinsically evil otherwise Socrates would have judged it to be so.
We should postpone responding to impulses associated with powerful impressions until later, something which forces us to adopt a more detached perspective on them – modern therapists call this taking a “time-out” or simply “postponement”
Stoicon-X Toronto 2019: Steve Beattie - Practicing Stoicism with the Wim Hof Method
The Wim Hof Method (WMH) consists of breathing exercises and cold exposure. Research shown now that there are many benefits to doing the exercises. Ranging from increasing oxygen levels in the blood to activating the autonomous nervous system, there are many areas WHM can help. The way the exercises challenge practitioners, it's also a great way to practice voluntary discomfort. During the exhale phase of a typical WHM exercise, you'll experience a range of sensations and possibly some moments of panic. Although this may sound scary, it helps to put life in perspective and to regulate emotions. Steve Beattie is a master WHM teacher and did a nice guided meditation during Stoicon-X Toronto.
The Stoic Cosmopolis: Why We Are Born to Be Ethical
David Fideler is an important author for traditional Stoics. In his book Restoring the Soul of the World, David outlines how our ancestors lived with Nature and how we can work on our relationship with the cosmos ourselves. This talk from Stoicon Athens shows us a few examples of how everything is composed of systems, how well these fit together, and why this should move us to live an ethical (philosophical) life.
Stoicon-X Milwaukee 2019 playlist Stoicon-X Milwaukee took place on October 12, 2019. Some very practical and insightful talks were given, including on how Stoicism helped Kevin Vost (The Porch and the Cross) in different settings in life, Stoicism and Buddhism, and how practicing Stoicism can help cultivate healthy relationships. See the other videos in the Stoicon-X Milwaukee 2019 playlist, with special thanks to Gregory Sadler for publishing the videos.
Stoicon-X Toronto 2019 playlist
Stoicon-X Toronto took place on September 8, 2019. I already linked to two talks at Stoicon-X Toronto earlier in this newsletter, but there are more great videos available. I recommend you to watch Chuck Chakrapani's excellent talk outlining the whole Stoic system in an easy-to-understand way, Massimo Pigliucci's talk on practical Stoic exercises you can do any moment of the day, and John Vervaeke's (known for his research on sense-making and finding meaning) talk on the View from Above exercise.
Stoicon 2018 playlist
Unfortunately, this year's Stoicon Athens videos are not online yet, but in the meanwhile, we have the 2018 videos to keep us busy. Like this year, last year's talks were wide-ranging and very interesting. Some of my favorite talks were by Anthony A. Long on important features of ancient Stoicism worth keeping to this day and Dan Lampert's comparison of Stoicism and Minimalism and how both can help us live an excellent life.