Hello there, For this exercise, let us seek some inspiration on the perils of ambition, pleasure and possessions, from the man who was at the top of the social and political ladder. This is from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations VI 51: “The lover of glory conceives his own good to consist in another’s action, the lover of pleasure in his own […]
The more my island of knowledge grows, so does my shore of ignorance. Knowledge is power and philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. However, we make the grave mistake of overestimating our knowledge. The same way Socrates was the wisest man in all of Athens because he knew what he did not know, we must admit not only […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I will seek some inspiration from Seneca. This is from his Moral Letters to Lucilius CIII 4-5: “When philosophy is wielded with arrogance and stubbornly, it is the cause for the ruin of many. Let philosophy scrape off your own faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others.” […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I will look for inspiration from Epictetus’ Discourses IV 1.141&142: “Be careful how you take the news – I won’t say that your child dies, because you couldn’t possibly tolerate that – but that your cruet of oil fell over. Or that someone drank up all your wine. Anyone finding you in despair might […]
Hello there, You’re a good person right? And you do good things for others, no? Well, here are some words from Marcus Aurelius to keep in mind then. Let’s get some inspiration from his Meditations IX 42: “For what more do you want when you have done a man a service? Are you not content that you have done something […]
Hello there, I tend to go through phases of philosophers depending on what I’m reading or am focused on at a particular time. I realized that as much as I have used Seneca’s work for these exercises in the past (and he has a lot of great work as we all know) in recent times I have neglected our favourite […]
Sebastian Guell conducted a good interview with some great questions. Some of the best yet, and even though our internet connection was a little week we got through it okay and tackled some good questions like Stoicism’s place in today’s world and the future, and how it could help make the world a better place.
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, let us look back at Epictetus and find wisdom in his often direct and borderline comic words. This is from the Discourses I 15.7&8: “Nothing great comes into being all at once; why, not even does the bunch of grapes, or a fig. If you say to me now, “I want a fig,” I […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, let us look at some words from Marcus Aurelius. This is from his Meditations XII 1: “You could enjoy this very moment all the things you are praying to reach by taking the long way around – if you’d stop depriving yourself of them.” If you found a genie and got to make […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I will look for inspiration from one of the Stoics staunchest rivals, the Epicureans. This is from the founder of the school himself, Epicurus, as reported by Diogenes Laertius: “No one was ever the better for sexual indulgence.” So for a practical exercise this week, just give up sex. Become celibate. Ha, no […]