How to Be Free
An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
A.A. Long is professor emeritus of classics and affiliated professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also one of the world’s most respected scholars of Stoicism. As per the inside flap, in this beautiful little (hand)book, he provides “splendid new translations and the original Greek on facing pages, a compelling introduction that sets Epictetus in context and describes the importance of Stoic freedom today, and an invaluable glossary of key words and concepts. The result is an unmatched introduction to this powerful method of managing emotions and handling life’s situations, from the most ordinary to the most demanding.” Big Ideas we explore include freedom vs. slavery, the ultimate target (progress!), wisdom daggers (ready at hand), Rule #1 of Stoicism, how to win at life and using our full powers.
Big Ideas
- Freedomvs. Slavery.
- Target: Progress= Progress.
- Ready at handWisdom daggers ready at hand.
- Rule #1Stay in your business.
- Do you want to win at life?Know the price. Pay it.
- Study your powers (and use them!)Study them. And use them.
“How to be free? Is it a question or an exclamation, a political manifesto or a longing to go native, an aspiration for autonomy or the route to emancipation from bondage? This book presents an ancient Greek philosopher’s take on freedom—freedom construed as living in agreement with nature, owning and ruling oneself, becoming a world citizen, desiring always and only what you are assured of getting—and much more. Epictetus (AD 55-135), our author and guide to the Stoic life, was born a slave (his Greek name means ‘acquired’), and entered service as a slave in the household of Epaphroditus, a power broker in Nero’s Rome, and himself a freedman. By the time Epictetus publicly delivered his thoughts on freedom, he had enjoyed many years of manumission, but the experience of slavery left its mark on his philosophy through and through. The first lesson of the Encheiridion, his handbook guide to Stoicism, insists that everything that is truly our own doing is naturally free, unimpeded, and unconstrained.
Freedom, according to this notion, is neither legal status nor opportunity to move around at liberty. It is the mental orientation of persons who are impervious to frustration or disappointment because their wants and decisions depend on themselves and involve nothing that they cannot deliver to themselves.”
~ A.A. Long from How to Be Free
A.A. Long is professor emeritus of classics and affiliated professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.
He is also one of the world’s most respected scholars of Stoicism.
As per the inside flap, in this beautiful little (hand)book, he provides “splendid new translations and the original Greek on facing pages, a compelling introduction that sets Epictetus in context and describes the importance of Stoic freedom today, and an invaluable glossary of key words and concepts. The result is an unmatched introduction to this powerful method of managing emotions and handling life’s situations, from the most ordinary to the most demanding.“
There’s something magical about seeing the original Greek on the left page—which, Long tells us, is the same colloquial Greek also used in the New Testament. And, Long’s introduction to Epictetus and his role in Stoicism is fantastic as well.
If you’re a fan of Stoicism, I think you’ll love this book as much as I do. (Get a copy here.)
Of course, it’s packed with practical wisdom on how to be free and I’m excited to share some of my favorites we can apply to our lives TODAY, so let’s jump straight in!
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Download PDFIf wisdom is the true criterion of freedom, the principal burden of slavery shifts from the outer to the inner, from the physical to the mental, and philosophy not manumission becomes the source of liberty.
Get the BookFreedom
“The chief constraint on personal freedom in ancient Greece and Rome was what Epictetus knew first hand, the social practice and indignity of slavery. It was slavery, the condition of being literally owned and made to serve at another’s behest that gave ancient freedom its intensely positive value and emotional charge. Slaves’ bodily movements during their waking lives were strictly constrained by their masters’ wishes and by the menial functions they were required to perform. But slaves, like everyone else, had minds, and minds as well as bodies are subject to freedom and constraint. You can be externally free and internally a slave, controlled by psychological masters in the form of disabling desires and passions and cravings. Conversely, you could be outwardly obstructed or even in literal bondage but internally free from frustration and disharmony, so free in fact that you found yourself in charge of your own well-being, lacking little or nothing that you could not provide for yourself. The latter, in essence, is the freedom that Epictetus, the ancient Stoic philosopher, made the central theme of his teaching.”
