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Stoic Spiritual Exercises Cultivating Temperance
For the fourth week of spiritual exercises I completed last week I focused on Temperance. Stoics associated temperance with logic which got me to thinking. I am a longtime substance use disorder counselor and a lot of recovery work is rooted in learning to be honest: “I made a searching and fearless inventory”.
The discipline of assent is catching ourselves from making value judgements about things outside of our control. We learn that the only good is moral good. When an event happens it is only a terrible thing if we decide it is.
This honest assessment of reality is a path to freedom and living without fear. Dropping our inner deception allows us to grow in our ability to control our desires. We train ourselves to focus on what is in our own power and this allows us to do things we want to do and not do the things that we don’t want to do.
When we feel good about ourselves because we are taking right action then we are less susceptible to falling into unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Research backs up the stoic approach. Mindfulness work is an important part of treatment and recovery. Self discovery allows us to look at ourselves and see what the drivers of our self defeating behaviors may be.
I made a Facebook reel talking about Temperance which will work until 2/26/26 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BpDGBd8GK/
For the spiritual exercises I switched my coffee to black and was mostly vegetarian. I monitored my portion size and steered clear of fast food. I refrained from alcohol with the exception of a couple of drinks with a friend as I’ve been a bit under socialized. I also maintained my other exercises of physical exercise, daily justice work, and study and meditation.
It was a successful 28 days which has helped me focus and make concrete improvements. I plan to do them again in two years.
Stoic Spiritual Exercises – Cultivating Bravery
I’m deep into week 3 of the stoic spiritual exercises and tomorrow I will launch the final week and wrestle with Temperance. I have been busy and am only now getting to post about Bravery.
In the Stoic tradition Bravery has to do with the Discipline of Desire. What we desire is one of the four things that are under our control along with our opinion, moving toward a thing, and aversion. Bravery is rooted in recognizing that virtue is the only good and if we desire our life to be in accordance with nature we care little for external events.
What concern we do have for events is rooted in Amor Fati or Love of Fate. Whatever befalls us is necessary and an opportunity to exercise virtue. I’d something unpleasant or difficult occurs it’s a. Opportunity to practice forbearance. In frightening times of folks being gunned down in the streets it is an opportunity to practice bravery.
Alex Peretti gave a master class on bravery. He showed up and documented and tried to help. He was inviolate in his virtue. Though an ICE officer took his life they could not touch his spirit of resistance which is a bright flame that guides us all now.
The spiritual exercises this week have focused on physical health especially weight training. Becoming stronger physically can also inform our sense of self and allow for greater confidence and courage to take on tasks. I have maintained my work out routine and added a walk on a cold day and being mindful on my snow removal.
I did make a Facebook reel on the virtue. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FYabN3eno/
I’ve also been doing a morning and evening meditation to set my intention for the day and then reflect on how it all came out. You can find them on my page. Twice a day posting and they e added up quick. The links only work for 30 days so sorry future readers. https://www.facebook.com/share/1RoH3YL6rn/
You can read the chart what the virtue means. I’ve been slow walking myself through the chapter on Discipline of Desire in The Inner Citadel by Hadot. It focuses on aiming our desires exclusively to moral good. Amor Fati means we love our fate as a rule because it’s necessary and an opportunity to practice virtue.
I’ve embraced the cold and living in a time where my government executes community observers in the streets. It’s made for an intense week which is why I’m only getting to posting the weekly virtue at the end of the week. Tomorrow I’ll introduce Temperance on Facebook Live at noon. Hope to post here Wednesday evening.
Be brave. Keep the faith. Solidarity, Community, Empathy.
Spiritual Exercises
Greetings Faithful Readers and New Friends. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Someone attacked me on Facebook and brought up a blog post and referred to this humble repository as a little read blog. It has had its ups downs for sure, but I am working it more into my plans and you will see regular content through 2026. It promises to be a momentous year and I want to develop this leadership.
I’ve struggled a bit this year which curbed my joy and my productivity and my relationships more than I am comfortable with. I’ve taken a moment to reassess and identify what I’m bringing to the situations that are causing me trouble. To that end I am committing myself to 4 weeks of stoic spiritual exercises.
Two years ago, after stepping away from the directorship of a nonprofit I put together and implemented 4 weeks of spiritual exercises I developed while on an epic road trip through the Southwest. It cleared my palate of the stress I had been carrying and helped me develop the focus to both write and publish a book but also address my obesity and overall lack of physical fitness.
Two years previously, after completing my third term on the Columbia, Missouri city council I had gone on an epic road trip and completed a bastardized version of the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, bookended by Crowley’s Book 4 exercises from part 1 (basically Buddhist meditation).
For those exercises they are completed 2-5 times per day with prayers and readings and 5 senses meditations (think visualization but with all 5 senses). Its ordered around the life of Christ as moral teaching and also involves colloquys (imaginary conversations with God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary).
Most significantly it involves a conscience check. I used the time to work on my ego. Whenever I would note an egoistic thought I would touch my heart. Taking a month and focusing on the content of your heart and striving to be better is powerful. I see why the Jesuits do it annually.
I had tried them once before in the early 2000s while backpacking in Big Sur and was also profoundly impacted. That time I had powerful colloquys and I felt that if I continued down that path I would irrevocably break with consensus reality and that that was not being asked of me.
I wrapped them up after 2 1/2 weeks, called my dad and learned he was passing through Fresno and hitchhiked over to meet him for one last ride in the big rig. I correctly guessed it would be my last chance for a ride along with The Popster and it was. I’ve never regretted it.
The 2021 version wasn’t mystical at all. I’d had some of that during my COVID homelessness organizing and these exercises were more of an act of discipline and sober reflection. I “received” 2 messages: to get a job and live humbly and to make a small lifestyle change, which I did.
I came out of that a lot more keyed into philosophy and less interest in mystical experiences. I continued to deepen my study of stoicism and other ancient philosophies over the next couple of years.
I felt that I had gotten what I needed out of discipling myself to work humbly for a board of directors. I again thought a major life change should be road trip and spiritual exercises. I thought of reworking Ignatius’s system to stoicism.
I realized though that the stoics already had a system. Leaning heavily on Pierre Hadot’s What is Ancient Philosophy I organized them around the 4 virtues: Wisdom, Justice, Bravery, and Temperance.
I had morning mediations where I set goals for the day. Unread from primary texts: Epictetus’s Discourses and Enchiridion, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, and Musonius Rufus and nothing else. I also memorized verses for each virtue and used the Ignatian conscience checks.
Wisdom involved a focus on study and reflection. Justice emphasized pro social interaction and philosophical conversation. Bravery involved physical exercise. Temperance involved vegetarianism and rigorous portion control.
I grew more focused and disciplined and kept that self motivation through writing The Practical Guide to Building a Better World. With setbacks and gear shifting I again am called to take on spiritual exercises. This time, no road trip but to be made real in my home environment.
I am also going to open them up to the public as a shared project with my community. I will be posting about it here and there will be an IRL version in Leavenworth and an online version available everywhere. More details to follow and I’ll be looking to start early in the new year.
If you are interested in my book it’s not too late to get it before Christmas direct from my publisher. https://breadandrosespress.com/products/the-practical-guide-to-building-a-better-world
Keep following for details as well as my traditional Holiday Letter coming soon.
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