Dreams and Nightmares

Stoicism for insomniacs

Jul 10, 2024

Welcome to The Stoa Letter, the newsletter on Stoic theory and practice.

🏛️ Theory

Marcus Aurelius suffered from insomnia. Sometimes when he was finally able to pass into sleep and get rest – he had nightmares. Obstacle after obstacle.

It’s not that surprising. Yes, he lived the life of a powerful Roman emperor, general, and philosopher. Yet he lived in a time of war, plague, and poverty.

Perhaps it was after one of those moments when he arose and wrote to himself:

Sober up, come back to yourself, and once you’ve aroused yourself again from sleep and understood that what was bothering you was no more than a dream, regard what you see now that you’re awake again as no different from what you were seeing in your dream.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.31

It’s a powerful thought. During the day, when you are fully awake, a nightmare loses all its force. They are only illusions; they have no reality to them.

Yet so many of the stresses of our ordinary life are the exact same. We’re confused about what’s happening. We become disturbed by phantoms. With time, we can see this. Our fears from years ago have no force over us – just like a boy who realizes his nightmares have no power over him during the day.

So why not see things as they are now?

Epictetus, one of the philosophers who shaped Marcus Aurelius’s Stoicism, described living as “managing impressions.” Reality throws appearances at us – and our job is to respond to them well. In this way, waking life and sleeping life are fundamentally the same. Indeed, some ancient philosophers advised acting well in your dreams because they saw them as a training ground for life.

One impression after another.

🎯 Action

Pay close attention to your impressions today. Reflect on them and ask if they are true.

🔗 Links

📖 The quote from the day comes from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations as translated by Robin Waterfield. It’s an excellent translation, with annotations too.

😴 If you too struggle with insomnia you may find this letter useful:

Sleeping like a Stoic

Ancient wisdom to put you to sleep

www.stoaletter.com/p/stoic-sleep

🙏 Thank you for all the positive support for this letter – I now have so many responses that I no longer respond to everyone – but I do read every response to these emails and the polls. Thank you for reading and for sharing your thoughts on our work over the years.