Psychological techniques to practice Stoicism
For those who wish to truly deep-dive, I strongly suggest to skip the &quot;meta books&quot; on Stoicism, and go straight to the original works.  There&#x27;s the Big Three—Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.  Be prepared to invest <i>at least</i> ten months (the longer, the better) of <i>active</i> study to get a decent grounding.<p>From my experience of reading multiple translations of the Big Three, for someone new to Stoicism, I&#x27;d suggest <i>not</i> to start with the popular recommendation of Marcus Aurelius.<p>Start with Seneca&#x27;s Letters, then Epictetus (an ex-slave, and a profound influence on Marcus Aurelius), and only <i>then</i> Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor.  (To quote the foremost Stoic scholar, A.A. Long: &quot;[...] That an ex-slave actually shaped a Roman Emperor&#x27;s deepest thoughts is one of the most remarkable testimonies to the power and applicability of Epictetus&#x27; words.&quot;)<p>The quality of the English translation matters a <i>lot</i>.  Here are my recommendations:<p>• Seneca: <i>Letters on Ethics</i> — translation by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. This is the most recent translation, reads extremely well, outstanding notes, and wonderfully typeset.  It&#x27;s translated by the current foremost experts; can&#x27;t get better than this.  I&#x27;ve been reading this for four months.  (If this is a tad pricey for you, I&#x27;ve also heard good things about <i>Selected Letters</i>; translated by Elaine Fantham.)<p>• Epictetus: <i>Encheiridion, and Selections from Discourses</i>, by A.A. Long. This is a short book; the value addition here is the great introduction, and the outstanding glossary. (NB: there is no escaping full Discourses of Epictetus—refer below.)<p>• Epictetus: <i>Discourses, Fragments and Handbook</i> — translation by Robin Hard, intro by Christopher Gill; Oxford University Press.  Spend a good four months immersing yourself in it.  Epictetus is full of heavy irony, dark humor, histrionic wit, and sarcasm.  Absolutely my favourite.<p>• Epictetus: <i>A Stoic and Socratic Guide</i>, by A.A. Long.  <i>Important Note</i>: To get maximum value out of this, you must have already read <i>at least</i> one translation of Epictetus&#x27; full Discourses! This book orients the reader to Epictetus with an extremely valuable context: how not to misinterpret his unqualified faith in &quot;divine providence&quot; (which can grate on our &quot;modern ears&quot;); the influence of Plato and the &quot;Socratic Elenchus&quot; (colloquially known as &quot;Socratic Method&quot;); deep insights into Epictetus&#x27; own inimitable style; and a rich bibliography.<p>• Marcus Aurelius: <i>Meditations</i>. There are at least six translations.  I&#x27;d suggest to start with the gentler translation by Gregory Hays.  If you like it, then you can research other translations.  (A.S.L Farquharson spent a lifetime on his translation of the <i>Meditations</i>; it also has commentary.  I sometimes consult this edition.)<p>• <i>The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius</i>, by Pierre Hadot. This needs to be read only after you&#x27;ve read <i>at least</i> one translation of Marcus Aurelius This is a fantastic dissection of Aurelius&#x27; work—Hadot studied him for 25 years. Besides fresh translations of the Meditations, it also contains unparalleled summary of Epictetus, and many quotes of Seneca.<p><pre><code>             - - -
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I&#x27;ll end with one of my favourite Epictetus quotes:<p><i>&quot;For sheep, too, don&#x27;t vomit up their fodder to show the shepherds how much they&#x27;ve eaten, but digest their food inside them, and produce wool and milk on the outside.  And so you likewise shouldn&#x27;t show off your philosophical principles to ordinary people, but rather show them in the actions that result from those principles when they&#x27;ve been properly digested.&quot;</i>