Reason
"Apply reason to difficulties; harsh circumstances can be softened, narrow limits can be widened, and burdensome things can be made to press less severely on those who bear them cleverly."
SENECA
Continuing our diligent process of repair, reconstruction, and careful fusion, to restore the deeply fractured mind to its iron glory, we must examine our emotions that crack and break us, fill them in with molten wisdom and smooth them over with precision work.
While Stoicism isn't about eliminating emotion, the philosophy is pretty heavy on keeping it in check. Emotions follow thoughts, and we can change thoughts. Epictetus said when a distressing thought pops into the mind we should speak to it, saying "You are just an impression and not at all the thing you claim to be."
When we experience trauma, maladaptive (inaccurate/inappropriate) thinking patterns sometimes form. These "impressions" might look like:
Catastrophizing: expecting the worst possible outcome in any situation, even when there's little evidence to support it.
Black-and-White Thinking (All-or-Nothing Thinking): seeing things as either completely good or completely bad, with no middle ground.
Overgeneralization: drawing broad conclusions based on a single negative event.
Personalization: taking personal responsibility for things that are beyond your control, or assuming that others are reacting negatively to you when they are not.
Mind Reading: assuming you know what others are thinking or feeling, often negatively, without any evidence.
Emotional Reasoning: believing that your feelings are a reflection of reality, even when they are not.
Should Statements: believing that you or others should do things a certain way, even when it's not realistic or necessary.
Activity: Bad Impressions
Socratic Questioning
Trauma lies to us. By challenging the toxic thoughts that arise after experiencing trauma we can heal. Socratic Questioning was used by the philosopher Socrates some five centuries before Seneca and Marcus Aurelius came on the scene. The method is used to undermine irrational assumptions by exposing contradictions in thinking.
These are the kinds of questions Socrates used to gently expose faulty assumptions—without shame or force:
- What exactly am I telling myself right now?
- Is this a fact, or an interpretation?
- What words am I using that might be exaggerations?
- What evidence supports/contradicts this thought?
- Am I ignoring information that doesn’t fit the story?
- How would an impartial observer see this?
- What assumptions am I making?
- Am I confusing possibility with probability?
- Have I assumed intent where none was stated?
- What is another possible explanation?
- What would I tell a friend thinking this?
- Is there a more balanced way to phrase this though?
- Will this matter in a week? A year?
- Have I handled similar situations before?
- What happened last time I thought this way?
- Am I borrowing trouble from the future?
- What part of this is actually within my control?
- What am I taking responsibility for that isn’t mine?
- What is required of me right now—and what isn’t?
- How does believing this thought affect me?
- Does this thought help me cope or harm me?
- What emotion is driving this belief?
- If the emotion eased, would the thought still hold?
- Is there a calmer, truer version of this thought?
- What would a Stoic philosopher focus on here?
- What response aligns with reason, not reaction?
- What thought would allow me to move forward?
Activity: Socratic Questioning
Explore More:
🎦 Watch this commentary on the passions.
Assignments
✒️Complete BAD IMPRESSIONS
✒️Complete SOCRATIC QUESTIONING