Anxiety and Control
This week you'll work through one of the most practical questions in Stoic thought: where does anxiety actually come from, and what, precisely, can you do about it? The seven passages move you from the foundational distinction between what is and isn't yours to control, through a direct challenge to anxiety's logic, and finally to a quiet, personal commitment about how you'll meet the world. Each day builds on the last, so try not to skip ahead.
Passage
Rufus, From the remarks of Epictetus on friendship OF THINGS THAT are, God has put some under our control, and others not under our control. Under our control He put the finest and most important matter, that, indeed, by virtue of which He Himself is happy, the power to make use of external impressions. For when this power has its perfect work, it is freedom, serenity, cheerfulness, steadfastness; it is also justice, and law, and self-control, and the sum and substance of virtue. But all other things He has not put under our control. Therefore we also ought to become of one mind with God, and, dividing matters in this way, lay hold in every way we can upon the things that are under our control, but what is not under our control we ought to leave to the Cosmos, and gladly resign to it whatever it needs, be that our children, our country, our body, or anything whatsoever.
— Epictetus, Fragments 4
Reflection
Epictetus opens with a striking theological claim: God kept the best thing for Himself, the power to use impressions well, and gave that same power to you. Everything else, your children, your country, your body, was handed to the Cosmos. Notice that this isn't a consolation prize. Epictetus calls it 'the finest and most important matter.' Your anxiety this week almost certainly lives in the gap between what you've been given and what you've been trying to hold onto that was never really yours.
Go deeper
What is one thing you are currently treating as yours to control that, if you're honest, belongs to the category Epictetus hands back to the Cosmos?
Practice
The Two Columns
Draw a line down the center of a page. Label the left column 'Mine' and the right column 'The Cosmos.' Write down every worry or source of anxiety currently on your mind, one per line, and place each one in the column where it honestly belongs. Do not negotiate. If your body goes in the right column, write it there. Sit with the list for two minutes without changing anything.