How to become a better Stoic (hint: same as becoming a better Christian)

Ever since I adopted Stoicism as a personal philosophy of life I have been, well, “preaching” about it. Stoicism, of course, is not a religion, Epictetus was not Jesus, and the Enchiridion is not a Gospel. Nevertheless, the similarities are obvious, not just because Stoicism has markedly influenced Christianity, but because every religion is also a philosophy of life.

I say this because religions have two of the key components that have marked philosophies of life in both the Western (e.g., Stoicism, Epicureanism) and Eastern (Buddhism, Confucianism) traditions: (i) a metaphysics, i.e., a descriptive account of how the world hangs together, so to speak; and (ii) an ethics, i.e., a prescriptive account — connected to the metaphysics — of how to behave in the world. For instance:

So, while Stoicism is not a religion, Christianity is a philosophy of life. The same goes for Judaism, Islam, Daoism, and so on. Two corollaries should therefore come as no surprise: (a) it is just as hard to practice Stoicism as to practice Christianity; and (b) you become a better Stoic in a way very similar fashion to how you would become a better…