In the philosophical landscapes of ancient Greece and Rome, a deeply personal and transformative practice known as hypomnemata flourished.
Far more than simple diaries, these were, as the scholar Pierre Hadot describes them, "spiritual notebooks." Individuals meticulously recorded quotes from readings, noteworthy actions they observed, personal reflections, and the distilled wisdom of their teachers.
This was NOT passive note-taking; it was an active engagement with ideas, a method for finding profound answers within.
Michel Foucault, in his seminal essay "Self Writing," illuminates the hypomnemata as a tool for askesis, or self-training.
He explains, "They constituted a material record of things read, heard, or thought, thus offering them up as a kind of accumulated treasure for subsequent rereading and meditation."
The purpose, Foucault argues, was ethopoietic – to shape one's character "ethos" by internalizing and living by these collected truths. This practice, he notes, was vital for figures like Seneca, Plutarch, and Marcus Aurelius.
Consider Seneca the Younger, whose Moral Letters to Lucilius serve as a powerful example of this reflective practice in action.
He urged Lucilius towards constant self-examination, writing, "Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach." (Letter VII).
These letters, rich with advice and introspection, embody the spirit of hypomnemata – a dialogue with oneself and with wisdom, aimed at moral progress and finding answers within.
Epictetus, though he himself wrote nothing, profoundly influenced this tradition. His student Arrian compiled his teachings in the Discourses and Enchiridion, works Arrian himself termed hypomnemata.
Foucault highlights Epictetus’s emphasis on the active use of such notes:
"Let these thoughts be at your command prokheiron by night and day: write them, read them, talk of them, to yourself and to your neighbor…" - Epictetus
The core of Epictetus's teaching, distinguishing what is in our control from what is not, was a constant theme for such written meditations, guiding individuals to seek answers within their own agency.
Perhaps the most famous exemplar is the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. His Meditations, as Hadot confirms, were personal hypomnemata.
Aurelius wrote to himself, "Everywhere and at all times, it is in thy power piously to acquiesce in thy present condition, and to behave justly to those who are about thee, and to exert thy skill upon thy present thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined." (Meditations VII.54).
His writings were a direct engagement with Stoic principles, a way to process challenges and reinforce his commitment to virtue.
Pierre Hadot further clarifies that these spiritual exercises, including the keeping of hypomnemata, were not about dwelling on the past, as Foucault initially suggested in one interpretation.
Instead, Hadot argues, for Stoics, the focus was on the present moment: "it is because one recognizes in this ‘thing already said’...that which reason itself has to say to the present."
The collected wisdom was to be made active and alive in one's current existence.
The enduring legacy of hypomnemata lies in its recognition of the power of structured self-reflection.
By deliberately gathering, engaging with, and meditating upon wisdom and personal insight, individuals in antiquity crafted their inner lives and discovered profound answers within. This ancient practice of curating one’s thoughts remains a potent model. Modern tools, like the Within app, can offer a contemporary space for this timeless endeavor, helping individuals to thoughtfully process their experiences and continue the essential human journey of finding answers within.
Key References:
* Foucault, Michel. "Self Writing." In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth.
* Hadot, Pierre. Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault.
* Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Moral Letters to Lucilius.
* Marcus Aurelius. Meditations.
* Arrian. Discourses of Epictetus (as referenced by Foucault and Hadot).
