Learning to Understand, Attentively and Deeply

[DISCLAIMER]

As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

Authors of The Daily Stoic quote Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius who stated, “From Rusticus . . . I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something” (page 38).

Aurelius’s approach for learning to understand is one to which I also aspire. I don’t want to simply regurgitate information that I’ve consumed. Instead, I want to comprehend it well enough that I may teach it to others. Authors of The Daily Stoic continue (page 38):

The first book of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations begins with a catalog of gratitude. He thanks, one by one, the leading influences in his life. One of the people he thanks is Quintus Junius Rusticus, a teacher who developed in his student a love of deep clarity and understanding—a desire to not just stop at the surface when it comes to learning.

Think about your own experience with learning. Perhaps, like me, your early years of education were spent memorizing academic material without any deep focus on understanding it. In my youth, at school, I learned that questioning as a method of understanding was frowned upon.

Then, as I earned one undergraduate degree and two graduate degrees in adulthood, I was exposed to educators with differing methods of teaching. Some fostered critical thinking while others indoctrinated students with predetermined faux understanding about truth of reality.

At any point in your life, did you experience a similar circumstance with learning? If so, how helpful to your understanding of a taught lesson was it to simply stop at the surface when it came to learning? Regarding this matter, authors of The Daily Stoic continue (page 38):

It was also from Rusticus that Marcus was introduced to Epictetus. In fact, Rusticus loaned Marcus his personal copy of Epictetus’s lectures. Marcus clearly wasn’t satisfied with just getting the gist of these lectures and didn’t simply accept them on his teacher’s recommendation.

When I first learned of REBT in my counseling graduate program (2009-2011), I didn’t accept at face value the teachings of its founder Albert Ellis. Rather, I approached what I learned with the same skepticism used when I served as a military police interrogator in the Marine Corps.

Then, in my social work graduate program (2012-2014), I continued to consume material from Ellis and other REBT theorists, educators, and professional practitioners. Regarding this attempt to understand what I learned about REBT, authors of The Daily Stoic state (page 38):

Paul Johnson once joked that Edmund Wilson read books “as though the author was on trial for his life.” That’s how Marcus read Epictetus—and when the lessons passed muster, he absorbed them.

They became part of his DNA as a human being. He quoted them at length over the course of his life, finding real clarity and strength in words, even amid the immense luxury and power he would come to possess.

Although I suspect that authors of The Daily Stoic likely used hyperbole when asserting that learned material “became part of his DNA” when discussing Aurelius, I appreciate this framing of the matter. This, too, is how I approach psychoeducational lessons within my blog.

I consume a fair amount of content to support each post I write. With hope, a reader will learn to understand the lessons I present by benefitting from the knowledge reviewed to create my blogposts. Similarly, authors of The Daily Stoic state of this approach with their book (page 38):

That’s the kind of deep reading and study we need to cultivate as well, which is why we’re reading just one page a day instead of a chapter at a time. So we can take the time to read attentively and deeply.

As a fallible human being, I don’t always present REBT material in a clear and concise way, just as some of my former educators didn’t proficiently help me with learning to understand material. All the same, I hope that readers approach the material I provide in a similar manner as Aurelius.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, fair use

References:

AEI. (n.d.). About Albert Ellis, Ph.D. Albert Ellis Institute. Retrieved from https://albertellis.org/about-albert-ellis-phd/

Daily Stoic. (n.d.). Translating the Stoics: An interview with “The Daily Stoic” co-author Stephen Hanselman. Retrieved from https://dailystoic.com/stephen-hanselman-interview/

Easy.Peasy.AI. (2024, February 27). Portrait of Marcus Aurelius with strong Stoic features [Image]. Retrieved from https://easy-peasy.ai/ai-image-generator/images/portrait-marcus-aurelius-strong-stoic-features

Holiday, R. and Hanselman, S. (2016). The daily stoic: 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. Penguin Random House LLC. Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-daily-stoic-366-meditations-on-wisdom-perseverance-and-the-art-of-living-d61378067.html

Hollings, D. (2024, November 4). Critical thinking. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/critical-thinking

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Hollings, D. (2024, May 17). Feeling better vs. getting better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/feeling-better-vs-getting-better-1

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Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching

Hollings, D. (2023, April 24). On truth. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-truth

Hollings, D. (2024, January 1). Psychoeducation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychoeducation

Hollings, D. (2024, May 5). Psychotherapist. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapist

Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt

Hollings, D. (2024, April 21). Stoicism. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/stoicism

Hollings, D. (2025, February 28). To try is my goal. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-try-is-my-goal

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Edmund Wilson. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Wilson

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