Putting Stoicism into Practice: Life-Guidance and Therapy

This project aims to develop a collaborative network of academics and practitioners stemming from a workshop that formed part of an AHRC fellowship on Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, a second-century AD philosophical diary, based on Stoicism. This group has already worked closely together in activities designed to promote public engagement with Stoicism as a source of life-guidance or support for psychotherapy. This project aims to build on this collaboration, to place the network on a more secure footing, and to maximise the impact of the group in public engagement. It is also to foster creative and innovative collaborative work between academics and practitioners in making the insights of an ancient Greek philosophy available to modern audiences.

Following a workshop at Exeter in Oct 2012, a number of academics and practitioners have set up an informal network, with regular email exchanges on Stoic philosophy and on trying to put this into practice. They have also set up a blog (http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/), which has served as a forum for public engagement and debate. They collaborated in organising a 'Live like a Stoic Week', based on a 30-page booklet giving advice on Stoic ethics and on how to apply these to daily life, and in carrying out a questionnaire survey of responses to the Week. The Stoic Week was followed by at least 150 people, of whom 46 completed the survey. The Stoic Week also aroused very wide national and international interest. Hits on the blog rose to 2,500 a day during the week and the Stoic Week prompted 3 articles in the UK press. These responses indicated broad public interest in the idea of using Stoic ideas as a form of life-guidance or support for self-guided psychological therapy.

The project aims to build on the collaboration developed in the 2012 activities. It aims to hold a second 'Life like a Stoic' week (Nov 25 - Dec 2, 2013), with a number of substantial improvements designed to enhance its effectiveness. The week will be widely publicised in advance (especially via the blog and other social media), with a view to maximising the numbers of those taking part. The booklet will be expanded to include more guidance on Stoic ethics and putting this into practice; it will also include more audio reflective exercises prepared by psychotherapists in the group. We aim to make the Stoic week a more collective experience, and to encourage people to comment via the blog and other social media. We also aim to have a much fuller response to the questionnaire, with a view to gauging more reliably how far the experience of the week is helpful in promoting wellbeing and in helping people cope with stressful or distressing experiences.

We also aim to hold a one-day public event in London in the Stoic week (Saturday Nov 30 2013), directed at members of the public (target numbers 200), on the theme of putting Stoicism into practice in the modern world as a source of life-guidance or support for psychotherapy. This will include a round-table debate involving academics and leading figures in applied philosophy on the value and problems of putting Stoicism into practice, as well as a session on real-life stories of lives changed by access to Stoic ideas. The day will also offer smaller, interactive sessions designed to introduce people to Stoicism as a source of ethical guidance or psychotherapeutic support. The event will be fully reported on the blog and recorded by papers and a video posted there, as well as assessed by questionnaire responses. Planning for the Stoic week and London event will be carried out at a workshop at the University of Exeter in October 2013. A longer term goal of the group, for which this project is a stepping-stone, is to set up a dedicated interactive website to serve as the home for an e-book offering a 6-8 week course on applying Stoicism as a means of life-guidance and support for self-guided psychotherapy.

Impact Summary

The project, 'Putting Stoicism into Practice: Life-Guide and Therapy',
derives from original research, on Stoicism, especially works of practical ethics such as Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, by the PI and Co-I. It represents an exceptionally close and sustained collaboration between scholars and practitioners in applying the insights of ancient philosophy to modern needs. The activities proposed offer improved resources to members of the public seeking guides to life or support for self-guided counselling or psychotherapy, especially material informed by philosophy. The collaboration proposed will benefit the practitioners involved in the project by enhancing their understanding of Stoic philosophy and its applicability to modern needs, and by bringing their work to the attention of a wider public.

The main beneficiaries of the project are members of the public seeking ethical and emotional support in writings offering a guide to life or self-guided psychotherapeutic advice. The project is especially directed at those looking for support of this kind informed by philosophy or ideas from earlier cultures. The existence of a substantial body of such people has been demonstrated by the large sales of recent popular books in this area, as well as the continuing large sales of translations of works of Stoic practical ethics, including Epictetus' Discourses and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. This project offers, in the form of the Stoic Week booklet, resources which combine research-based insights and practical guidance, based on collaborative work between academics and psychotherapists. Public interest in this resource has been demonstrated by the success of the 2012 Stoic week, especially the high numbers of people viewing the 'Stoicism Today' blog during the Stoic week and the positive responses to the 2012 questionnaires. The present project offers improved and expanded resources, more fully supported by audio exercises, based on critical assessment of the earlier booklet. The project also aims substantially to increase the numbers of those following the Stoic week and using its questionnaire.

The public visibility of the Stoic week will be further enhanced by the public event in London in November 2013. For those attending this event, this will provide a collective exploration of the potential benefits of Stoicism-based guidance. The public visibility of the Stoic week will be expanded, as we expect, by media coverage, as well as by associated events put on by other organisations promoting philosophy-based guidance, in London and the USA. Reports and a video on the London event will expand further the resources available on the 'Stoicism Today' blog and the numbers of expected users of the blog.

The project will also offer significant benefits to the psychotherapists and journalist-writer involved. The earlier collaboration (in 2012) has already enriched their understanding of Stoic philosophy, its potential applicability for life-guidance and psychotherapy, and the challenges it poses for modern users. The further collaboration, in the 2013 Stoic week, booklet and public event will deepen this understanding further. It will also enable them, in their practice and writings, to expand and refine the resources they provide for members of the public seeking to apply their methods and advice in confronting distress and seeking emotional stability and wellbeing.

The project will also pave the way for the group involved to prepare a longer-term resource (a 6-8 week course on Stoicism-informed therapeutic guidance) available on an interactive web-site on a continuing basis, as well as to conduct a survey testing the value and applicability of Stoicism under modern conditions in a more rigorous way than has so far been attempted.