V

May 19th

LEARN,  PRACTICE,   TRAIN

“That’s why the philosophers    warn    us  not to  be  satisfied   with    mere    learning,   but to  add practice

and then    training.   For as  time    passes  we  forget  what    we  learned and end up  doing   the opposite,

and hold    opinions    the opposite    of  what    we  should.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.9.13–14

ery few people can simply watch an instructional video or hear something explained and then know,
backward and forward, how to do it. Most of us actually have to do something several times in
order to truly learn. One of the hallmarks of the martial arts, military training, and athletic training of
almost any kind is the hours upon hours upon hours of monotonous practice. An athlete at the highest level
will train for years to perform movements that can last mere seconds—or less. The two-minute drill, how
to escape from a chokehold, the perfect jumper. Simply knowing isn’t enough. It must be absorbed into the
muscles and the body. It must become part of us. Or we risk losing it the second that we experience stress
or difficulty.
It is true with philosophical principles as well. You can’t just hear something once and expect to rely
on it when the world is crashing down around us. Remember, Marcus Aurelius wasn’t writing his
meditations for other people. He was actively meditating for himself. Even as a successful, wise, and
experienced man, he was until the last days of his life practicing and training himself to do the right thing.
Like a black belt, he was still showing up to the dojo every day to roll; like a professional athlete, he still
showed up to practice each week—even though others probably thought it was unnecessary.