Rehearse them in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck. All the terms of our human lot should be before our eyes.
Seneca
In my last post, I explained that the Stoics embrace fate – amor fati. This post focuses on another strategy for strengthening the virtues. With the practice of premeditatio malorum, Stoics rehearse all of the worst things that can happen to them. Do they do this because of some masochistic love of emotional pain? Of course not.
Stoics believe that they are better prepared to meet the challenges of life if they think of all the ways chaos can enter their lives. For example, Marcus Aurelius wrote:
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil.
Marcus Aurelius
In this journal entry, not meant for any other eyes but the author’s, the leader of the known world tells himself that people will make poor choices and behave poorly. With this selective pessimism, one of two outcomes would be possible. First, the people with whom he was forced to interact really could be this poorly behaved. In this case, the Emperor would be prepared for the transgressions and therefore could maintain serenity throughout the interaction. Alternatively, the people with whom he was forced to interact could exceed his expectations. In this case, there would be nothing to interfere with the Emperor’s serenity. In either event, Marcus Aurelius established a no-lose situation for himself.
Of all of the Stoic teachings, this may be the most useful for attorneys. We know everything will go wrong. In fact, clients pay us to foresee every possible bad outcome or to fix the bad outcome they are already experiencing. Premeditatio malorum may be the Stoic exercise that comes most naturally to us.
As a practicing patent attorney, I constantly find myself wondering how a litigator, who will have significantly more resources than I find in my budget, will be able to twist the statements I need to make to convince an Examiner to allow my case. Indeed, I believe my best work happens when I envision being deposed by the infringer’s counsel. It is my job to make defense counsel’s job as difficult as possible, and this is before I even know exactly what the final patent claims will be.
A word of caution is in order here, though. With premeditatio malorum, it is important to remember that the goal is to foresee the negative outcomes but not to become so focused on the negative outcomes as to become cynical. The goal is not to distrust the motives of everyone, thereby becoming so anxious that it is impossible to function in the world. Instead, the goal is to foresee issues before they arise and prevent them all together or at least minimize the damages they bring. Premeditatio malorum is a Stoic exercise for embracing the chaos of life, not for justifying total withdrawal from life.
How can you use premeditatio malorum to enhance your practice and your life? Let’s talk about it in the comments.