Speaker 1There are two practices I want to discuss now from Stoicism that I think could take the form of thinking, you know, in a mode of, let's say, repetition on a regular basis, and/or it could be a part of a writing practice or a writing practice in and of itself. So the Stoics were big on the notion of preparation, right? I think I hopefully alluded to this a little bit earlier, but they wanted you to be prepared, they wanted you to be cultivating strength, and they wanted you to use your imagination to do that, right, in addition, of course, to your actions as well, right, and your thoughts and other ways, right, not just your imagination per se. But this involves imagination, and these are what we would call the pre-exercises. So we have the premeditation of evils, and also we have memento mori, which of course in itself is a pre-exercise, because if you're thinking about it or writing about it, you're still alive, right, in regards to memento mori for ourselves, and then of course, you know, in regards to remembering the mortality of others, that could also be a pre-exercise or an exercise that could help us cope with some loss, right? So ultimately, one of the best-known Stoic spiritual exercises consisted in the pre-exercise, the premeditatio of evils, which we could gloss as an exercise which prepares us for facing trials or difficulties. Here, we imagine in advance various difficulties, reversals of fortune, sufferings, and death. Philo of Alexandria says that those who practice pre-meditatio do not flinch beneath the blows of fate, because they have calculated its attacks in advance. For of those things which happen against our will, even the most painful are lessened by foresight, when our thoughts no longer, I'm sorry, when our thought no longer encounters anything unexpected in events, but dulls the perception of them. As a as if they were old, worn out things. So an example that comes to mind for me here, right? This is how to grapple with life, how to grapple with misfortune, how to grapple with the inevitable painful reality of death, right? And we could even, we're going to get into the question of, you know, I think it's natural for pain to feel painful. No, I'm sorry, for death to feel painful. That being said, the Stoics would even argue that we could approach a disposition of indifference. Because as we said earlier, death is not something that is under our control. And we even can reference Socrates in the Apology for a moment, right? Socrates and Epictetus does this himself actually with his students. Socrates, you know, seemingly wasn't afraid of death in the Apology. He's like, look, death is either a long sleep, not a big deal, or I'm going to Hades where I'm going to meet a bunch of interesting people with whom I can talk. And it even might be better than what I'm going to do. So I'm going to meet a bunch of interesting people with whom I can talk. What's going on in Athens right now? So at the end of the day, he's asking us, he is in Socrates in this case, I think, he's asking us to approach death philosophically and not be afraid of what ultimately is an uncertain thing. Even for a person of faith, right? You say I'm a person of faith, not I'm a person of certainty, because there has to be a degree of doubt, right? And that's a beautiful thing. It doesn't have to trouble us is ultimately what Socrates is saying. And the Stoics are taking a similar approach, I believe, right? Because we don't, no, and we don't control death. We can learn to be indifferent to it. It doesn't have to bring us at the very least, I would argue, maybe for them, it doesn't have to bring us anywhere near as much pain as it already does. So that's one pathway to that is a Socratic approach I just mentioned, kind of mixed in with Stoicism. And then additionally, it's from pre-meditating, thinking about the concept of our own mortality and the mortality of those around us and the world around us. And so, you know, again, the idea of steel sharpening steel, we're preparing. We're becoming hardened in the face of this inevitability. We're not running from it anymore, right? So why bother with this type of imagination exercise or this type of visualization or even this type of writing? Because of course, memento mori itself is a phrase you can write. There's a piece of art that conveys memento mori, right? It's the classic image of the flower, the skull, and the hourglass, right? Remind us, I think, of the beauty of life, the fact that we're running out of time and we're eventually ending up, you know, we all end up in the same place, right? Well, I mean, as Philo of Alexandria is saying here, right? The most painful things can be lessened by this practice of foresight. It's similar, and I like to use this analogy a little bit, the Stoics, I think we're also pretty big on this, but if you're a professional, if you're a professional, if you're a professional, if you're a professional fighter, it's often the case that you and or your coach will watch tapes of your opponent's past fights. You want to learn about them, right? It's often the case that you'll have training partners come in who can mimic the style of your future opponent. It's not them exactly, but it's as close as you can get. That's what this is, I think, also encouraging