In this article you will find out what a “decomposition exercise” is in Stoic philosophy. The main goal of this exercise is to help you think more clearly about external events and objects.
The quality of our thoughts is what determines the quality of our lives. We are often not in control of our thoughts because we fall under the influence of external things, including public opinions, worldly events and others’ impressions.
A pessimist would paint their world black, while an optimist pushes through despite any obstacles. That being said, no one is ever a hundred percent an optimist or a pessimist. We only hold temporary views that depend on our current circumstances and impressions. We need to go beyond this boundary and reveal what it means to think clearly while unaffected by external impressions. For that task, we will look into the philosophy of Stoicism, specifically the work of Marcus Aurelius. So, let’s talk about our decomposition exercise and see what benefits this meditation can bring to you.
Decomposing Your Mind
According to Stoic philosophy, our mind is a thing that is in our control and our happiness depends on its condition. Your mental state can be shaped by your own actions or by outside circumstances. If not trained, our mind can become a real mess. We are prone to mistaking external opinions with our own thoughts. This is why we must peer deeper into our minds and learn to reflect on ourselves. The result of self-reflection should be a better understanding of our own mentalities.
Mereology is the philosophical study of the relation between parts and wholes. Stoic philosophers inherited this idea from their predecessors. Mereology is a practice that decomposes our impressions into simpler parts. This way, those parts are shown as they really are.
For example, you may think of death as bad or evil. Now, separate the word “evil” from the word “death” and examine them closely. You may call many things evil, but “evil” is merely a word used to measure our perceived value of things. When the word “death” lies bare in front of us, we can’t say that the nature or essence of death is evil. We instead see death as a change – a part of the natural order of things. Therefore, when we say that death is evil, what we are truly saying is “I don’t like this kind of change”.
“When you have savories and fine dishes set before you, you will gain an idea of their nature if you tell yourself that this is the corpse of a fish, and that the corpse of a bird or a pig; or again, that fine Falernian wine is merely grape-juice, and this purple robe some sheep’s wool dipped in the blood of a shellfish.”
Marcus Aurelius
When decomposing our impressions into parts, they seem to be quite meaningless. They don’t have any value; they are indifferent. But when the object of our impression is whole, we ascribe different values. This is why we ascribe “evil” to death, “beauty” to a painting, “ugliness” to things we fear, etc. Beneath these “wholes” we will see the reality of indifferent parts.
Meditation – Decomposition of Pain
Let’s say you think that pain is bad. You think of it as bad partly because everybody else thinks of it that way, or because you are afraid of the feeling of pain. Your thoughts are too muddled to understand what pain really is.
In order to see pain clearly, you first have to decompose all the feelings and thoughts of others. You will then see that pain isn’t bad or good; it is simply our neurological reaction to an unpleasant or harmful action. The body uses pain to signify a change it is going through. Biologically speaking, the body is telling us that something should be treated. So, pain is not bad or good; it is simply a signal from our nervous system.
Decomposing our concept of pain can free us from wrong impressions. You will learn to think of pain not as your enemy or something to be feared, but as an important part of your health. After decomposing the concept of pain, we will perceive it differently and that in turn can improve our health. Practicing this same decomposition exercise for other concepts will help you to understand the true nature of external things and to reach a greater level of self-awareness.