As a former slave (whose name literally meant “acquired”!), Epictetus had a very powerful perspective on the notions of slavery vs. freedom.
Thankfully, it’s incredibly unlikely that any of us have personally experienced the literal, physical bondage of slavery.
Yet…
How many of us can truly declare ourselves free?
The reality of our own struggles with true freedom is one of the reasons why Epictetus’ wisdom still strikes so close to home.
Wisdom like this: “If someone in the street were entrusted with your body, you would be furious. Yet you entrust your mind to anyone around who happens to insult you, and allow it to be troubled and confused. Aren’t you ashamed of that?“
Now, it’s nearly impossible for me to read that passage about freedom and not think of Viktor Frankl. As we’ve discussed in different contexts (most recently in our Note on Massimo Pigliucci’s great book How to Be a Stoic), Frankl was deeply inspired by Stoic wisdom.
When he found himself in a concentration camp, he put his Stoic training to use and developed his ideas on Logotherapy. One of the central tenets of his philosophy was on freedom.
He tells us: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.“
And, of course, he also tells us: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.“
Right after Frankl comes to mind, James Stockdale shows up. He, too, lost his physical freedom when he was a prisoner of war. But, as the commanding officer in a prison camp, he REFUSED to give up his ultimate freedom—to show up as the best version of himself.
His primary philosophical guide? Epictetus.
In Courage Under Fire he tells us: “‘What is the fruit of your doctrines?’ someone once asked Epictetus. ‘Tranquility, fearlessness, and freedom,’ he answered.“
So…
Want freedom?
PRACTICE YOUR PHILOSOPHY.
Very important note: Don’t wait for the (inevitable!!) emergencies and/or huge challenges life will throw at us. Practice with the little stuff. Notice just how often you give away your freedom. And reclaim it.
TODAY.
P.S. Long tells us: “The crux of the issue then turns on the question of what is necessary and sufficient for happiness. As the Stoics see it, you can flourish in adverse situations and you can fail to live well in favorable ones. What makes for a successful human life, on this outlook, is fulfillment of one’s nature as the rational animal that is one’s birthright and goal. In that endeavor what matters are not the gifts of fortune, obtaining natural preferences, and avoiding naturally dislikable things, but ‘making reason our decisive principle in everything,’ whether we encounter adversity or prosperity.“
It is not things themselves that trouble people, but their opinions about things.
If someone in the street were entrusted with your body, you would be furious. Yet you entrust your mind to anyone around who happens to insult you, and allow it to be troubled and confused. Aren’t you ashamed of that?
Don’t ask things to happen as you would like them to, but wish them to happen as they actually do, and you will be all right.
Target: Progress
“Epictetus can come across as heavy-handed and severe. But his purpose, as a teacher, was to show his students how to make progress towards the Stoic goal and not just settle for being ordinary. He was well aware that acting consistently on the system of values I have outlined would be a counsel of perfection and even beyond himself. His focus is not on heroic achievement but approximating to it, trying it out on situations that typically trouble people and undermine their performance in every day life.”
PROGRESS.
That’s another key word in Epictetus’ teaching.
It’s such an important idea that Long even has it in the Glossary of key Stoic terms we can find in the back of the book. (I actually started with this section.) Let’s flip to page 161 for the definition.
PROGRESS – Technical term (Greek prokopē) for persons who have committed themselves to Stoicism as their philosophy of life and who make every effort to improve their performance.
Fun fact: I Googled “prokope” so I could find a version of it with the line on top of the “e.” I found it interesting that the first few results were from Bible study web sites. (As we discussed in the intro, Epictetus’ books were written in the same colloquial Greek as the New Testament.)
Which makes me want to modify the usage of the word PROGRESS to generalize it beyond just Stoicism (and Christianity) so it’s more in line with our Optimize approach. How about…
PROGRESS – From the Greek prokopē for persons who have committed themselves to their chosen philosophy of life and who make every effort to improve their performance.
Yep. That’s about right.
So…
What’s YOUR chosen philosophy of life?
Have you committed yourself to it?
And…
Are you making every effort (literally, EVERY EFFORT) to improve your performance?
