Marcus aelius was not some weak flabby philosopher he was active he was athletic he rode horses and hunted he was proud of these accomplishments and almost certainly found the discipline they demanded to be a metaphor for life and yet in the pages of meditations we find him chiding himself over his dedication to these very Hobbies a better wrestler he asks rhetorically but not a better citizen a better person a better resource in tight places a better forgiver faults he was noticing how much energy and effort he was putting into his physical Improvement and how disproportionate
it seemed to his personal development many of us are guilty of this we track our appearance in the mirror but monitor our morals much less there are a lot of talented people out there lots of great wrestlers lots of great accumulators of wealth lots of beautiful faces but the stoics remind us that our choices make us beautiful too the choice to be mind the choice to work in an industry that improves rather than destroys the world the choice to open the door for someone not just literally for a stranger but also to open the door
to help others succeed in your profession when the stoics talk about the virtue of Justice they don't just mean what happened in a court of law they were talking about what Marcus aelius was talking about actively working to be a better citizen a better person a better resource a better forgiver of faults this is what the new book right thing right now is about it's about this key stoic virtue the one that is so often overlooked in favor of Courage right courage is calling and Temperance discipline is Destiny it takes work to be a good
person perhaps more work than it does to be a great that is successful or famous person but it's the most important work you can do and the world depends on us doing it who we are going to be depends on it