us to see, that to think a little bit about what might go wrong, to think about the inevitable things that will at the very least, again, be changes for us, and change can often be a change for us. Change can often be painful. Even a good change can often be scary, right? We can prepare ourselves for that. And another quick note on that, the Stoics believed that everything was constantly changing. They took that from Heraclitus, the pre-Socratic philosopher, right, who famously said you could never step in the same river twice. The only constant is change. So when we start seeing that, right, again, the Stoics want us to arm ourselves. Pierre Hodeau has another great piece called The Inner Citadel, which is another way of saying the inner fortress, written about Marcus Aurelius, right, how he cultivated that for himself. That's what the Stoics want from us. And they don't think you build the inner fortress by avoiding difficulties. The Stoics, as I may have mentioned, were also known, some of them, for fasting, for sleeping on the floor deliberately, which is, say, by choice. Even if they had a bed, they would train themselves, right? Expose themselves to cold, expose themselves to extreme heat. All of these things were ways for them to kind of toughen themselves, to then move through the world more effectively, less bothered. Right? More confidently. So we watch in our minds this premeditation, right, to toughen ourselves, let's say, to prepare for the blows of fate. Again, if you know your opponent is really good at throwing jabs, he's got a great jab, you're looking for that now when you're fighting. You know it's coming a little bit more. You're prepared in a different way than somebody who was totally unfamiliar with their opponent. So, of course, the Stoics give us a number of examples here, right? I think momentum is a great example of that. I think momentum is a great example of momentum. Memento mori is maybe the most, let's say, the most widely thought about because that's the suffering that is absolutely inevitable. Again, that doesn't necessarily have to be suffering. Epictetus says, quote, let death and exile and all other things which appear terrible be daily before your eyes, but chiefly or mainly death, and you will never entertain any abject thought nor too eagerly covet anything. Memento mori kind of helps us covet anything. But through the nonsense is what I think he's saying here. Mainly death, he says. So even if you're someone who's afraid of speaking in public, visualize that. And that's something you would do if you're going to give a speech in public, even if you were a veteran, right? I'd imagine I'm not a veteran myself, but I teach for a living, right? And I still get nervous to this day during the first class, right? That's actually something I kind of, let's say, I reframe that as excitement. But ultimately, great advice is to imagine yourself giving the speech, right? If someone is going to give a speech, I would say you should rehearse in a mirror, then you should rehearse in front of a small audience, reflect, change things, and then slowly try to work your way up to a larger audience until you have to give the speech the day of, right? That's very common advice. It's very much, you know, it's very much in line with what he's saying here. Represent the horrible thing, it becomes less horrible. Again, through that notion of preparing the mind and the soul. And again, even with fighting too, it's sparring, right? You're preparing the body, not for the real, you're preparing it for the real thing without the real thing. It's still useful. Okay? And as someone who personally practices memento mori, like I may have mentioned, I have that painting that I look at in my apartment every day. And I do find that it gives me this advantage over myself that I do entertain fewer abject thoughts, right? I entertain fewer meaningless thoughts. Or at the very least, when a useless, untruthful thought flies up in my mind, I'm able to dismiss it more effectively. Because in the face of my realization, I'm not here forever, I've got other stuff to worry about. Right? I don't want to spend my last, my potentially last day on earth, worrying about nonsense. I just don't. Right? So that memento mori should give us also a sense of urgency to live fully. I want to share some other thoughts from various sources here to kind of maybe make an argument for adopting a memento mori practice. Right? So this is from the School of Life, from their website, the Book of Life, and it's Chapter 4, Mentality, Confidence. That's the title of the essay, right? So they say, quote, memento mori. We need regular, forceful encounters with reminders that there is something else we should be far more frightened of than embarrassment around inviting someone for dinner or starting a new business. So that regular, forceful encounter, that's the practice. Maybe you say memento mori to yourself. Maybe you write a little bit about it on a regular basis. Again, maybe you have a painting or a sticker or some type of reminder, right? Epictetus is saying, call it to mind. And I think that's a really good point. And again, it makes other things, as this short couple sentences say, it makes other things seem smaller. And again, it's using the fear of death, which