Is this necessary?
The beautiful thing about Stoic philosophy is the advice contained within it is just as applicable today as it was when it was first written all those many years ago. We can learn a great deal from interpreting the advice provided and using it to our advantage as we go throughout our own lives.
Today’s quote comes to us courtesy of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.24:
Quote
“Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?” But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To the unnecessary actions that follow.”
Advice
A lot of what we say or do are natural reactions to the situation at hand. This can be thought of as automatic reactions. There are two different types of reactions at play.
Reaction 1 — The Automatic Response
Since birth, we have been creatures of observation. As a child, we watch our parents — how they act, react, and speak. We begin to mimic them as we grow older. We form friendships and watch how these individuals act in the world and we can begin to then follow their views or actions.
It is therefore natural that we will, from time to time, respond to situations or questions with a “stock” or preprogrammed response, something that we’ve said or done a thousand times when in the same situation.
For example, how many times have you seen a colleague and without even thinking you say, “Hi, how are you doing?” with the typical response being, “Good, and you?”
Reaction 2 — The Natural Biological Response
These automatic reactions appear and are our body’s natural reaction to a situation. They are innate to being human and no amount of wisdom or advice can change the reactions.
These are what we refer to today as proto-passions and are the beginning stages of emotions. Examples of bodily responses to a situation may be blushing when called upon, or sweating when having to give a public speech.
Donald J. Robertson, author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, states:
“because these primitive emotional reactions are involuntary, they’re neither good nor bad according to Stoic ethics but indifferent… We’re not to be afraid of them or consider them to be bad or harmful in themselves but rather to accept them with indifference. They resemble the emotional reactions of non-human animals, which naturally abate over time.”
The key, as Robertson explains, is to not be “swept” away by these involuntary reactions to external stimuli.
Our first task in life is to understand ourselves. What do we do? Why do we do it? This is learned through mindfulness and self-reflection.
We need to continually search ourselves for answers to what we have said or done. We need to attempt to limit these automatic responses (Response 1 above) and really think about what we’re saying and doing. What we say usually reveals more about what’s going on internally than not, so understanding what we’re doing and saying is key to understanding ourselves. From this, we learn what type of value-judgments we have at play.
We send a Stoic meditation every Monday morning directly to your inbox. To sign up to receive our Monday Meditations, click here.
Some links contained herein are Amazon affiliate links. Click here for disclosure.