In ancient Greece, people would go to the philosophers for higher education. Young adults of an upper class would learn how to read and write well, do mathematics, and debate - all the disciplines that prepared them for a public life.
I was listening to my latest podcast obsession - The Cost of Glory by Alex Petkas - and I was fascinated to discover that Aristotle included gymnastic exercises in his list of basic subjects. And his reason for its inclusion was also interesting - that it induces courage.
This rings true to me. A strong man thinks differently than a weak man. Consider someone like Socrates, one of Aristotle’s intellectual ancestors. Socrates was known for his unrelenting search for the truth and his careful examination of men’s motivations and reasonings. He made some prestigious people look bad, and they put him on trial on some trumped up charges in order to put him to death.
Socrates acquitted himself boldly at his trial. He refused to admit that he had done anything wrong. His defense is full of some fire lines:
Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you
A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong — acting the part of a good man or of a bad [one].
He acknowledges that the accused typically gain clemency by begging for mercy and pulling on the jury’s heartstrings. Socrates has young children he could have used for this purpose. But he refuses to stoop to such tactics. And when they sentenced him to death by poison, he faced his sentence willingly, instead of taking the lesser punishment of exile.
The story of Socrates fascinated me when I first heard it in school. How could he be so courageous in the face of death? But it makes sense when you consider his full biography.
You see, in his younger days, Socrates was a soldier. He was not a man of the mind alone, but also a man strong in body. Socrates had already made peace with the fact that he could die in the violent contest of ancient armed combat. He acknowledges as much in his defense:
Strange, indeed, would be my conduct, […] if I who, when I was ordered by the generals […] remained where they placed me, like any other man, facing death — if now, when, as I conceive and imagine, God orders me to fulfill the philosopher’s mission of searching into myself and other men, I were to desert my post through fear of death
The modern equivalent to the ancient Greek philosophers are university professors. I have to say, they are a poor substitute. They are not typically thought of as men of great physical fitness. Are their thoughts different because of this? Do their minds lack a certain amount of courage? I think so.
We have a culture of higher education that teaches people to define themselves as victims, instead of boldly pursuing a virtuous and good life. Maybe if our professors were more jacked, we would have better ideas. There’s a certain amount of vitality that is needed for virtue.
More than ever, you can predict someone’s opinions by the amount of lean muscle mass they carry on their body. There is a growing industry of shadow teachers, people like Jocko Willinck and Joe Rogan, whose ideas appeal to the lost men trying to figure out how to live a good life. And they are men of great physical discipline.
Getting fit does not solve all of your problems. But it does give you practice in accomplishing difficult things. You appear more confident in the world.
It takes a certain amount of courage to put yourself under a weight of iron that weighs more than you do. It is a small way to face death. So is sparring with another human in a Jiu Jitsu or boxing match. If the referee wasn’t there, it would be a contest to the death.
When you are strong, you get a sense that when you encounter a difficulty that is too heavy for you, then with enough patient planning and diligent practice, you may eventually lift it. Plus, there are lots of biological benefits to being fit that make you happier, more energetic, and more capable.
When we strengthen our bodies we strengthen our minds. And by being strong men we make a better world.