is something we can, we've already started to question a little bit, but still, I think it's a meaningful, and good use of that fear. For the Stoics, as for the Epicureans, this is coming from Hadeau, philosophy as a way of life, it is the imminence of death which gives the present instant its value. We must carry out each action of our lives as if it were the last. That's where Marcus Aurelius' meditations. This is the secret of concentration on the present moment. We are to give it all its seriousness, value, and splendor in order to show up, to get rid of the vanity of all that we pursue with so much worry, all of which in the end will be taken away from us by death. We must live each day with a consciousness so acute and an attention so intense that we can say to ourselves each evening, I have lived. I have actualized my life and I've had all that I could expect from life. In the words of Seneca, he has peace of mind who has lived his entire life every day. This is a big ask, right? And I would say this is aspirational. But let's even ground it in some Stoicism, right? The Stoics, once again, want you to be of service. Try to do that every day to some degree. Try to at the very least offer something good and just, and let's even say loving to the people around you in some way, right? Try to grow a little bit yourself each day. Try to pursue what you think is good for you each day. And then I think we could start at least to pursue this idea that I have lived. It's a beautiful idea to think about, right? Taking a vocational approach to life. How can I feel fulfilled today and how can I be of service might be a pathway to this. I think the Stoics would agree with that approach, right? But mental Mori is fuel for that because you see that today is, you know, today is the only thing within my control to, I mean, let's even put that in quotes, right? Today's the only thing that I can possibly act upon as we said with our living in the moment lectures, right? But to give that a greater sense of meaning, we might have to remind ourselves of our own mortality. How would you love people differently if you did this? That's a beautiful question, right? Can you really love anybody to the best of your ability, which is to say as fully, as authentically, as genuinely as possible? And this includes ourselves. If we don't remind ourselves that we're not here forever, how would that change? Would it change the way you spoke to other people, the way you speak to yourself? If you truly practiced what Epictetus is saying every day, reminded yourself that we're not all, I'm sorry, that we're all not here forever. And then if we try to live every day like it was a whole life, how would that be? Right? And Horace echoes this idea according to Hadeo, right? While we are talking, jealous time has fled. So seize the day, carpe diem, and put no trust in tomorrow. With the phrase above, we are invited to become aware of the vanity of our immensely vain desires. At the same time as the imminence of death, the uniqueness of life, and the uniqueness of the present instant. From this perspective, each instant appears as a marvelous gift, which fills its recipient with gratitude. Believe that each new day that dawns will be the last for you. Then each unexpected hour shall come to you as delighted, I'm sorry, as a delightful gift. This is my grandmother's philosophy. I think I may have mentioned this, right? My grandmother's 90 now, and she just recently offered this to me. She's like, you know what? At my age, you wake up, every day feels like a gift. I'm like, that's a beautiful way to live. Then we have Horace highlighting it as well, and Hadeo bringing it to our attention. So memento mori once again. Why is it that there has to be a tragedy or there has to be, you know, let's say, or we have to be in our later years to embrace this philosophy? I don't think we have to. And again, it might encourage us to be more grateful. I don't think we have to. I don't think we have to. I don't think we have to be more grateful. It might encourage us to take more action. It might encourage us to love in the face of our fears. And this little piece comes from Hadeo, another interview of his, actually, called The Present Alone is Our Happiness. And he tells us, again, encouraging us to think about how and why memento mori might be useful. I have always been amazed, however, that the thought of death helps one to live better, to live as though one were living one's last day, one's last hour. An attitude such as this one, which I think is very important, such as this one requires a total conversion of attention, to no longer project oneself into the future, but to consider one's actions in itself and for itself, to no longer consider the world to be the simple frame of our actions, but to look at it in itself and for itself. This attitude has both an existential and an ethical value. It allows one to become aware of the infinite value of the present moment, of the infinite value of today's moments, as well as the infinite value of tomorrow's moments, welcomed with gratitude as an unexpected chance. But it also allows one to become conscious of the seriousness of every moment of life, to do what one does habitually, not by habit, but as though one were doing it for the first