THAT’s what Optimize is all about. Go all in. Use every moment to practice YOUR philosophy. Give us all you’ve got. TODAY.
Oh! And, while you’re at it, remember that there’s no such thing as perfection. As Maslow says, there are no perfect human beings. And, as we like to joke, you and I won’t be the first. Our ideals? Those are guiding stars not distant shores. We’re never going to get “there” but we CAN commit to our philosophy and practice it to the best of our ability.
P.S. On that front, John Wooden comes to mind. He tells us: “Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.“
George Leonard also comes to mind. In Mastery he tells us: “We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.“
If you have taken a role beyond your capacity, you have demeaned yourself in it, and you have also passed up the role you could have filled credibly.
It is better to starve to death in a calm and confident state of mind than to live anxiously amidst abundance.
Ready at hand
“As a book title, encheiridion was not Arrian’s invention. The Greek word cheir is literally a little thing for carrying in the hand. The word had been previously used by an Epicurean philosopher to describe a ‘handy’ collection of subject matter. In choosing the word encheiridion for his compendium of Epictetus, Arrian’s meaning can be largely conveyed by ‘handbook’ or ‘manual,’ but I prefer to keep the Greek word. In its earliest usage encheiridion refers to a hand-knife or dagger. Arrian may have wished to suggest that connotation of the work’s defensive or protective function. It fits his admonition at the beginning and end of the text to keep Epictetus’s message ‘to hand’ (procheiron). In obvious imitation, Erasmus in 1501 published a work in Latin with the title Encheiridion militas Christiani (A Christian Soldier’s Manual).”
A.A. Long provides us with a fresh translation of Epictetus’s Enchiridion (along with some passages from his longer Discourses).
As we’ve discussed, Epictetus never wrote anything. We have one of his best students, Arrian, to thank for capturing his teacher’s words.
And, I just love this origin story regarding the name of the book—and the fact that Long thought it was important enough to merit a comment in his brief introduction.
Encheiridion. <- Want to practice your philosophy as a WARRIOR rather than a mere librarian? Well, then, let’s have our wisdom READY AT HAND. Like a dagger—defending ourselves from the danger of poor thinking and acting.
When?
Echo. (Echo!) (Echo!)
TODAY.
Rule #1
“Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, and aversion—in short, everything that is our own doing. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations, and our official positions—in short, everything that is not our own doing. Moreover, the things up to us are naturally free, unimpeded, and unconstrained, while the things not up to us are powerless, servile, impeded, and not our own. Keep this in mind then: if you think things naturally servile are free and that things not our own are ours, you will be frustrated, pained, and troubled, and you will find fault with gods and men. But if you think you own only what is yours, and that you do not own what is not yours, as you really don’t, no one will ever put pressure on you, no one will impede you, you will not reproach anyone, you will not blame anyone, you will not do a single thing reluctantly, and no one will harm you, you will have no enemy, because nothing harmful will happen to you.”
Those are the first lines of our Master’s Enchiridion—THE most important wisdom to have “ready at hand” if we want to win the ultimate game of life and high five our inner soul.
We could say it’s Rule #1 of Stoicism.
We’ve gotta know that some things are within our control and other things are not. If we can remember this rule and put it into practice—EXCLUSIVELY focusing on that which is within our control, we’ll win the game—and experience freedom and tranquility.
So… Pop quiz!
Q. What’s within our control? A. Our thoughts and actions.Q. What’s outside our control? A. EVERYTHING ELSE. (Hah.)
Continuing… In the very next line, Epictetus tells us: “Keep in mind, then, that you have to be highly motivated if you want to achieve such great goals. You will have to forego some things completely, and postpone others for the present. But if you want both at the same time–the things that are really yours plus prominence and wealth in addition–you will probably not get even the latter because of wanting the former as well, and you certainly will not get the former, which are the only way to secure freedom and happiness.“
He continues with pro tips on how to rock it: “Right now, then, make it your habit to tell every jarring thought or impression: ‘You are just an appearance and in no way the real thing.’ Next, examine it and test it by these rules that you have. First and foremost: does it involve things that are up to us? And if it involves one of the things not up to us, have the following response to hand: ‘Not my business.“
Byron Katie echoes this wisdom in her Work. In Loving What Is, she tells us: “I can find only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours and God’s. Much of our stress comes from mentally living out of our business.’“
Here’s to remembering Rule #1 and staying in our own business.
