In his book Philosophy as a way of life Pierre Hadot, who was a philosopher and historian of philosophy, states that ancient philosophy was born with the practical goal of helping people achieve inner peace, despite life’s numerous challenges.
Ancient philosophical works did not aim to present merely theoretical systems of thought, but rather to produce a metamorphosis in the way of living and seeing the world – that is, to help people transition from unconsciousness to consciousness.
“Philosophy raises the individual from an inauthentic condition of life, darkened by unconsciousness and harassed by worry, to an authentic state of life, in which he attains self-consciousness, an exact vision of the world, inner peace, and freedom.”
– Pierre Hadot
What is the Purpose of Ancient Philosophy?
Unfortunately, most of modern philosophy has lost the fundamental characteristic of being medicine for the soul, which is inherent to ancient philosophy, tending to get lost in sterile philosophical discussions that are no longer translated into a life accompanied by philosophical wisdom.
Porphyry, a Neoplatonic philosopher and student of Plotinus, tells us that:
“Beatific contemplation does not consist of the accumulation of arguments or a storehouse of learned knowledge, but in us theory must become nature and life itself.”
Meanwhile, Marcus Aurelius, in his meditations, repeats to himself:
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
And again Epicurus:
“The goal of the science of nature is to obtain the soul’s serenity.”
Philosophy as Medicine for the Soul
This is the most important idea in Pierre Hadot’s book: life includes suffering, but through wisdom, we can heal suffering and achieve inner peace. The mistake many make is treating suffering as some sort of badge of honor, something to be proud of, instead of perceiving it as a clear sign that healing is necessary. This attitude of false superiority prevents learning and change.
“These philosophies were therapies, intended to provide a cure for anguish, and to bring freedom and self-mastery, and their goal was to allow people to free themselves from the past and the future, so that they could live within the present.”
– Pierre Hadot
From Theory to Life: Philosophy as Practice
The discovery of philosophy, personal growth, and spirituality was a true revelation for me because I discovered, overnight, that solutions existed for all the problems I had. From that moment on, I never stopped and probably will never stop sculpting my statue, as Plotinus urges us to do:
“If you do not yet see your own beauty, do as the sculptor does with a statue which must become beautiful: he removes one part, scrapes another, makes one area smooth, and cleans the other, until he causes the beautiful face in the statue to appear. In the same way, you too must remove everything that is superfluous, straighten that which is crooked, and purify all that is dark until you make it brilliant. Never stop sculpting your own statue, until the divine splendor of virtue shines in you.”
In short, ancient philosophy is, first and foremost, a way of life because, without its teachings, human existence is characterized by excessive desires, unfounded fears, and continuous worries that make it impossible to live with tranquility. From this perspective, philosophy is a therapy of passions that heals our inner world and, consequently, also positively changes our behavior.
Therefore, each of us can become a philosopher because, in this conception, philosophy is not an abstract academic discipline, but a practice that, through specific spiritual exercises, helps us live consciously and thoughtfully, no longer being puppets under the influence of our own passions or the conventions of the society in which we live.
“Each in its own way, all schools believed in the freedom of the will, thanks to which man has the possibility to modify, improve, and realize himself. Underlying this conviction is the parallelism between physical and spiritual exercises: just as, by dint of repeated physical exercises, athletes give new form and strength to their bodies, so the philosopher develops his strength of soul, modifies his inner climate, transforms his vision of the world, and, finally, his entire being. The analogy seems all the more self-evident in that the gymnasion, the place where physical exercises were practiced, was the same place where philosophy lessons were given; in other words, it was also the place for training in spiritual gymnastics.”
– Pierre Hadot
Spiritual Exercises in Stoicism
For example, the quintessential spiritual exercise of Stoic philosophy is the distinction between what is under our control and what isn’t under our control, which is implemented through constant attention to one’s inner world. Dialogue, the use of words, aims at the search for truth and good, to distinguish true from false through reason – This approach is one of the foundations of modern cognitive behavioral therapy. As Marcus Aurelius says:
“Everywhere and at all times, it is up to you to rejoice piously at what is occurring at the present moment, to conduct yourself with justice towards the people who are present here and now, and to apply rules of discernment to your present representations, so that nothing slips in that is not objective.”
