Day 309
To the Stoics, there are just three levels of Stoic learning. At the top of the pyramid is the Sage. Very few of us are fortunate enough to become this evolved. This can best be thought of as someone that is “perfectly wise.” This is where we should all be aiming. I’m certainly not there.
In the middle of the pyramid are those people that are “trying.” I count myself somewhere on this level. There can be a wide range of progression in this layer, we’ll leave it at that for now.
At the base of the pyramid is everyone else. This is composed of all the people that are not, to put it simply, trying to better themselves. I suppose that needs a bit more explanation. By “better” themselves what that infers is active study and outward effort to become wiser and improve their character. Another way of looking at these people is that they are not even aware that they lack wisdom. It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to draw a picture in your mind of what sort of person that is. The beliefs they do carry they arrive at through social conditioning.
The Progressors, the middle layer, are those that have a clear understanding they are not wise (and we can assume would like to be, but understand clearly that is a long path that only few are successful in achieving.)
To sum this up and (perhaps) put it into perspective, to make progress we must realize two things: First, we must realize that we are imperfect, and Second, we must have a desire to improve and be taking active steps to improve. Keep in mind, it’s okay if most or your progress consists in the desire to make progress. Also, steps should be taken every day, in some way, to make progress. If you can say that, you are well on your way to being a solid “Progressor.”