{"id":3305,"date":"2024-11-22T18:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T17:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grantalexander.com\/en\/?p=3305"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T11:35:32","slug":"food-for-thought-the-proper-use-of-stoicism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grantalexander.com\/en\/our-news\/food-for-thought-the-proper-use-of-stoicism\/","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought \u2013 The Proper Use of Stoicism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Paul-Henri Moinet<\/em>
A graduate of \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure, columnist for Le Nouvel \u00c9conomiste<\/em>, editorial director at Sinocle, an independent media outlet on China, Paul-Henri Moinet has also taught at Sciences Po Paris and held strategic planning leadership roles in major advertising agencies such as Publicis Groupe and Havas Media Group.
An idea, a book, a concept\u2014a \u201cmatter for reflection\u201d that we share to spark thinking, explore new subjects, and encourage seeing things from a fresh perspective.

We have all heard about Stoicism. It is one of the most exploited\u2014and often misused\u2014ancient resources in management, coaching, and personal development. Master Stoic principles and you will become an outstanding leader, a charismatic entrepreneur, an admirable person, a role model for employees and perhaps even the world, while enjoying an inspiring and happy life!
Countless videos parade gladiator torsos and ancient statues to illustrate the power and depth of ancient wisdom. They claim that self-mastery, courage of soul, temperance, perseverance, serenity in adversity, integrity, simplicity, focus on the essential, selective indifference distinguishing what depends on us from what does not, gratitude, and benevolence will make you a model of excellence. What else, Doctor?
None of this is false, yet it is often blended into a contemporary conceptual soup aimed at making us simultaneously happier and more productive\u2014happier because more productive, within the great neoliberal machinery.
However, Stoicism offers at least three particularly valuable ideas<\/strong> to tackle some of our era\u2019s ailments: cognitive overload, intellectual distraction, and human unavailability. These are: the inner citadel, the art of temporalisation, and katalepsis<\/strong>.

The Inner Citadel
The inner citadel is not a spiritual fortress to retreat into in order to escape the world\u2019s adversities, nor a secret base to reclaim, repair, or redeem the world. It is an invisible realm where each individual reigns as sovereign, fully present to themselves, their actions, others, and the world.
The inner citadel is the commitment to construct oneself so as not to be unworthy of shared humanity. Not \u201cBe yourself\u201d<\/em> in the consumerist sense, but rather \u201cTry more than yourself\u201d<\/em>, \u201cBe beyond yourself\u201d<\/em>, or at the very least \u201cDon\u2019t be beneath yourself\u201d<\/em>.
The Greek term hegemonikon<\/strong> is often misunderstood today as implying dominance over others. Stoically, it refers to self-mastery through one\u2019s relationship with time. To possess oneself, to establish oneself as a subject and be present, one must have pacified their relation to time.
“Everything is alien to us, only time belongs to us. This fleeting good is the only one of which nature makes us master,”<\/em> wrote Seneca to Lucilius. Time is thus the supreme good, the lens through which other goods are accessed. Building the self depends on how we handle time.

The Art of Temporalisation
The second valuable Stoic idea is the art of temporalisation. How do you relate to time: endure it, choose it, master it, schedule it, evade it? Is it friend, foe, or indifferent passerby? Baudelaire called it \u201cthis greedy player who always wins fairly\u201d<\/em>. Ignore it, and it catches you; schedule it, and it overwhelms you; try to possess it, and it escapes.
Temporalisation is cultivating a balanced, pacified relationship with time. Distinguish the instant<\/strong> from the present<\/strong>: the instant is the spatio-temporal mark, devouring itself endlessly, over which we have no control. This leads to powerlessness, often breeding morbid melancholy or vengeful resentment.
The present, by contrast, is a crack in the wall of time, allowing the self to emerge, asserting initiative, authority, and the power to begin. Marcus Aurelius wrote, \u201cRemember, it is neither the future nor the past that is your burden, but only the present.\u201d<\/em> By shaping the present\u2014dilatatio rather than dilatio\u2014we exercise our freedom: think, decide, act, create, love.

Katalepsis
The third Stoic idea is katalepsis<\/strong>, an image of knowledge as the hand gradually enclosing an object until it is firmly grasped. Philosopher Pierre Caye comments: \u201cThe closed hand symbolises the mind\u2019s grip on representation and its object, like taming a wild animal.\u201d<\/em> When the second hand encloses the first, we see the image of science. Modern usage, however, has largely lost this original meaning, reducing katalepsis to a mere physiological rigidity.

Only time belongs to us. The rest is up to you.<\/strong>

References<\/strong>
Pierre Caye, Seul le temps nous appartient<\/em>
Pierre Vesperini, Droiture et m\u00e9lancolie. Sur les \u00e9crits de Marc-Aur\u00e8le<\/em>
Pierre Hadot, La Citadelle int\u00e9rieure<\/em>
S\u00e9n\u00e8que, Letters to Lucilius<\/em>
Michel Foucault, Le souci de soi<\/em> & Le courage de la v\u00e9rit\u00e9<\/em>
Ma\u00ebl Goarzin, Vivre en sto\u00efcien<\/em>
Andr\u00e9 Comte-Sponville, Petit trait\u00e9 des grandes vertus<\/em>
Ilaria Gaspari, Petit manuel philosophique \u00e0 l\u2019usage des grands \u00e9motifs<\/em>
Marcel Conche, Temps et destin<\/em>
Lucien Jerphagnon, L\u2019absolue simplicit\u00e9<\/em>
A summary note by Paul-Henri Moinet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul-Henri MoinetA graduate of \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure, columnist for Le Nouvel \u00c9conomiste, editorial director at Sinocle, an independent media outlet on China, Paul-Henri Moinet has also taught at Sciences Po Paris and held strategic planning leadership roles in major advertising agencies such as Publicis Groupe and Havas Media Group.An idea, a book, a concept\u2014a \u201cmatter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"activity":[7],"topical-themes":[],"news-type":[40],"class_list":["post-3305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFood for Thought \u2013 The Proper Use of Stoicism - Grant Alexander<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grantalexander.com\/en\/our-news\/food-for-thought-the-proper-use-of-stoicism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for Thought \u2013 The Proper Use of Stoicism - 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