time, by discovering everything this action implies for it to be well done. I mean, the implications here are tremendous, right? Absolutely tremendous. Habits have a tendency to put us to sleep. Remembering you're not here forever has a tendency to wake you up. Then we can wake ourselves up through the habits. So adopt some type of momentum warrior practice. Maybe it's calling it to your mind in the morning while you're brushing your teeth, repeating it a little bit. Maybe it's thinking about the implications of that and how that might inform your actions for the day when you do. One of the other suggestions is to set intentions for the day in addition to a couple other elements. And again, that lecture will be obvious. It's from Epictetus, right? Maybe throw in a momentum warrior with that as well. Maybe it's getting the painting. Maybe it's writing, again, writing the phrase itself and kind of journaling on it a little bit. Maybe it's even, and this is maybe a bit intense, right? But maybe it's even considering the possibility of, you know, the idea of the imminence of death, right? If today were my last day, what would I do? Things to think about. I know, and I'll make this clear to a little bit of a PSA. I know this might not work for everybody. So I've hoped to, in support of the Stoics, just for the sake of supporting them, right? I think this is an interesting philosophy, to kind of present us with some arguments that might encourage us to consider it. I understand after some consideration, this is not for everybody. So please keep that in mind, right? That being said, I do hope that I highlighted some of the potential benefits with this lecture. It really can, as Hadot says, transform our way of acting in a radical way by forcing us to become aware of the infinite value of each instant. How would you accomplish your task differently if that task might be your last? It's an interesting question, right? To the first little exercise we discussed, you can work to foresee some potential negative things. One, so again, we prepare ourselves so they don't shock us as easily if they do happen. And also, to gratitude for a moment, right? And we did discuss this already, I think, in a previous lecture. When you think about how things could go poorly here and there, again, don't live there. Don't spend every moment of your day there. Don't misappropriate the philosophy and make it excessive, of course, right? Stick to Aristotle, go for the golden mean, right? That being said, if you do a little bit confront how things might go wrong, and then they don't go wrong, that's going to almost, it's impossible, I think, or almost impossible, at least, to not be grateful for that, right? So it's not so much that we expect things to go wrong, as it is that we present ourselves with the possibility to prepare and to cultivate a greater sense of gratitude for when things go right. So I hope this is helpful. Think about a couple of these practices, again, pairing them with a thought practice or a writing practice, and we'll keep going here with some more suggestions. Here is a practice from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. And we're getting this from Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadell. Here it is. First thing in the morning, we should go over in advance what we have to do during the course of the day, and decide on the principles or ideas which will guide and inspire our actions. In the evening, we should examine ourselves again, so as to be aware of the faults we have committed or the progress we have made. So two parts here. This is what I kind of refer to as Epictetus' daily reflection ritual, right? So this is definitely one great tangible example of a practice you could adopt. I would suggest pairing this with a self-writing practice, so making time to sit down in the morning with a pen and paper and think about what he's asking us to consider, and then doing the same thing at night to make our thinking a lot more clear, right? We talked about in earlier lectures the importance and the power of a self-writing practice. And I think this is great for a few things, right? So right away, his morning suggestion I think is excellent. I'm sure a number of us have some type of to-do list practice. Maybe it's weekly, maybe it's daily. Either way, what I think he's asking us to do in addition to what we might normally do, which is just to write the tasks down, to stick with the ideas that will inspire us, I think is actually very significant, right? Because you're creating at that point a whole new sense of intention. It's not just go to class. Well, what do you want to do in class? How do you want to be? What do you want to, add to the room? How do you want to grow as a person? These are important questions to ask with our daily tasks, because ultimately these tasks are what make the days, and the days are obviously what make your life. right? And in the words of Seneca, nothing is ours except time. So why not think about our day and our time as profoundly and as meaningfully as possible on a regular basis? And keep in mind, I'm not saying you have to write a novel for each task, right? To give ourselves guidance, right? For example, I want to go to class, but today I also want to be confident. I want to raise