Behave at the Bathhouse (The Enchiridion Series — Part 3)
As funny as the title sounds, you can find legit philosophical wisdom in this concept, as you’ll find out later in this article. Today, I’ll be writing about Sections 2–4 of the Enchiridion. Let’s get started!
Enchiridion — Section II
Section II reads as follows:
Remember that desire contains in it the profession (hope) of obtaining that which you desire; and the profession (hope) in aversion (turning from a thing) is that you will not fall into that which you attempt to avoid; and he who fails in his desire is unfortunate; and he who falls into that which he would avoid is unhappy.
If then you attempt to avoid only the things contrary to nature which are within your power, you will not be involved in any of the things which you would avoid. But if you attempt to avoid disease, or death, or poverty, you will be unhappy. Take away, then, aversion from all things which are not in our power, and transfer it to the things contrary to nature which are in our power.
But destroy desire completely for the present. For if you desire anything which is not in our power, you must be unfortunate; but of the things in our power, and which it would be good to desire, nothing is yet before you. But employ only the power of moving towards an object and retiring from it; and these powers indeed only slightly and with exceptions and with remission.
So there’s a lot to unpack here. What Epictetus is saying in remembering the professions within desire and aversion is that these are the goals of each concept — you hope to get what you desire and you hope to stay away from that which you would to avoid.
However, if you stake everything into what you desire and/or want to avoid, especially if its something out of your control, when the opposite happens — you don’t get what you want or fall into what you wanted to avoid—you’re going to be miserable.
But if you decide to use your profession of desire and avoidance with what you can control, such as not acting on vices and bad habits, you’re not going to be disturbed when something happens that’s outside of your control.
Desires and Preferences
In my article on the Stoic virtue of Wisdom, I mentioned the concept of preferred indifference. That concept comes into play here. While preference and desire are often correlated, they aren’t the same thing. Let’s look at like this.
Say you’re given a choice between two different things. You’re driving down the road and you swerve to avoid something in the road. Now you’re faced with the choice of hitting a tree or a person.
Where desire comes in is that you don’t want nor wish to be in the situation, but because you are, you’ll probably prefer to hit the tree, because hitting the person would likely kill them and cause even more trouble for you. Desire is a want or innate wish. Preference is a situational selection.
So when you look at this concept of preferred indifference, you can see that with these concepts that you’re indifferent to — things beyond your control — you prefer a certain outcome. Outcomes of health and sickness are facets of life that are out of your control [yes, you can eat healthy and put in all the right inputs for a desire outcome, but the output will always be out of your control]: you can be as healthy as a horse one day and come down with the flu the next.
For me, as indifferent as I am to these things, holding no love nor hate for them, I prefer being healthy over being sick. But in spite of this preference, I am still indifferent, as it’s something that is ultimately out of my control. I care not for either outcome, but if you forced me to choose, I would choose health.
Epictetus ends the section by saying that you should put your own desires on the shelf for a little bit, learn what is in your control, and then proceed to use your desire to pursue those things.
If then, should you decide to make a choice to desire or avoid something, do so with discretion, without strain, and in moderation. Don’t overthink it, don’t under-think it, but rather use the virtues of wisdom and temperance and pursue in moderation.
Section III
In Section III, Epictetus writes that
[i]n everything which pleases the soul, or supplies a want, or is loved, remember to add this to the (description, notion): What [sic] is nature of each thing, beginning from the smallest? If you love an earthen vessel, say it is an earthen vessel which you love; for when it has been broken you will not be disturbed. If you are kissing your child or wife, say that it is a human being whom you are kissing, for when the wife or child dies you will not be disturbed.
What Epictetus is saying here is that you should remember the nature of the things in your life, especially if they make you happy.
Let’s say you’re dating someone. If you put them on a pedestal and view them as this infallible person, when they make a mistake or fall short of your expectations, you’ll feel devastated. You might say, “this isn’t the person I knew.”
Ironically, you would be right in saying that. The person you saw your partner as wasn’t who they were. They were someone whom you perceived and wanted them to be. By viewing them as another human being, you’ll realize that they’re just like you: human, imperfect, yet special and dear to you.
It shouldn’t be the idea of the person that you love, but rather the person themselves — imperfections and all — such that when they do make mistakes or make you angry, you know that they‘re human, and you’re not going to be disturbed by it.
Before I continue, I should make a quick note and clarify what Epictetus means when he says “disturbed.” In using this word, he means one’s ability — notably the lack thereof — to bear and continue walking, talking, and acting with virtue and in accordance with Nature and the Logos.
You’re of course going to feel sad if someone near and dear to you dies, but by understanding the nature of human mortality, or the nature of the fragility of the cup, if a person dies or the cup breaks, the emotions you feel won’t cause you to act in a negative, dishonorable, and unvirtuous manner.
Section IV
Section IV of the Enchiridion reads as follows:
When you are going to take in hand any act remind yourself what kind of an act it is. If you are going to bathe, place yourself what happens in the bath; some splashing in the water, others pushing against one another, others abusing one another, and some stealing; and thus with more safety will you undertake the matter, if you say to yourself, ‘I now intend to bathe, and to maintain my will in a manner comfortable to nature.’
And you will do so in every act; for thus if any hindrance to bathing shall happen, let this thought be ready. It was not this only that I intended, but I intended also to maintain my will in a way comfortable to nature; but I shall not maintain it so, if I am vexed at what happens.
This section bears similarities to Section III in the recognition of the nature of things. As historical context, in Epictetus’ time, bathhouses were public facilities, and people would often go there to commune and socialize, all the while getting clean. It was a very rowdy place, and as you can imagine, not very sanitary. I wonder if the cities that ran the baths provided enough rubber duckies for everyone.
In using this metaphor, Epictetus is trying to say that before you go to an event — or frankly, do anything in you life — remind yourself of what you’re about to do, and that no matter what you might encounter, you’re going to maintain your will and act with virtue.
As a modern example, let’s say you go to a bar or party with your partner. Think about what happens in these social places. People have fun, they drink, get drunk, and people could approach and flirt with your partner.
In knowing this, you can tell yourself, “I’m not going to act in an unvirtuous manner, even if I don’t have fun or someone tries to flirt with my partner.”
Even if you end up not having fun or someone does try and flirt with your partner, you can remind yourself that not only did you go with the intention of enjoying yourself, but also with the intention of acting in accordance with the Chief Virtues.
Working on desiring and avoiding things that are in one’s control; recognizing something or someone for their true nature; using foreknowledge to act virtuously even if things get uncomfortable. These are things with which you can use in your everyday life and train to be a better person.
Life is about balance, and in using these outlined principles, you can work on maintaining balance within yourself and the world and community around you.
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