HOW STERLING'S STOIC SYSTEM OPERATES: COMPLETE INTEGRATION

 # HOW STERLING'S STOIC SYSTEM OPERATES: COMPLETE INTEGRATION

## THE SYSTEM IN ACTION

### **THE FOUNDATION: Value Theory**

Everything starts here:

**ONLY virtue is good. ONLY vice is evil. Externals are indifferent.**

This isn't optional. This is the foundation. If you don't accept this, nothing else works.

---

### **HOW IT OPERATES: The Complete Chain**

**SCENARIO: You're up for a promotion at work**

Let's trace how the entire system operates in practice.

---

## STEP 1: THE IMPRESSION ARISES

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"I receive impressions...Those impressions are cognitive, propositional--they are not uninterpreted raw data, but rather ideas that claim that the world is a certain way."

**Your impression:**

"I might get promoted. This would be wonderful. This promotion is important."

This impression just appears. You don't control it arising.

---

## STEP 2: VALUE JUDGMENT EMBEDDED

The impression contains a value judgment:

**"This promotion is good"** (treating external as good)

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"But other impressions have a value component."

This is where everything hinges. The impression treats the promotion (external, not in your control) as if it's genuinely good.

---

## STEP 3: THE CRITICAL MOMENT - ASSENT OR REFUSAL

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"What _is_ in our control is how we react to them. We can assent, or not assent."

**TWO PATHS:**

### **PATH A: ASSENT TO FALSE VALUE JUDGMENT (Non-Stoic)**

You assent: "Yes, this promotion IS good."

**What follows automatically:**

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"If I assent to an impression with a value component, then a desire will result."

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 7) Desire[s] are caused by beliefs (judgments) about good and evil. [You desire what you judge to be good, and desire to avoid what you judge to be evil.]"

**Results:**

1. **DESIRE arises:** You desire the promotion (treating it as genuinely good)

2. **VULNERABILITY created:**

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 3) All human unhappiness is caused by having a desire or emotional commitment to some outcome, and then that outcome does not result."

"4) Ergo, if you desire something which is out of your control, you will be subject to possible unhappiness."

3. **EMOTIONS generated:**

   - Anxiety: "What if I don't get it?"

   - Fear: "I might fail"

   - Hope mixed with dread

   - Attachment to outcome

4. **IF YOU DON'T GET PROMOTION:**

   - Anger

   - Grief

   - Disappointment

   - Disturbance

   - Unhappiness

5. **EVEN IF YOU GET PROMOTION:**

   - New anxieties: "What if I lose it?"

   - "What if I fail at the new job?"

   - Happiness now depends on keeping it

   - Still enslaved to externals

**Sterling (Excerpt 2):**

"Unhappiness is caused by (falsely) believing that externals are good or evil, which causes us to desire the world to be one way rather than another, which inevitably causes unhappiness when the world doesn't conform."

**RESULT: Misery either way**

---

### **PATH B: REFUSE ASSENT, CORRECT JUDGMENT (Stoic)**

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"a) Don't assent to impressions that depict externals as either good or evil."

**You examine the impression:**

"Wait. Is this promotion genuinely good?"

**You apply value theory:**

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 10) The only thing actually good is virtue, the only thing actually evil is vice."

"12) Ergo, things that are not in our control are never good or evil."

**You correct the judgment:**

"The promotion is an external. It's not in my complete control. Therefore it's NOT genuinely good. It's a PREFERRED INDIFFERENT."

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 25) Some things are appropriate objects at which to aim, although they are not genuinely good."

**You reformulate:**

"The promotion is PREFERRED (I rationally select it), but INDIFFERENT (not genuinely good)."

---

## STEP 4: REDIRECT DESIRE (Discipline of Desire)

**Sterling (Excerpt 3):**

"Hence, the good Stoic will have no desires whatsoever regarding external things."

**You redirect:**

FROM: "I desire the promotion" (treating external as good)

TO: "I desire to pursue the promotion APPROPRIATELY" (desiring virtue)

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"29) Ergo, virtue consists of the pursuit of appropriate objects of aim, not the pursuit of the [external] objects of our desires."

**What this means:**

- You don't desire promotion itself (external)

- You desire to ACT APPROPRIATELY regarding promotion (virtue)

- Virtue is genuinely good

- This desire is appropriate

---

## STEP 5: FORMULATE ACTION WITH RESERVATION (Discipline of Action)

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"So I needed to:

1) Identify rational goals to pursue.

2) Select a rational course of action designed to help realize these goals."

**You identify:**

**SKOPOS (external goal):**

"Getting the promotion"

- Preferred indifferent

- Rationally selected

- NOT in complete control

**TELOS (true end):**

"Acting appropriately in pursuit of promotion"

- Virtue in choosing and acting

- Genuinely good

- IN complete control

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"1) Choose objectively correct, rational ends.

