In my piece a month ago, I introduced the Stoic concept of dichotomy of control. “Introduced” is not the right word, though. Dichotomy of control is widely known. It‘s one of the most eminent Stoic notions, one which I called the timeless idea. Timelessness stems from its simplicity, but simplicity doesn’t mean there is nothing to unpack here.

Dichotomy is a positive principle

One key remark is that dichotomy of control is a positive principle. Contrary to the commonplace misreading, the principle doesn’t mean that we need to be “indifferent to indifferent things” or that “we need to be not concerned about what we have no control of.” That’s a mistake, a dangerous trap, actually. If we follow this path of reasoning, we’ll get disheartened swiftly, and we might soon feel fooled by the Stoics. We set ourselves up for failure if we rely on sheer mental force to redirect our focus. It simply doesn’t work that way.

Focus on what you can control

The idea is much subtler. Stoicism is not about not paying attention to what we needn’t pay attention to, but it’s about paying attention to what we need to pay attention to. Logically it’s a tautology, but mentally — it’s not. It’s the crucial distinction, and this is the thrust of the positive message. You need to focus on what you can control, and then, the Stoic promise goes, you will have far less time and energy to even think about things you can’t control. This is where the magic kicks in.

Meaning of ‘no control’

Another often forgotten point is that the Stoic phrase “within our power” is really short for “100% within our power.” This often breeds misunderstanding and yields all the socalled “paradoxes of the Stoics.” Stoicism doesn’t say, however — as some tend to think — that we have no control whatsoever over our health, wealth, or social standing. What it does say is that we need to focus on the things that we have 100% control over. Since we don’t have such control over health and wealth, they shouldn’t be where we center our focus.

The shifting boundary

Finally, there is an important difference between reformed and orthodox Stoicism. Reformed Stoicism acknowledges that the boundary between the things within and outside our power shifted since antiquity. This is rooted in science and our contemporary knowledge of the human mind in general.

When we read the ancient Stoics today, it may seem to us that their take was quite plain, i.e., we can’t control outside events, but we can control our own thoughts. We can control what happens in our mind, but we can’t control what’s outside of it.

From the modern standpoint, however, this appears very raw. If we want serious Stoicism today, we need to accept that a significant part of our mental activities is outside of our control, just as the external objects are. There are deep conditioning and contexts that we can do little to amend. There is the subconscious sphere which — by definition — eludes our control. And there is all that psychology and psychoanalysis reveal to us about the complexity, irrationality, and overall weirdness of the human mind. This too we need to acknowledge.

Thus, not only are outside facts and events beyond our control — some of our own thoughts are too. Accepting this doesn’t undermine Stoicism, however. In fact, this is precisely what makes reformed Stoicism relevant.

What exactly is within our power?

All this comes before we even discuss what exactly is within our power — this will be revealed next month.

---

Piotr Stankiewicz, Ph.D., has authored Manual of Reformed Stoicism and other books. He can be reached at mikolaj.piotr@gmail.com

 

 

---