my hand at least once. Today I want to go to class and I want to be a little more friendly. I want to smile at the person next to me. I want to make sure I do that. I want to greet them when it comes to down. I'm going to go pick up my siblings from school, but I'm not just going to go. I'm really going to make sure I'm kind and I'm attentive, right? I'm going to go to the gym, but I'm not just going to go. I'm really going to go and be disciplined and be focused and push myself. These are these mini conversations that I think, you know, and I hope I'm conveying this correctly, but I do think Epictetus would agree. These are the moments where we really start to shape ourselves, right? We guide our days, not only with the tasks, but the way we want to do it. And I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. We want to embody those tasks, right? And that's where the real cultivation of virtue, the real transformation of the self comes into play. And I think we also get, of course, self-knowledge in that morning task because we kind of see what we prioritize. We might learn, well, why is this task hard for me to think about in regards to what should inspire me? Maybe it doesn't inspire me. Should I be doing it? Maybe I didn't do it well last week. Well, how could I do it better now? Why did I mess up last week? Then at night, I also think we get that great accountability element, right? I did pick up my sibling from work. I did pick up my from school after work, but was I really as kind as I should have been? And that's important because I love this person and I want to take care of this relationship, right? I went to the gym table. Was I really focusing or was I sort of all over the place? How could I have done better? And we keep in mind with this too, right? This is right from Epictetus' mouth, right? Because again, he wrote nothing. He was a teacher. And I'd imagine this brief thing I just read was prompted by a student maybe asking like, hey, how could I lead a more meaningful life? Or I've just been bored recently. And how can I switch that up? Or, you know, life is just kind of not that interesting to me. Well, Epictetus is asking us here, like, well, make it interesting. When you're choosing the ideas that guide you, that should excite you, you know? Because it's not just about the hollowness of doing it. You're asking yourself to do it with heart, with passion, right? And that's an important thing. I think we can try at least to summon that up. And it does give life a new sense of meaning, right? It's like almost in a very stoic way asking, how can I serve this task? How can I serve this moment that I've been blessed and given? I've been blessed with and I've been given this moment, right? I've been given this opportunity. How can I address it? Even the tasks that might seem like obligations, right? Like when people say, oh, I have to go out with my friends. No, right? You might feel like you have to, and that's a beautiful thing, but be able to explain that. I have to, because even though I'm tired, I had a rough week, I really care about this person. I want to go, right? So he's asking us to maybe question some of our assumptions. Assume, let's say, obligations or some of our, you know, like, again, you don't have to go to class. Now, of course, there might be some consequences, but ultimately, wouldn't you want to feel inspired? Epictetus is saying you can practice feeling inspired by asking yourself questions about your daily tasks, right? Because that's a question. Well, what actions will inspire me when I do this? It's a good question. So again, spending time in the morning, maybe, I would say this could even take less than 10 minutes, but it's meaningful. It's a meaningful 10 minutes. List your tasks, sit with the ideas that should inspire you and the reasons why you do them. Then again, at the end of the day, as I said, that accountability is really powerful. If four or five days go by and you find that you're not adhering to your own self-defined inspiration, that's another wonderful conversation to have. Maybe, I mean, the reasons for that could be many different reasons, but ultimately, if you're keeping track of things, they're easier to change, right? So maybe you're just not sleeping enough. Maybe you're just not sleeping enough. Maybe you're just not sleeping enough. Maybe you're not eating enough. Maybe you need to tell somebody something, right? Maybe you need to change other habits in your life, but it will call to our attention, right? That's a part of a philosophy. It's part of the beauty when we engage in these exercises, right? It's like a light. It shines a light on how we might be practicing false or unjust ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, right? So that nighttime reflection, I think, is a really powerful suggestion as well to keep ourselves on track. And again, I suggest sitting down, maybe 10 minutes, maybe even less, writing. How did I do today? And as he's saying, assessing ourselves, our faults, and the progress we've made as honestly as possible, right? And we're keeping in mind, again, you know, that self-scrutiny applied with kindness. Especially if we're going to do this every day, don't, you know, be too harsh on yourself every day. It's going to put us in a bad