What does it mean to “practice” Stoicism?

There seems to be some confusion about what Stoic philosophy really consists of

Two ancient Greco-Roman pankration wrestlers, image by Midjourney.

We hear a lot that Stoicism is a “practical” philosophy, and that we need to practice “spiritual exercises.” I too have written about this, on several occasions, including co-authoring a whole book on the topic, together with my friend Greg Lopez. (See also these articles here at The Philosopher Garden, not to mention my almost complete 54-part series on the topic.)

Moreover, there is ongoing research, carried out among others by my Modern Stoicism colleague Tim LeBon, about whether Stoicism “works,” exploring the connection between Stoic philosophy and positive psychology.

While this sort of talk makes some sense, we need to be careful exactly what we mean, especially because there is a constant danger of descending from philosophy as a way of life into simple “life hackerism,” which is a wholly different, and not necessarily recommended thing.

Let me begin with a pertinent observation made by my colleague Owen Flanagan about a similar situation within Buddhism, specifically the relationship between the philosophy and various meditative techniques. Owen writes:

“This idea that Buddhism has mostly to do with meditation is a distinctively…