Book Club: The Inner Citadel, 3, The Meditations as spiritual exercises

For the ancient Greco-Romans, and particularly for the Stoics, philosophy was not an academic pursuit, but a way of life. So says Pierre Hadot at the onset of the third chapter of his landmark The Inner Citadel, which I am discussing in the ongoing edition of our Stoic book club. (part I here, part II here.) In order to make his point, he frames the whole of Marcus’ Meditations as a set of “spiritual” exercises. But what does that mean, really?

Hadot argues that throughout the book Marcus reminds himself of three fundamental rules of life (more on this in a moment), which are themselves derived from a small set of general principles, or “dogmas.” The word, which today indicates stubborn attachment to unquestionable rules, in Greek simply meant a universal principle, an axiom (which one could criticize and reject) from which one derives specific precepts for practical conduct. Here is an example of a Stoic dogma:

“On the occasion of everything that causes you sadness, remember to use this ‘dogma’: not only is this not misfortune, but it is a piece of good fortune for you to bear up under it courageously.” (Meditations, IV.49.6)