August

11th
NO TIME FOR THEORIES, JUST RESULTS

“When the problem arose for us whether habit or theory was better for getting virtue—if by
theory is meant what teaches us correct conduct, and by habit we mean being accustomed to act
according to this theory—Musonius thought habit to be more effective.”
—MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 5.17.31–32, 5.19.1–2

As Hamlet says,

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

There is no time to chop logic over whether our theories are correct. We’re dealing with the real
world here. What matters is how you’re going to deal with this situation right in front of you and whether
you’re going to be able to move past it and onto the next one. That’s not saying that anything goes—but we
can’t forget that although theories are clean and simple, situations rarely are.
 August 12th
MAKE THE WORDS YOUR OWN

“Many words have been spoken by Plato, Zeno, Chrysippus, Posidonius, and by a whole host of
equally excellent Stoics. I’ll tell you how people can prove their words to be their own—by
putting into practice what they’ve been preaching.”
—SENECA, M ORAL LETTERS, 108.35; 38

O ne of the criticisms of Stoicism by modern translators and teachers is the amount of repetition.
Marcus Aurelius, for example, has been dismissed by academics as not being original because his
writing resembles that of other, earlier Stoics. This criticism misses the point.
Even before Marcus’s time, Seneca was well aware that there was a lot of borrowing and overlap
among the philosophers. That’s because real philosophers weren’t concerned with authorship, only what
worked. More important, they believed that what was said mattered less than what was done.
And this is as true now as it was then. You’re welcome to take all of the words of the great
philosophers and use them to your own liking (they’re dead; they don’t mind). Feel free to tweak and edit
and improve as you like. Adapt them to the real conditions of the real world. The way to prove that you
truly understand what you speak and write, that you truly are original, is to put them into practice. Speak
them with your actions more than anything else.
 August 13th
TAKE CHARGE AND END YOUR TROUBLES

“You’ve endured countless troubles—all from not letting your ruling reason do the work it was
made for—enough already!”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, M EDITATIONS, 9.26

H ow many things you fear have actually come to pass? How many times has anxiety driven you to
behave in a way you later regret? How many times have you let jealousy or frustration or greed lead
you down a bad road?
Letting our reason rule the day might seem like more work, but it saves us quite a bit of trouble. As
Ben Franklin’s proverb put it: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Your brain was designed to do this work. It was meant to separate what is important from what is
senseless, to keep things in perspective, to only become troubled by that which is worth becoming
troubled about. You only need to put it to use.
 August 14th
THIS ISN’T FOR FUN. IT’S FOR LIFE

“Philosophy isn’t a parlor trick or made for show. It’s not concerned with words, but with facts.
It’s not employed for some pleasure before the day is spent, or to relieve the uneasiness of our
leisure. It shapes and builds up the soul, it gives order to life, guides action, shows what should
and shouldn’t be done—it sits at the rudder steering our course as we vacillate in uncertainties.
Without it, no one can live without fear or free from care. Countless things happen every hour
that require advice, and such advice is to be sought out in philosophy.”
—SENECA, M ORAL LETTERS, 16.3

T here is a story about Cato the Elder, whose great-grandson Cato the Younger became a towering
figure in Roman life. One day Cato witnessed a fine oration from Carneades, a Skeptic philosopher,
who waxed poetically on the importance of justice. Yet the next day Cato found Carneades arguing
passionately about the problems with justice—that it was merely a device invented by society to create
order. Cato was aghast at this kind of “philosopher,” who treated such a precious topic like a debate
where one would argue both sides of an issue purely for show. What on earth was the point?
And so he lobbied the Senate to have Carneades sent back to Athens, where he could no longer
corrupt the Roman youth with his rhetorical tricks. To a Stoic, the idea of idly discussing some issue—of
believing or arguing two contradictory ideas—is an absurd waste of time, energy, and belief. As Seneca
said, philosophy is not a fun trick. It’s for use—for life.
 August 15th
THE SUPREME COURT OF YOUR MIND

“This can be swiftly taught in very few words: virtue is the only good; there is no certain good
without virtue; and virtue resides in our nobler part, which is the rational one. And what can this
virtue be? True and steadfast judgment. For from this will arise every mental impulse, and by it
every appearance that spurs our impulses will be rendered clear.”
—SENECA, M ORAL LETTERS, 71.32

T hink about someone you know who has character of granite. Why are they so dependable,
trustworthy, excellent? Why do they have a sterling reputation?
You might see a pattern: consistency. They are honest not only when it’s convenient. They are not only
there for you when it counts. The qualities that make them admirable come through in every action (“arise
with every mental impulse”).
Why do we revere people like Theodore Roosevelt, for example? It isn’t because he was brave once,
or courageous once, or tough once. It’s because those qualities are shot through every one of the stories
about him. When he was young and weak, he became a boxer. When he was younger and frail, he went to
a gym in his home, every day, for hours on end. When he was shattered by the loss of his wife and mother
on the same day, he went to The Badlands and herded cattle. And on and on.
You become the sum of your actions, and as you do, what flows from that—your impulses—reflect the
actions you’ve taken. Choose wisely.