If you are told that someone is talking badly about you, don’t defend yourself against the story but reply: ‘Obviously he didn’t know my other faults, or he would have mentioned them as well.’
If you ever find yourself looking for outside approval in order to curry favor, you can be sure that you have lost your way. Be satisfied, then, simply to be a philosopher, and if you want people to think of you that way as well, appear so to yourself, and that will be sufficient.
Do you want to win at life?
“Do you want to win at the Olympics? I do too, of course, because it’s a splendid thing. But examine the project from start to finish, and only go in for it after that. You must train, keep a strict diet, stay off pastries, submit to a regular exercise regime each day, summer or winter, drink no cold water and no wine except at appropriate times; in other words, you have to surrender yourself to the trainer just as you would to your doctor. …
When you have thought about this, go and compete if you still want to. But if you don’t think first, you will be acting like children who play at wrestling for a while, then at being gladiators, then trumpeters, and then stage performers. That’s what you are like too, now an athlete, next a gladiator, then an orator, now a philosopher but nothing in your self as a whole. You are like a monkey mimicking whatever you see, as one thing after another takes your fancy. You haven’t pursued anything with due consideration or after thorough review; you mess about and don’t put your heart into things.”
We referenced George Leonard’s wisdom earlier. This passage reminds me of him again.
In his book Mastery, Leonard talks about something very similar. He tells us: “We all aspire to mastery, but the path is always long and sometimes rocky, and it promises no quick pay off. So we look for other paths, each of which attracts a different person.“
The “other paths”? Well, he tells us that we can be a dabbler (going from thing to thing to thing) or an obsessive (going way too perfectionistic-ly hard and burning ourselves out) or a hacker (being content to perform a mediocre level).
The MASTER knows the price she’ll need to pay, decides to pay it, and then gets to gritty work.
WOOP comes to mind as well. When we get clear on what we want and have the discipline to rub that ideal vision up against reality before we get going, we can make an honest appraisal of whether or not we’re willing to pay the price. If not, all good. Just set a new, more realistic target.
Back to Epictetus. He tells us: “Think about all this and then see whether you want to exchange it for calm, freedom, and tranquility. If not, don’t go near philosophy; don’t be like children playing first a philosopher, and after that a tax collector, then an orator, and then an imperial official. These professions don’t match. You have to be one person, either good or bad. You have to work either on your commanding faculty or on external things. Either the inner or the outer should be the focus of your efforts, which means adopting the role either of a philosopher or of an ordinary person.“
‘Do you want me to endure... exile?’ Wherever I go, I will be fine, because I was already fine here—not on account of the place but as a result of my principles, and I am going to take them with me. No one can take them away from me; they are my only possessions, irremovable ones that are enough for me wherever I am and whatever I do.
Study your powers (and use them!)
“Study the powers that you have, and then say: ‘Bring on now, O Zeus, whatever circumstance you like; for I have the equipment and resources, bestowed on me by yourself, to distinguish myself by means of the things that come to pass.’ No! You sit trembling for fear of what may happen, weeping, wailing, and groaning over what actually is happening, and then you put the blame on the gods; for the feebleness that you display amounts to nothing short of impiety. Yet God has not only given us these powers as the means for us to bear everything that happens without being humiliated and crushed by them, he has also, like a good king and a true father, given them without impediment or constraint or hindrance. He has made them entirely up to us, without reserving even for himself any power to impede or hinder. Since you have these powers free and entirely your own, why don’t you put them to use and take cognizance of what gifts you have received and from what donor you have received them instead of sitting grief-stricken and groaning?”
Those are the final words of the book.
Whereas the rest of the passages were fresh translations of Epictetus’s Encheiridion, that passage is from his longer-form Discourses. (Check out our Notes for more.)
Want to be free? Let’s study the powers we have. And use them!!!
T O D A Y !!!
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