state of being, I would say. Let's try to be honest, and at the very least, always end on an optimistic mind. Even if you had a terrible day, even if you messed up, right? Think about how tomorrow might be better, and maybe even write on that. But the idea is that we scrutinize ourselves, we examine ourselves, and try to stick to kindness as much as possible. There are times in life when we have to be tough on ourselves, of course, right? But I think for most of the time, we should try to be as kind as we can. So try that new morning to-do list. Try the nighttime check-in. I hope this suggestion from Epictetus is one that we might be able to put together. Another exercise suggestion I want to present to you all is something called the hypnomata. So this is an ancient idea, and the perspective we're getting on it is from Michel Foucault and his piece, Ethics, in the section called Self-Writing. So this is an example that is grounded in a writing practice. Others we've discussed, I've suggested maybe they don't necessarily have to do it, but they do have to do it. So this is an example that is grounded in a writing practice. They could just be something you do when you're thinking. Of course, other practices we're going to discuss might revolve around other types of movement, you know, walking being one example of that. But this is through and through a self-writing practice. So what is a hypnomata? Okay, in the technical sense, this is from Foucault, these could be account books, public registers, or individual notebooks serving as memory aids. Their use as books of life as guides for conduct. It seems to have become a common thing for a whole cultivated public. One wrote down quotes in them, extracts from books, examples and actions that one had witnessed or read about, reflections or reasonings that one had heard, or that had come to mind. They constituted a material record of things read, heard, or thought, thus offering them up as a kind of accumulated treasure for subsequent re-reading and meditation. These aspects of the hypnomata are a great example of a self-writing practice. So this is an example of a self-writing practice. So the concept of the hypnomata, these various writings, constitute a material and a framework for exercises to be carried out frequently, reading, re-reading, meditating, conversing with oneself and with others. Okay, and this was in order to have them, these various pieces of information you write down, according to the expression that recurs often, near at hand. Then, not just in the sense that one would be able to recall them to consciousness or remember them, but that one should be able to use them whenever the need was felt in action. It is a matter of constituting a logos bioethicos, for oneself, an equipment of helpful discourses, capable, as Plutarch says, of elevating the voice and silencing the passions. Okay, and for this reason, they must not simply be placed in your memory, but they must be deeply lodged in the soul, planted in it, says Seneca. And they must form part of ourselves. And they must be deeply lodged in the soul, planted in it, says Seneca. And they must form part of themselves. In short, the soul must make them not merely its own, but itself. Okay, so I think this is a very interesting idea. And this is something I've practiced in my own way, right? I hope to convey this point that whatever practice suggestion I'm offering here is one that I encourage you to make your own. Of course, you can use it as I describe it, or more so as it's described by thinkers like Pierre Hadeau and Michel Foucault. That being said, I do encourage you to make them your own as well, if you find that adding or subtracting them is a good idea. Certain elements might be useful. So ultimately, the hypnomata, from my perspective, and kind of summarize it, is a collection of quotes and writings that you make for yourself from various sources. So I like to put this in a modern conception of it too, right? Like you could have quotes from a movie, quotes from literature, quotes from songs that you like, or lyrics from songs that you like, hopefully some quotes from philosophy from this class that you found meaningful, quotes from all their types of texts, and so on. So I think this is a very interesting context, right? And again, as he's saying, things people in your life have said, family members, friends, significant others, quotes you might have just heard somebody say, brief reflections. And I only say brief because I like the idea of this being, how do I say it? They could be long, right? They could be long. The reflections can be as long as you want, right? I just, for some reason, as per my practice of this, I really like the idea of like on one page having 10 different things. So in that case, it'd have to be on the shorter side, right? If you're writing in a, in a notebook. And for me, that's so interesting because I think a part of this method, right? Is that we start really seeing the world around us as, as help, right? As help for us to help ourselves and as help for us to help others. So with the Hup Namata, when you, when you're inspired, right? When something really connects with you, it's a place where you can keep it. When he talked about the collected treasure, I think that's a beautiful idea. Another