Stoic Virtues for Recovery: Courage, Justice & Temperance for a Sober Life

Introduction to Stoic Virtues in Addiction Recovery

Welcome to the second article in a two-part series covering the four Stoic virtues – Wisdom, Courage, Justice, and Temperance. In the first article, we learned that Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that centers on living a virtuous life, and the key to living is to live according to four virtues. We also covered what addiction is and the first virtue of wisdom. This article will cover the other three virtues, what they mean, and how we can practice them to enhance our recovery.

Cultivating Courage: Facing Challenges in Recovery

As we enter recovery with our baggage of the past and feeling poorly about ourselves, we often overlook the amount of courage we are demonstrating in tackling our addiction. We confront cravings, work our way through discomfort, and take the actions needed to maintain sobriety. All of these take courage.

Stoicism teaches that true courage comes not from the absence of fear but from the ability to act virtuously despite fear. Bill W. wrote extensively about courage and noted, “Courage is the willingness to accept fear and act anyway.“ Facing our disease head-on parallels the Stoic approach to living.

Imagine facing your biggest fear or taking the proper action in everything you do, even when it’s hard. That’s what courage is all about. In Stoic philosophy, courage isn’t just about being fearless. It’s about being brave and strong, especially in challenging situations. As the famous Stoic philosopher Seneca said, “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.“

An example of Stoic courage is shown in Seneca’s acceptance of death. After being accused of plotting against Emperor Nero, Seneca is ordered to commit suicide. While his suicide was prolonged, he accepted death calmly, comforted his friends, and remained composed, discussing philosophical ideas as he died. There are many other examples of courage from Cato, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and other Stoic philosophers who embraced courage as part of living a virtuous life.

Practical Ways to Practice Stoic Courage

Facing Fears: It’s natural to feel scared. But Stoic courage means facing those fears instead of running away. We have all faced fear when entering recovery, whether it was fear of change, an uncertain future, or that we would fail to overcome our addiction. We took action anyway: we reached out for help, attended our first meeting, or checked ourselves into a treatment facility.

Standing for Your Beliefs: It’s important to know what we believe in and stand up for those beliefs, even if others disagree. When our beliefs align with the values and virtues that will support our sobriety, they are worth standing up for. While we do not preach, when offered a drink at a social function and refuse it, we stand up for our beliefs.

Staying Calm in Tough Times: When we face a challenge, we immediately consider what action to take. The problem is that this first reaction may be driven by fear and may have unintended consequences. We must pause, practice mindfulness, and assess the angles of a problematic situation before acting. Rather than immediately acting rashly on our instincts, we bravely and calmly face the facts and make well-considered decisions.

Reaching Out for Help: When we humble ourselves, acknowledge our need for help, and then reach out or accept offered assistance, we demonstrate courage. We may have to overcome our idea that accepting help is admitting weakness. As Marcus Aurelius notes, “Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and need a comrade to pull you up? So what?”

Working Steps 4 and 5: Taking a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and admitting our wrongs is not for the faint of heart. However, we must set aside our egos, overcome rationalizations, and share our darkest secrets with someone else to achieve and maintain sobriety. Facing our past is hard, takes courage, and is necessary to create a better future.

Embracing Justice: Achieving Inner Harmony in Sobriety

When we think of justice, we often think of laws and the judicial system. However, in Stoic philosophy, justice holds a more profound meaning. It’s about our relationships with others. Whether dealing one-on-one, with groups, or with society in general, we act fairly and do the right thing for everyone in all our actions.

The Stoics believed that humans are rational and social creatures designed by nature to live in harmony and cooperation. Acting justly is living in harmony with nature, because nature intends humans to work together for the common good. We see this ideal in both Stoicism and AA. Marcus Aurelius said, “What isn’t good for the swarm isn’t good for the bee.” Bill W emphasizes the importance of stating, “Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.“

When we are actively in our addiction, we are in a constant state of stress and anxiety and are acting out self-destructive behaviors. Stoicism encourages pursuing justice within oneself, seeking a harmonious balance of thoughts, actions, and values. We restore our integrity and wholeness through self-awareness, self-compassion, and personal accountability.