2) Choose rational means to those ends.

3) Make all those choices with the 'reservation' that these outcomes are never really under my control, and so if the all-wise gods will otherwise 'not my will but their be done'."

**You formulate with reservation:**

"I choose to pursue this promotion through excellent work, if circumstances permit. I will prepare thoroughly, work diligently, present my case honestly. Whether I get the promotion is external - not in my complete control. If the gods will otherwise, so be it."

---

## STEP 6: ACT APPROPRIATELY

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"My choice to agree to go was based on several considerations--I needed to eat some food, the walk would give me exercise, the weather was nice, the restaurant has good food that is not too expensive, the other professor is a colleague on my department so the conversation was likely to be both enjoyable and productive, etc. Given these considerations, I think it was correct...rational...appropriate of me to agree to accompany him when he asked me to go."

**You act:**

- Work excellently

- Prepare your case

- Present honestly

- Do everything rational and appropriate

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"So my action _is_ my choice, and as such it is appropriate (or inappropriate) at the instant the choice is made."

**YOUR ACTION = YOUR CHOICE**

The action is complete the moment you choose appropriately.

The physical outcome (getting or not getting promotion) is separate.

---

## STEP 7: OUTCOME OCCURS

### **OUTCOME A: You get the promotion**

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 16) If you desire something, and achieve it, you will get a positive feeling.

17) Ergo, if we correctly judge and correctly will, we will have appropriate positive feelings as a result."

**What you experience:**

1. **JOY in virtue:**

   "I acted appropriately throughout. I exercised virtue. THIS is genuinely good."

2. **Appropriate pleasure:**

   The promotion is pleasant (preferred indifferent obtained)

   But your happiness doesn't depend on it

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 18) Some positive feelings do not result from desires, and hence do not result from judgments about value. [E.g., the taste of a good meal, the sight of a beautiful sunset, etc.]

19) Ergo, such positive feelings are not irrational or inappropriate."

3. **Continue appropriate action:**

   New role = new appropriate actions to identify

   Same process continues

---

### **OUTCOME B: You don't get the promotion**

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"I choose a rational path to the restaurant, but when we get there we find it closed. I am not in the least upset, because all along I was _not_ aiming to produce the outcome of eating at that restaurant, but rather aiming at the outcome of eating at that restaurant _if_ it is possible. Now I recognize that it was not possible--the gods did not win it. Nevertheless all my choices were correct at the time, and so I am content."

**What you experience:**

1. **NO disturbance:**

   - No anger (you never judged promotion as genuinely good)

   - No grief (you never made happiness depend on getting it)

   - No disappointment in Stoic sense (your action succeeded)

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"14) Ergo, if we value only virtue, we will both judge truly and be immune to all unhappiness."

2. **JOY in virtue:**

   "I acted appropriately. I pursued the promotion rationally with reservation. My action (choice) was complete and appropriate. I achieved what was genuinely good - virtue."

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"So it is utterly irrelevant if I am hit by a car before I get there, or my colleague changes his mind and decides not to go, or the restaurant turns out to be closed when I get there, etc. I have already made the choice, and it is already appropriate or inappropriate."

3. **TELOS achieved regardless:**

   - Skopos: not achieved (didn't get promotion)

   - Telos: achieved (acted appropriately)

   - Success in Stoic sense

4. **Accept outcome:**

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Th 21) That which is Natural, or is governed by Providence, God, or the gods is exactly as it should be.

Th 22) If you regard any aspect [or, better, all aspects] of the world as being exactly as it should be, you will receive appropriate positive feelings."

"This is what the gods willed. Not getting the promotion is what should have happened."

5. **New appropriate actions:**

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"{Of course, now I must make new choices about what to do now.}"

Circumstances changed → identify new appropriate actions → continue virtuous activity

---

## THE KEY DIFFERENCE: WHY PATH B WORKS

### **PATH A (Non-Stoic): Dependent on External**

```

Impression → Assent to false value → Desire external → 

Vulnerable to fortune → Get it: temporary relief, new anxieties →

Don't get it: misery → UNHAPPINESS EITHER WAY

```

### **PATH B (Stoic): Independent of External**

```

Impression → Refuse false value → Correct judgment →

Redirect desire to virtue → Act appropriately with reservation →

Get it: Joy in virtue + appropriate pleasure →

Don't get it: Joy in virtue + acceptance →

HAPPINESS REGARDLESS OF OUTCOME

```

---

## HOW THE THREE DISCIPLINES INTEGRATE

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"All of this sounds complicated, but it boils down to this: _everything_ on the Stoic view comes down to assent to impressions."

