Marcus Aurelius hated the gladiatorial games. He despised the violence and the pointlessness of it. But it was part of his job to attend them, so he did his best to distract himself with a book–often to the bemusement of the crowd. When he was emperor, he tried to give the gladiators wooden swords so they wouldn’t hurt each other. Seneca found the violence disturbing too, as he was wary of anything the mob loved.

Yet both Seneca and Marcus Aurelius understood the power of the metaphor–which is why allusions to the games are threaded through their works. They knew that life was a battle. They felt that the philosopher belonged in the arena. They knew that surviving, winning, depended on training and courage and tenacity. They didn’t live long enough to read Boswell, but they would have appreciated his description of the mental facilities of his muse and hero Samuel Johnson–what Marcus called the command center–through the imagery of what Marcus and Seneca saw first hand.

“His mind resembled a vast amphitheater, the Coliseum at Rome,” Boswell said, “In the center stood his judgment, which, like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him. After a conflict, he drove them back into their dens; but not killing them, they were still assailing him.”

We don’t have to revel in combat sports to understand that we are in our own desperate fight. We are fighting against false impressions. We’re fighting against destructive emotions like greed and fear and envy and prejudice. We’re fighting against our lower self in order to reach that higher plane, that one worthy of being cheered and celebrated. It’s a fight that happens day in and day out, one that never really ends.

We’ll never “win” but we can be great in our brief moment in the arena. We can be mighty as we fight back the beasts that are let out upon us.

We can win. People of faith have a higher power than just mastery of self (which is a great thing in and of itself). The fight is not alone when you turn to a Higher Power, be it a nebulous Higher Power, the God of the Patriarchs & Covenant, the Holy Trinity or some other Great Spirit or spirits that you believe exist. For Disciples of the Master they believe that the Master has entered the ring, tasted defeat and rose victorious. He is both Lord of the Broken and Triumphant. Sermonizing done - keep fighting the good fight!