example, poetry. you can even maybe especially now in our modern like you know we have access to all these things you could print out a painting and put in the notebook too so the only thing that or the only one of the only things that really makes this how do I say that sort of creates some limitations on this is that I do think it should be a notebook it has to be a physical place again it has to involve writing and we use that writing for as Foucault was saying to meditate on these ideas to not just memorize them but to really try to live them right so for me an example of me practicing this to an extent is I use a notebook every day and it's not necessarily fitting into this guideline but throughout this notebook there are a number of quotes from movies a number of quotes from songs a number of quotes from just you know stuff I heard growing up this idea of ready at hand or near at hand is a very ancient idea that we have you know the word is powerful we have these words that we carry with us these mantras if you will these short powerful phrases that remind us of who we should be remind us of what we shouldn't do right among other things as well right so for me one thing I write you know very frequently in my notebook on a very regular basis in English although it's a Greek phrase and I spell it as if it's English is siga siga which in Greek means little by little and it was something that my grandfather used to say that I've really carried with me because I've always been impatient I've always put too much pressure on myself and that phrase is one that would definitely be an example of how I embody this hypnomata concept right so it'll be something I write for example next to a to-do list on a day where I feel like I'm falling behind or on a day where I feel like I'm not doing all that I should to remind myself like little by little everything has to happen at its own pace right all I have to do is keep moving so these ideas that we write that we meditate on that's a good example too because it's something that someone said to me and I've talked about the memory of my grandfather saying that to many people many times so it's literally an embodiment of what Foucault was offering here right and to kind of finish off this conversation a little bit Foucault says right it it is one's own soul that must be constituted in what one writes so I am literally becoming a more patient person when I write Siga Siga and I sit with it for a minute and I meditate on it I'm forcing myself to confront it by reading it and writing it right and we get this idea of the interplay of selected readings and writing right that's where you have that great sort of again like my vision of this of mixing and matching let's say a phrase from a grandparent and a quote from a movie right so that to me that's a very interesting way to pursue a practice so maybe for example you go and you get a notebook or you get a bunch of paper and it's specifically a hypnomata where you set out with the intention of collecting quotes right as one I think sort of let's say version of this I would even say an interesting way to pursue this would be think about your favorite musicians go into their albums in depth really listen closely and spend time writing down the lyrics that really resonate with you that are going to be helpful for you because the ultimate objective of this of course as you said with philosophy and self-writing in general is to be able to collect quotes that are going to be helpful for you because the ultimate objective is ethical self-cultivation and moral development so it should be that we work to think and feel in ways that are healthier for us and it should be used also to act in the world in ways that are healthier for us and for everybody else too right so that these quotes are pathways to that if I'm more patient with myself and I remind myself cigar cigar regularly it makes me more patient as a person I'm more patient with my family members for example I've seen that I've seen that and felt that happen within myself right so I would argue that it's certainly something we can at least try so maybe again that's one example sit down with your favorite it could be musician it could be director it could be movie or movies tv shows whatever right books maybe even this class right we're about a month in well what are the quotes that I've really spoken to you get them all in one place why because then you have this note but you just open it up right maybe you make the goal to write in it a little bit every few days maybe even on Sunday you sit and write a few things then you read it for two minutes a day five minutes a day these are the quotes that are going to guide you in self-knowledge and self-transformation that's the objective here to sort of shape a self with this equipment as Foucault says that you collect in the hypnomata so hope this is helpful another suggestion start collecting start writing down start meditating maybe even talking about some of the quotes with other people and see how that affects you see how that's helpful on a daily basis to revisit the quotes to collect more with the direction you give yourself for the type of spiritual development you want to see hope this is helpful
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