### **ONE UNIFIED PRACTICE:**

**DISCIPLINE OF ASSENT:**

- Examine impression about promotion

- Recognize false value judgment

- Refuse assent to "promotion is good"

- Formulate correct: "promotion is preferred indifferent"

- Assent only to truth

**DISCIPLINE OF DESIRE:**

- Don't desire promotion (external) as good

- Desire to pursue appropriately (virtue)

- Maintain rational selection (it's preferred)

- Accept either outcome as god-willed

**DISCIPLINE OF ACTION:**

- Identify appropriate actions (work excellently)

- Distinguish skopos (getting promotion) from telos (acting appropriately)

- Apply reserve clause ("if gods permit")

- Execute with full commitment

- Accept outcome

**ALL THREE OPERATE SIMULTANEOUSLY**

Not separate practices. One practice, three aspects.

---

## WHY THIS GUARANTEES HAPPINESS

**Sterling (Excerpt 9, Final Synthesis):**

"So now the threads of the sections can be tied together. Someone who judges truly will never be unhappy, will in fact experience continual uninterrupted appropriate positive feelings, and will always act virtuously. Anyone would agree that someone who led a life like that was happy. Judgment is in our control. Hence, not only is perfect continual happiness possible, it is actually in our control--we can actually guarantee it by simply judging correctly, and acting on those judgments."

### **THE LOGIC:**

```

1. Only virtue is good (value theory)

2. Virtue is in our control (control distinction)

3. False beliefs about externals cause disturbance (cognitive theory)

4. Correct beliefs eliminate disturbance (negative happiness)

5. Virtue produces Joy (positive happiness)

6. We control our beliefs (they're in our power)

THEREFORE:

We control happiness (by controlling beliefs)

```

### **THE MECHANISM:**

**IF you judge correctly:**

- Externals can't disturb you (they're not good/evil)

- You experience Joy in virtue (recognizing genuine good)

- You act appropriately always (virtue continuous)

- Happiness complete and constant

**Sterling (Excerpt 4):**

"k) Living a virtuous life is necessary for eudaimonia [because it is part of the very definition of eudaimonia], and is also sufficient for eudaimonia [because the virtuous person will experience Joy, a positive feeling, and no negative feelings whatsoever]."

---

## PRACTICAL OPERATION: MULTIPLE SITUATIONS

The same system operates in EVERY situation:

### **SITUATION: Health Crisis**

```

Impression: "I'm sick - this is terrible"

Examine: Is sickness genuinely evil?

Value theory: No. External. Dispreferred indifferent.

Discipline of desire: Don't desire health as good; desire to respond appropriately

Discipline of action: Seek treatment (rational), with reservation

If healed: Joy in appropriate response + pleasure in health

If not healed: Joy in appropriate response + acceptance

Happiness maintained either way

```

### **SITUATION: Relationship Conflict**

```

Impression: "They wronged me - this is bad"

Examine: Is their action genuinely evil (to me)?

Value theory: Their action is external to me. Indifferent.

           (It may be vice in THEM, but external to MY virtue)

Discipline of desire: Don't desire their behavior as good; desire to respond appropriately

Discipline of action: Respond justly (appropriate action), with reservation about outcome

If reconciliation: Joy in just response + pleasure in harmony

If no reconciliation: Joy in just response + acceptance

Happiness maintained either way

```

### **SITUATION: Financial Loss**

```

Impression: "I lost money - disaster"

Examine: Is money genuinely good?

Value theory: No. External. Preferred indifferent.

Discipline of desire: Don't desire wealth as good; desire to handle appropriately

Discipline of action: Take appropriate steps to address, with reservation

Outcome: Joy in appropriate handling regardless of recovery

Happiness maintained

```

### **SITUATION: Death of Loved One**

**Sterling (Excerpt 2):**

"If I eliminate my belief that externals are ever bad, I can even prevent all grief when my child or wife dies, or when I myself face death."

```

Impression: "My child died - this is evil"

Examine: Is their death genuinely evil (to me)?

Value theory: Their death is external. Dispreferred indifferent.

           My virtue unchanged.

Discipline of desire: Don't desire their life as good; recognize preferred indifferent

Discipline of action: Respond appropriately (mourn appropriately, fulfill duties)

Result: No pathological grief (false belief corrected)

        Appropriate mourning (rational response to dispreferred)

        Joy in virtue maintained

        Happiness core intact

```

---

## CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"Our impressions are closely connected to our character. If you reject an impression, then it makes that same type of impression less common and weaker. If you assent to it, it becomes more common and stronger."

### **THE PROGRESSION:**

**WEEK 1:**

- Impression: "Promotion important"

- Effort required: Examine, correct, refuse assent

- Still feels difficult

- But: Some tranquility achieved

**MONTH 3:**

- Same impression arises

- Examination easier

- Correction more automatic

- Less internal resistance

**YEAR 1:**

- Impression arises weaker

- Correction nearly instant

- Almost habitual

- Significant tranquility

**YEARS:**

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"The Sage is simply someone who has controlled their assents so carefully for such a long period of time that they no longer receive the false value impressions (that externals are good or bad) in the first place."