Vigilance over one’s thoughts helps to free oneself from regrets about the past and worries about the future, from those thoughts that have no real basis but are only our projections, thus allowing us to adequately face what we are experiencing in the present. Marcus Aurelius’s “Meditations” is nothing other than his favorite spiritual exercise to maintain control over his inner world.
Spiritual Exercises in Epicureanism
The Epicureans focus more on controlling their desires to achieve peace of mind, as Pierre Hadot tells us:
“People’s unhappiness, for the Epicureans, comes from the fact that they are afraid of things which are not to be feared, and desire things which it is not necessary to desire, and which are beyond their control. Consequently, their life is consumed in worries over unjustified fears and unsatisfied desires. As a result, they are deprived of the only genuine pleasure there is: the pleasure of existing.”
– Pierre Hadot
Consequently, to experience the simple joy of existing, one must understand which desires are natural and necessary, which are natural but not necessary, and which are neither natural nor necessary. Once natural and necessary desires are satisfied, abandoning the need for other desires to feel happy, inner tranquility will arise within us.
The Contemplation of Wisdom as a Spiritual Exercise
Another spiritual exercise, common to both the Epicurean and Stoic schools, is the memorization and frequent contemplation of phrases that can facilitate the application of fundamental teachings that lead to inner serenity.
It would be a good idea to create your own personal collection of quotes, to create your own manual, to keep at hand in times of need. When I read a book, I always pay attention to identify, underline, and comment on the best nuggets of wisdom.
In this way, when I need to review the subject of a particular book, I just need to flip through it to refresh my memory. Moreover, there are hundreds of quotes that I have memorized over time, simply because they contain wisdom of inestimable value. Such quotes have the magical power to teach me something new every time I contemplate them.
Memento Mori: The Characteristic Spiritual Exercise of Ancient Philosophy
The spiritual exercise distinctive to ancient philosophy is the contemplation of death, so much so that Plato defines philosophy as an “exercise of death.” For the Epicureans, the contemplation of death gives each day, each moment we live, an inestimable value. Meanwhile, for the Stoics, the contemplation of death is an exercise in freedom; Seneca tells us “He who has learned how to die, has
un-learned how to serve.” But the highest outcome of the contemplation of death is, without a shadow of doubt, the direct experience of the Absolute, pay close attention to this quote from Plotinus:
“You were already the All, but because something else besides the All came to be added on to you, you have become less than the All, by the very fact of this addition. For the addition did not come about from being – what could be added to the All? – but rather from not-being. When one becomes “someone” out of not-being, one is no longer the All, until one leaves the not-being behind. Moreover, you increase yourself when you reject everything other than the All, and when you have rejected it, the All will be present to you. The All had no need to come in order to be present. If it is not present, the reason is that it is you who have distanced yourself from it. “Distancing yourself” does not mean leaving it to go someplace else – for it would be there, too. Rather, it means turning away from the All, despite the fact that it is there.”
The Mysticism of Plotinus
This is no longer philosophy, but mysticism, which in my opinion should be the real goal of philosophy – to move from discussion about Truth to the direct knowledge of Truth. When I read this quote, I was quite shocked, because it seems like listening to a Zen master speaking.
Plotinus is telling us that our ideas about what you are that have distanced you from the whole. If you believe you are only your name and all the concepts connected to it, you cannot be anything else.
You chose to become yourself, but you sacrificed all other aspects of the infinite. Once you have discarded all concepts about what you believe yourself to be, the infinite will be revealed to you, because you have become Nothing and Nothing is free to be anything.
The process of discarding concepts and ideas is the process of death, obviously a conceptual death, but no less frightening than physical death. Let’s look at another relevant quote from Plotinus:
“Then the seer no longer sees his object, for in that instant he no longer distinguishes himself from it; he no longer has the impression of two separate things, but he has, in a sense, become another. He is no longer himself, nor does he belong to himself, but he is one with the One, as the centre of one circle coincides with the centre of another.”
Once again, these are the words of a mystic, they describe the process of negation called neti-neti, common to Advaita Vedanta and Hinduism, which leads to the understanding that the subject, the object, and the process of perception are One thing. In other words, it is samadhi, the dissolution of one’s limited identity that allows union with the Absolute.
Reading Philosophy as a way of life by Pierre Hadot brought to mind a quote that I discovered long ago: everything important has already been said, but since no one was listening, we have to repeat it. In my own small way, this is exactly what I try to do through my work.