The great Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote,
"If you want a man to keep his head when the crisis comes you must give him some training
before it comes."
If you want to remain calm and fearless when a crisis comes, you have to prepare for it
in advance.
And the best way to prepare for a crisis is by facing it before you have to.
In this video, we’ll go over four Stoic tests that can help you face your fears today
and build strength for the crisis’ of tomorrow.
The first test is The Pleasure Test.
The Pleasure Test requires you to avoid pleasure while everyone around you is seeking it.
But there’s a catch: you can’t make yourself stand out while doing it.
That’s because the goal isn’t to try and be better, unique, or different from others,
but to still get along with them and have fun, without having to indulge in the same
pleasures that they do, such as eating junk food, drinking, and so on.
When speaking about The Pleasure Test, Seneca said,
"Remaining dry and sober takes a good deal more strength of will when everyone about
you is puking drunk; it takes a more developed sense of fitness, on the other hand, not to
make of oneself a person apart, to be neither indistinguishable from those about one nor
conspicuous by one’s difference…"
If you can avoid pleasure while everyone else around you is seeking it, while everyone around
you is pressuring you to seek it, without making yourself stand out as an outsider or
offending them, then you’re probably capable of avoiding pleasure under any condition,
especially those times when you don’t have access to it.
This test will help you face and overcome the fear of living without access to bodily
pleasures, which happens often in times of crisis.
The second test is The Minimalist Test.
The Minimalist Test requires that you set aside a few days where you learn to live with
less.
Set aside a few days where you eat simpler foods, wear less comfy clothing, sleep on
a mattress, couch, or floor, live without a phone, computer, or tv, and walk, bike,
or bus around instead of driving.
The goal is to train yourself to get by with less material goods and comforts.
When speaking about The Minimalist Test, Seneca wrote,
"Set aside now and then a number of days during which you will be content with the plainest
of food, and very little of it, and with rough, coarse clothing, and will ask yourself, ‘Is
this what one used to dread?’
It is in times of security that the spirit should be preparing itself to deal with difficult
times…"
If you can learn to live with less—less money, less material goods, less comforts,
less luxuries—you will be better prepared to do it if it ever becomes a necessity, which
is often the case in times of crisis.
The third test is The Nonconformity Test.
The Nonconformity Test requires that you learn to live without the approval of others.
According to Diogenes Laertius, Zeno, the father of Stoicism, was tasked by his teacher
Crates to carry a pot of lentil soup through a large and busy neighborhood in Athens.
From what I’ve read, this might be embarrassing for Zeno because lentils were considered to
be a food for the poor.
When Crates saw that Zeno was embarrassed and was trying to hide the pot, Crates used
his cane to break the pot and spill the soup all over Zeno.
As Zeno ran away from shame, Crates said,
"Why run away, little Phoenician?
Nothing terrible has happened to you."
Crates wanted Zeno to learn how to live without the approval of others.
Plutarch said that Cato, a influential Roman senator and Stoic, would wear clothes that
were unfashionable in order to
"accustom himself to be ashamed only of what deserves shame, and to despise all other sorts
of disgrace…"
If you can learn to live without the approval of others, especially in minor things such
as fashion, you will be better prepared to do it when it becomes a necessity, such as
when you need to speak an unfashionable truth to power.
Doing or saying unfashionable things, especially if they resonate with you, and being okay
with being laughed at helps train you to be okay with standing out and expressing our
individuality.
Some simple ways you can practice nonconformity is by getting a pedicure if you’re a man
or maybe growing out some body hair if you’re a woman.
There are hundreds of ways that you can practice nonconformity, and by learning to live without
the approval of others in things that don’t matter, we can live without their approval
in the things that truly do.
The fourth and final test is The Solitude Test.
The Solitude Test that requires that you learn to spend extended amounts of time alone.
You want to increase the amount of time you can spend alone, without the company of others,
but of course, there are limits to how much time anyone can spend alone and remain healthy.
When speaking about The Solitude Test, Seneca writes,
"Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s
ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company."
If you can learn to live in solitude, if you can learn to live without the presence and
support of others, you will be better prepared to do it if it becomes a necessity, such as
if you are shunned, outcast, or exiled by others.
Spending some time alone and without the help of others can help build up a solitude muscle
that allows you to thrive for longer periods of time without the support and presence of
others.
And by learning to live with less support from others, you will become less dependent
and less controlled by them.
So by undergoing the four tests—The Pleasure Test, The Minimalist Test, The Nonconformity
Test, and The Solitude Test—you can face your fears and build strength for hard times,
times where you might not have access to abundant pleasure, material comforts and luxuries,
the approval of others, or social support.
Your body and mind are capable of incredible adaptation, but it does take time to adjust,
and with these four practices, you can shape yourself into a stronger, more resilient form.