How to Practice Stoic Justice in Daily Life

Being Fair to Others: Treat everyone with respect and fairness. Don’t favor some people over others. Marcus Aurelius continually reminds himself to rule justly, putting the welfare of the people before his comfort — an emperor thinking like a philosopher.

Helping Those in Need: If you see someone who needs help, do what you can to assist them. This is being just and kind. The 12th step of AA and our primary purpose, as mentioned above, encapsulate this. To keep what we have, we must give it away.

Standing up for what’s Right: Don’t be afraid to speak up if something is wrong or unfair. We live in a society where bullying and harsh treatment of others are too often ignored or overlooked. The Stoics believed that we are all in life together as humans, and it is our duty to practice justice.

Temperance and Balanced Living in Addiction Recovery

Temperance, sometimes referred to as moderation or self-control, regulates impulses toward pleasure, excess, anger, and fear. Temperance ensures that reason, rather than passion, governs our actions. Epictetus said: “No man is free who is not master of himself.”

This is especially true for us recovering from addictions. It is not uncommon for us to be all-or-nothing personalities, and that describes nearly everyone with an active addiction. It is not necessarily limited to our addictions; we go overboard on new hobbies, dive into romantic relationships with complete abandon, and generally follow our passions without regard for balance.

 Early in recovery, we may need to create a temporary imbalance, as we are encouraged to attend 90 12-step meetings in 90 days and begin working on the steps in earnest. However, our motivation is not to follow a passion recklessly. Instead, it is to build a foundation to improve our lives.  

As we get some sobriety under our belt, this cadence of meetings is typically not sustainable for people in many circumstances. As we build our foundation, we need to find that balance, so going to 12-step meetings does not in itself become an addiction (although a much healthier one!)

Temperance is vital in recovery, emphasizing moderation, self-control, and conscious consumption. We hear Seneca tempering his desires when he says, “He who does not desire what is too much has everything.” We find freedom in mastering one’s desires rather than being controlled.” When we strive for a balanced lifestyle, we regain control over our choices, laying the groundwork for lasting sobriety.

Applying Stoic Temperance for Self-Control

Knowing Our Limits: It’s essential to understand how much is too much, whether with food, work, or fun. We must also keep this in mind when managing our finances to live within our means. With most things, like food, we have enough life experience to know when we have eaten enough to be full and to fuel our bodies. Yet, we may continue eating for many reasons and end up feeling physically uncomfortable and gaining excessive weight if we do not find a balance.

Finding the Middle Ground: Try to find a healthy balance in your daily life. We’re not too lazy, but we’re also not overworking ourselves. Time is especially valuable as it is limited. Spending too much time on hobbies can have consequences, as it may limit the time we spend on our relationships or other valued aspects of our lives. Balancing time can be challenging, especially in the early stages of recovery.

Making Wise Choices: Sometimes, this may call for a delayed decision. For example, we may have our car in for service and see the latest and greatest model as we wander around the show floor. It was so impressive that we decided on the spot that we had to have it. This kind of rash behavior has gotten us in trouble in the past.

Rather than signing the purchase papers, let’s take a few days to decide on this situation. We want to consider whether we need it, can afford it, and what we may be sacrificing by spending this money.

Conclusion: The Power of Stoic Virtues for Lasting Recovery

As we navigate recovery and life, we face situations that require us to make decisions about how we will act. The four Stoic virtues are powerful concepts that we can apply to each of these decisions to ensure that we think and act in ways that make us feel good about ourselves at the end of each day.

Practicing virtues leads to becoming a better person in all areas of life. Virtues can be viewed as a framework for virtuous living, which is at the core of Stoicism. We must practice regularly. Like everything we want to get good at, journaling can be a handy way to track our progress, noting where we acted rightly and areas that need improvement. Over time, we can see how we now approach situations more effectively where we may have struggled previously.

As in all of our pursuits, we seek progress, not perfection. The Big Book says, “We are not saints. The point is that we are willing to grow spiritually. The principles we have established serve as guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.”

Marcus Aurelius makes it as simple as possible by saying, “Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.”

Resources

Stoic Ethics – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Alcoholics Anonymous – Home Page