I

May 17th

THE STOIC   IS  A   WORK    IN  PROGRESS

“Show   me  someone sick    and happy,  in  danger  and happy,  dying   and happy,  exiled  and happy,

disgraced   and happy.  Show    me! By  God,    how much    I’d like    to  see a   Stoic.  But since   you can’t

show    me  someone that    perfectly   formed, at  least   show    me  someone actively    forming themselves

so, inclined    in  this    way.    .   .   .   Show    me!”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.19.24–25a,     28

nstead of seeing philosophy as an end to which one aspires, see it as something one applies. Not
occasionally, but over the course of a life—making incremental progress along the way. Sustained
execution, not shapeless epiphanies.
Epictetus loved to shake his students out of their smug satisfaction with their own progress. He wanted
to remind them—and now you—of the constant work and serious training needed every day if we are ever
to approach that perfect form.
It’s important for us to remember in our own journey to self-improvement: one never arrives. The sage
—the perfect Stoic who behaves perfectly in every situation—is an ideal, not an end.