Ryan Holiday

You can actually in New York City go and see the gym on the porch of his house where he made his body, where he began his love of what he would call the strenuous life.

He became a man's man.

He became an outdoorsman.

He became a hunter.

He became a soldier.

He became a war hero because of this work.

Now, this was not at all at odds with his love of learning, with his love of reading, with his love of birdwatching and science and literature and all of these things.

In fact, as his father was pointing out, the two complement each other.

There's a Latin saying, mens sano in corpore sano, strong mind and a strong body.

And today, unfortunately, we think of philosophers as weak or academic or theoretical.

But Marx realized that boxing and wrestling and running and sports.

Socrates is not just a philosopher, but also a soldier who's renowned for his bravery and discipline, also for his ability to endure colds.

The philosophers in the ancient world were tough.

Epictetus captures this dichotomy well.

He's crippled due to torture he undergoes as a slave, but he says, you know, that's only an impediment to part of my body, not to the mind.

And he didn't believe his body was weak either.

He said, I like the body to be strong, the strength that comes from good health and training.

So it comes down to a question of what are these muscles for?

What is all this training for?

Is it so you can look absolutely shredded so you can be what AI apparently thinks Marcus Aurelius or Seneca or whomever look like, like with a 12 pack or something?