The Little Book of Stoicism

Practice 36

Meat Is Dead Animal: Observe Objectively

“When we have meat before us and such eatables, we receive the impression that this is the dead body of a fish, and this is the dead body of a bird or of a pig; and again, that this Falernian [wine] is only a little grape juice, and this purple robe some sheep’s wool dyed with the blood of a shellfish; or, in the matter of sexual intercourse, that it is merely an internal attrition and the spasmodic expulsion of semen: such then are these impressions, and they reach the things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see the things as they truly are.” – Marcus Aurelius

The Stoics advise to look at an object or a situation as objectively as possible. Stick to the facts and describe an event as value-free and as close to reality as possible.

That’s classic Stoic thinking: An event itself is objective. Only we give it meaning by our judgments about it.

As seen above, Marcus reminds himself to look at the basic constituents of things. He wants to make sure he doesn’t attribute too much importance to external things.

(As a side note: The part about sexual intercourse is not meant to be prudish—after all, Marcus had 13 children—but rather as a check against lust for lust’s sake.)

We should look at things as they are, “lay them bare and look at their worthlessness and strip them of all the words by which they are exalted.”

We should see an event for what it is, analyze it, “turn it inside out and see what it is like, what it becomes in age, sickness, death.”

Marcus turns things inside out and looks at them carefully. He speaks of his emperor’s robes as “some sheep’s wool dyed with the blood of a shellfish.” Although it might be expensive, it’s just some sheep’s wool dyed with blood of foul-smelling murex shellfish extracts. If you paid attention, you might remember that this dye was the cargo Zeno lost in his shipwreck many years before he founded Stoicism.

Things might actually be precious, but if looked at objectively, they become quite worthless.

Marcus advises to live through life in the best way we can. The power to do so is found in a person’s soul, if she can be indifferent to external things. And she will be indifferent if she “looks at these things both as a whole and analyzed into their parts, and remembers that none of them imposes a judgment of itself or forces itself on us.”

Basically, looking at things objectively, as they really are, will help express the highest version of ourselves. We’ll recognize their utter insignificance and remember that it’s only our value judgments that give them value and meaning.

In Stoic philosophy, we look at things from every angle and get to understand situations better. Oftentimes, the objective representation of events helps us see clearly and hinders us from giving them too much meaning.

So, when you’re challenged in life, when you’re stuck, try to look at your situation objectively. Turn it inside out, strip it naked, and explain it in simple terms. As real as possible. What does it look like? What parts does it consist of? How long will it last?