The Daily Stoic - The Ideal Weapon For Spiritual Combat

Episode Date: September 11, 2018

Michel Foucault has a fascinating essay on journaling entitled “Self-Writing.” In it, he describes journaling as a “weapon in spiritual combat,” which is a brilliant phrase. That might seem to be overstating it, after all, is it really such a big deal to write down some of your thoughts in a notebook? Yes. It is a big deal. As he puts it, “writing constitutes a test and a kind of touchstone: by bringing to light impulses of thought, it dispels the darkness where the enemy’s plot are hatched.” He quotes Seneca and Epictetus as evidence of this, since both believed that simply reading or listening to philosophy wasn’t enough. Philosophy to the Stoics was not just “practical” but designed to be practiced. You had to write it down too, you had to show your work. You had to put the issues you were struggling with down on paper and go through the motion of articulating the solution that you’d heard from a master or a teacher. Foucault explains that this process has two benefits. First, it takes the philosophy from “meditation to the activity of writing and from there to...training and trial in a real situation--a labor of thought, a labor through writing, a labor in reality.” The second part, he says, is this becomes an endless, productive cycle. “The meditation precedes the notes which enable the rereading which in turn reinitiates the meditation.” It’s quite beautiful. You learn. You struggle. You journal about the struggle. You apply what you’ve journaled about to your struggle. You reread your journaling and it teaches you new lessons to journal about and use in future struggles. It’s a truly virtuous feedback loop. But of course, this process can only happen if you do the work. If you make time for the journaling and the writing, if you submit to the cycle. Too often, we are unwilling to do that. We claim we don’t have time. We are too self-conscious. We don’t have the right materials. Nonsense. Start. Today. Now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 journal philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. The ideal weapon for spiritual combat. Mikhail Foucault has a fascinating essay on journalism entitled Self-Riding.

In it, he describes journaling as a weapon in Spiritual Combat, which is a brilliant phrase. That might seem to be overstating it, after all, is it really such a big deal to write down some of your thoughts in a notebook? Yes, it is a big deal. As he puts it, writing constitutes a test and a kind of touchstone, by bringing to light impulses of thought it dispels the darkness where the enemies plot are hatched. He quotes Senica and Epic Titus as evidence of this, since both believe that simply reading or listening to philosophy wasn't enough. Philosophy to the Stokes was not just practical, but designed to be practiced. You had to write it down too.

You had to show your work. You had to put the issues you were struggling with down on paper and go through the motion of articulating the solution that you'd heard from a master or a teacher. Foucault explains that this process has two benefits. First, it takes the philosophy from meditation to the activity of writing it, and from there to training and trial in a real

situation, a labor of thought, a labor through writing, a labor in reality. The second part, he says, is this becomes an endless productive cycle. He writes, the meditation precedes the notes which enable the rereading, which in turn re-initiates the meditation. It's quite beautiful. You learn, you struggle, you journal about the struggle, you apply what you've journaled about to your struggle, you reread your journaling, and it teaches you new lessons

to journal about and use in future struggles. It's truly a virtuous feedback loop. But of course this process can only happen if you do the work. If you make time for the journaling and the writing, if you submit to the cycle, too often we are unwilling to do that. We claim we don't have time. We are too self-conscious. We don't have the right materials.

Nonsense. Start today. Now. And again, if you'd like a journal to start with, obviously any blank journal will work. We also make the Daily Stoic Journal, which is published by Portfolio Paglin Random House, and you can get it anywhere books are sold, including your local independent bookstore, and amazon.com.

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