The Beauty of Choice (Day 76)

3/17/2019

You are not your body and hair-style, but your capacity for choosing well. If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.”
(Epictetus, Discourses, 3.1.39b-40a)

Epictetus posits that we are never beautiful if we are only focused on looking beautiful. Getting fit to find a mate, styling ourselves to seem suave… all appearances. All ego bullshit. Hollow.

What were looking to do, though is:

Poise, not pose.

Choosing to get more fit because being fit is virtuous; that is beautiful.

When we choose to select beautifully and pick virtue, we automatically become beautiful and virtuous.

Sounds easy, yeah? Simple?

Hardly…

… but that’s why it’s called practice.

(See y’all tomorrow)

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About the Blog

Awakening the desire to explore Stoicism, and how it relates to his existing beliefs, Rev. William committed to working through the text, The Daily Stoic, a year-long journey to awaken the Stoic mind.
How things are structured can be found in the first post.

About the Author

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rev. William attended Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado where in 2007 he graduated with a degree in Religious Studies, minoring in Psychology. Currently residing in Longmont, CO, he is one of the Priests and founder of Mountain Ancestors Grove. He spends his time playing mandolin (and some guitar), writing, engaging in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and education, community service, and sharing a larger vision of how a polytheist perspective can lead to greater human understanding, acceptance, and gods be good, peace.

A Year of Contemplation