Welcome, . Grab a pen and your notebook. Below is how we’ll practice Stoicism through the Socratic method on this section called The Stoic Workbook. See previous editions here and here.
September 21 — Musonius Rufus on whether philosophy has changed you
Musonius Rufus, Lecture 6: On Training
“Virtue cannot be acquired through understanding alone. A person may know that pleasure should not rule them, yet remain completely untrained in resisting pleasure. They may understand justice while never having practiced giving up selfish advantage.
Philosophy therefore requires training: repeatedly doing what your principles require until your character becomes capable of carrying them out.”
Musonius compares philosophy to medicine and music- knowing the principles of an art is insufficient if you’ve never trained yourself to perform it.
And it’s through the workbook below, where you'll learn to understand yourself better, live to your true potential, increase your capacity for joy, notice where your actions fall short of your principles, see better angles to manage situations and forge a solid way to live better.
Done consistently, these small structured actions become a great practice to shape your judgment, habits, and character. Let’s begin.
Socratic questions for a better life,
What Stoic principle do you understand intellectually but fail to live?
Where’s the gap largest between what you believe and what your ordinary behavior otherwise demonstrates?
Musonius assumes a person’s character can be trained through repeated action. What qualities are you currently training accidentally through repetition- impatience, indulgence, avoidance, courage, restraint, generosity?
Think about the last time desire overruled your better judgment. At what exact point could training have changed what happened?
Is there something you describe as a character flaw that might really be a lack of deliberate practice?
Which virtue do you most want to possess- courage, temperance, justice, patience, self-command? What situations or environment would help you train it?
What discomfort do you routinely avoid that might be useful practice? Can you try doing it without complaining?
If someone watched your actions for the past month without hearing any of your philosophical opinions, what would they conclude you’re training yourself to become?
That’s all for today.
P.S: I’ve finally launched our private community, The Stoa- for those interested in Stoicism beyond theory.
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With love,
Antonius Veritas, M.D.
This was an excellent post, and well timed. I reflect often, but it begged me to ask whether I still have to consciously examine my actions against Stoic principles, or whether some of those values have become second nature.
The goal is to practice until those values become our natural response, and reflection has to play a part in that. This gave me a useful opportunity to take inventory of my recent interactions, the part I played in them, and where my actions fell short of what I believe.
I’ve got some work to do.
the accidentally-training question is the one that lingers. repetition is always teaching something; the only real choice is whether you picked the lesson.