Premeditatio malorum ("the pre-meditation of evils") is a Stoic exercise of imagining things that could go wrong. The practice helps us prepare for inevitable setbacks and develop resilience in uncertainty. Only some things are as clean and straightforward as we think they may be. We don't always get what we believe is rightfully ours, even if we've earned it. We must prepare ourselves for this inevitability.
Seneca, a Greek Stoic philosopher, once wrote:
"What is quite unlooked for is more crushing in its effect, and unexpectedness adds to the weight of a disaster. This is a reason for ensuring that nothing ever takes us by surprise. We should project our thoughts ahead of us at every turn and have in mind every possible eventuality instead of only the usual course of events."
In this way, we are encouraged to make decisions and focus on all that could happen, not just the natural course of events. Seneca notes, "All the terms of our human lot should be before our eyes." For Seneca, the terms of his human conditions included exile, torture, war, and shipwreck. He kept these possibilities in his mind as a reminder not to constantly worry but to be prepared if they should arrive.
Students live in an uncertain world and will move into a world in their adulthood that is increasingly so. I have held that ours is not to prepare the world for the child but to prepare the child for the world. Premeditatio Malorum, as a practice, encourages resiliency through preparation, not for every eventuality but to prepare themselves to deal with adversity in whatever form it should take.
Gratias Aquilae!