- False impressions stop arising

- Only correct impressions appear

- No effort needed

- Complete tranquility

- Continuous Joy

- Sagehood

---

## THE COMPLETE CYCLE: HOW IT ALL FITS

```

FOUNDATIONS:

↓

Only virtue good → Only vice evil → Externals indifferent

↓

CONTROL:

↓

Virtue in prohairesis → Prohairesis in our power → Externals not in our power

↓

COGNITION:

↓

Impression arises → Contains value judgment → We control assent

↓

THREE DISCIPLINES OPERATE:

↓

ASSENT: Examine impression → Refuse false value → Assent to truth

↓

DESIRE: Redirect from external → Direct to virtue → Maintain rational selection

↓

ACTION: Identify appropriate action → Skopos/telos distinction → Reserve clause

↓

EXECUTE:

↓

Act appropriately → With reservation → Accept outcome

↓

RESULTS:

↓

Telos achieved (appropriate action) → Skopos may/may not be achieved (external)

↓

HAPPINESS:

↓

Joy in virtue (always) + Appropriate feelings about externals (sometimes)

↓

COMPLETE EUDAIMONIA

↓

CHARACTER STRENGTHENS:

↓

Repeat cycle → Impressions change → Practice becomes easier → Progress toward sage

```

---

## CRITICAL INSIGHTS FOR OPERATION

### **1. Everything Hinges on Value Theory**

If you don't accept that only virtue is good, nothing else works.

You can't selectively apply this. Either externals are indifferent or they're not.

### **2. The Disciplines Are One Practice**

Not three separate techniques.

One unified response to impressions.

### **3. Action = Choice**

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

"So my action _is_ my choice, and as such it is appropriate (or inappropriate) at the instant the choice is made."

Success doesn't depend on external outcome.

Success = appropriate choice.

This is always in your power.

### **4. Reserve Clause Is Not Weakness**

**Sterling ("My Action Is My Choice"):**

Full commitment to pursuing goal

Full acceptance that outcome is external

These work together, not against each other

### **5. Happiness Is Guaranteed**

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Judgment is in our control. Hence, not only is perfect continual happiness possible, it is actually in our control--we can actually guarantee it by simply judging correctly, and acting on those judgments."

Not: "Try to be happy"

But: "Happiness follows necessarily from correct judgment"

---

## PRACTICAL DAILY OPERATION

### **MORNING:**

1. Remind: Only virtue is good

2. Identify: What appropriate actions today?

3. Formulate: Each with reserve clause

4. Commit: To appropriate action, not external outcome

### **THROUGHOUT DAY:**

**Every impression:**

1. Notice value component?

2. Examine against value theory

3. Refuse false assent

4. Correct judgment

5. Redirect desire

6. Act appropriately with reservation

### **EVENING:**

**Sterling (Excerpt 7):**

"e) When you do act correctly, assent to the proposition that you have done a good thing--then you will experience Joy (or at least proto-Joy.)"

1. Review: Where did I judge correctly?

2. Recognize: Where did I act appropriately?

3. Experience: Joy in virtue exercised

4. Accept: All external outcomes as god-willed

5. Prepare: Tomorrow's appropriate actions

---

## THE SYSTEM OPERATING AT FULL POWER

**When you master this system:**

**IMPRESSIONS arise:**

"Examine instantly. Correct automatically. Act appropriately."

**EXTERNALS happen:**

"Indifferent. Pursue preferred rationally. Accept outcome completely."

**CHOICES made:**

"Appropriate action. Complete at moment of choosing. Telos achieved."

**OBSTACLES occur:**

"External. God-willed. New appropriate action identified. Continue."

**OUTCOMES result:**

"Skopos achieved or not. Irrelevant. Telos achieved. Joy maintained."

**RESULT:**

- Continuous appropriate action

- Unbroken tranquility

- Constant Joy

- Complete freedom

- Perfect happiness

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Someone who judges truly will never be unhappy, will in fact experience continual uninterrupted appropriate positive feelings, and will always act virtuously."

---

## CONCLUSION: THE OPERATING SYSTEM

This isn't philosophy to study.

This is an operating system for living.

**Every moment:**

- Impressions arise

- You control assent

- You choose appropriately

- You maintain happiness

**Every situation:**

- Same system applies

- Same principles operate

- Same result follows

**Every day:**

- Character strengthens

- Practice improves

- Progress continues

**Sterling (Excerpt 9):**

"Judgment is in our control. Hence, not only is perfect continual happiness possible, it is actually in our control--we can actually guarantee it by simply judging correctly, and acting on those judgments."

**This is how it operates.**

**This is how it fits together.**

**This is Stoicism.**