Free of Hope and Fear
This week you are learning about being "free of hope and fear," a state the Stoics sometimes called apatheia (in Greek, "a-PATH-ee-ah"), which simply means freedom from the disruptive passions that jerk us around. Hope and fear are a matched pair: both are the mind running ahead of the present moment, grasping at what might go well or bracing against what might go badly. Neither is happening right now, yet both can consume your entire day. The Stoics did not want you to become cold or indifferent; they wanted you to stop being a hostage to events that exist only in your imagination.
Passage
“New friends, however, will not be the same.” No, nor will you yourself remain the same; you change with every day and every hour. But in other men you more readily see what time plunders; in your own case the change is hidden, because it will not take place visibly. Others are snatched from sight; we ourselves are being stealthily filched away from ourselves. You will not think about any of these problems, nor will you apply remedies to these wounds. You will of your own volition be sowing a crop of trouble by alternate hoping and despairing. If you are wise, mingle these two elements: do not hope without despair, or despair without hope.
— Seneca, Letters 104.12
Reflection
Seneca makes a surprising move today: he tells us not to abandon hope and despair entirely, but to mingle them, to hold both at once. This sounds like a contradiction after two days of learning to distrust hope and fear, but look at what he is really doing. He is pointing out that if you are alternating between pure hope and pure despair, you are being whipped back and forth like a flag in the wind. Holding both simultaneously is a transitional practice: it steadies you, because neither pole can fully take over. This is not the final destination, but it is a crucial middle step. Later in the week you will see what lies beyond both.
Go deeper
Where in your own life do you tend to swing between extremes of hope and despair rather than holding a steadier, more honest middle ground?
Practice
Both at Once
Pick one situation in your life where you are either strongly hoping or strongly fearing. Write two short sentences: one naming a realistic way it could go badly, one naming a realistic way it could go well. Then write a third sentence that starts: 'Either way, I can...' The goal is not optimism or pessimism but a stable place to stand.