The Stoics’ 7 Functions of the Clear Mind
How to use reason and logic in everything you do
The best reason to practice personal hygiene is that a clean body leads to a pure soul.
It’s not the explanation my dentist gave me the other day, but regardless, at nearly 30 years old, she finally got me to floss. “Your gums are at risk,” she said. I have flossed every day since. One, because I’d like to keep my teeth until I die, and two, if I don’t have a clean mouth, how can I expect good things to come out when I open it?
Neither the importance of dental care nor its effect on our mental state is new to us, yet more than half of Americans are short at least one tooth, and more than 10% have lost all of them. That’s 40 million Americans without teeth.
In one of his many post-lecture discussions transcribed in Discourses, Stoic philosopher Epictetus talked about “washing your teeth” — in 108 AD. He also used cleanliness of the body as an analogy for — and precursor to — purity of the soul.
Hygiene of the Body Brings Clarity of the Mind
In Book IV, chapter 11, of the Elizabeth Carter translation from 1758, Epictetus says we’re surprised to see animals cleaning themselves, claiming they “act human.” Then again, we blame their…
