Summum Bonum: Navigating Life by the Highest Good
In a world that constantly shouts at us—“Buy this! Be that! Hurry up!”—It’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters. New trends, metrics, or moral panics are always trying to claim your time and energy. This raises a profound question: What is truly worth living for?
The ancient Stoics had an answer. They referred to it as the “Summum Bonum,” Latin for “the highest good.” For them, the answer wasn’t wealth, fame, health, or even happiness; it was virtue. They believed in living a life rooted in wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice—a life where your actions align with your principles. This alignment ensures that you remain grounded amid the world’s chaos because you have anchored yourself in what truly matters.
Sounds noble, right? Perhaps even a little lofty? But the Stoics weren’t just writing to inspire; they shared their thoughts amid wars, exile, political unrest, and plagues. Their pursuit of virtue was born from real hardship.
Marcus Aurelius, writing from a battlefield, put it this way: “If you find anything in human life better than justice, truth, self-control, courage… turn to it heart and soul.” That’s a challenge if I’ve ever heard one.
Reflecting on my own life and values, I often return to something I wrote in My Creed: “I believe in the holiness of ordinary days. I believe in paying attention.” That may sound simple, but I think the Stoics would agree. They weren’t philosophers of abstraction; they were deeply practical. For them, virtue wasn’t proven by grand speeches or ceremonial acts; it was measured by how you lived your everyday life.
Did you treat the store clerk with respect? Did you resist the urge to respond to frustration with cruelty? Did you hold your tongue when someone else failed to do so? These small moments define the moral life.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen how tempting it is to chase other “goods”: security, recognition, and that ever-receding horizon of having everything settled. But most of those pursuits are mere mirages. What remains when the smoke clears is your character, consistency, integrity, and compassion. In short, it is your virtue.
The Stoics weren’t alone in this understanding. Modern thinkers like Massimo Pigliucci and Ryan Holiday have adapted Stoicism for the 21st century, reminding us that this philosophy isn’t about denying emotions or pretending not to feel. It’s about not letting our emotions dictate our actions.
Pigliucci writes that Stoicism “is about the cultivation of an excellent human character,” which might sound abstract until you realize it’s truly about how you respond when life goes off course. We live in an age where everything seems up for debate—truth, decency, even reality, some days. Social media rewards outrage and political discourse resembles a moral quagmire. It’s easy to feel untethered. However, *Summum Bonum* serves as a compass, reminding us that what is good isn’t determined by likes, votes, or what’s trending.
As Aurelius also said, “Just do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.” That’s not cynicism; it’s clarity.
The pursuit of the highest good is not simple. It demands something of us—sometimes a great deal. It requires saying no when saying yes would be easier. It calls for patience when the world rewards immediate reactions. It demands courage when fear would be much more convenient.
But it is also freeing. When you let go of the need to gain everyone’s approval, avoid every mistake, or secure every possible outcome, you begin to live with more peace, not because your life is perfect, but because your intent is clear.
And sometimes, when I forget all of this (which I often do), I think back to another line from My Creed: “I believe in beauty, kindness, and grace.” These aren’t just lovely sentiments; they are virtues in action. They remind us that the highest good doesn’t have to be somber or overly serious. It can be warm, laugh at itself, appreciate the sunlight through the window, and still care about justice. It can comfort someone through grief while having the courage to speak hard truths.
So here’s my question, one I’m asking myself just as much as I’m asking you: What’s guiding your life (or mine) right now? Is it fear, ambition, exhaustion, or distraction? Or is it something deeper? The Stoics weren’t saints, and I certainly am not either. But they offer us a roadmap that doesn’t lead to ease or applause but to meaning and substance. It’s the kind of life that, when you look back, you’ll be glad you lived. Not because it was perfect, but because your life was aligned.
And in that alignment—with wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice—we may just discover something better than comfort, better than certainty, and perhaps even better than happiness. We might find the highest good.
