Hello there, This week on Stoicism for a Better Life, I will seek inspiration from two philosophers. Jean Jacques Rousseau was not a Stoic per se, but his political philosophy contained many Stoic undertones. His work was significant in the Enlightenment period in Europe and even influenced the French Revolution. His ideas have also moulded (and can be observed in) […]
Hello there, This week on Stoicism for a Better Life, let us find inspiration from Epictetus’ Discourses I 29.4: “God laid down this law, saying: if you want some good, get it from yourself.” First off, let us recall that the ancient Stoics used the word “God” and “Zeus” to denote nature and the universe. So what Epictetus is saying […]
Hello there, It’s week 40 (so a 10th week) and we all know what that means – “Carte blanche”. Epictetus Discourses I 29 57: “What we need now are people to apply their learning and be witness to their learning in their actions. Please, be the one to take on this character, I am tired in my teaching of invoking […]
Hello there, This week, let us look towards the emperor philosophers words of urgency in his Meditations IV 37: “You will soon die, and you are not yet simple, not free from perturbations, nor without suspicion of being hurt by external things, nor kindly disposed towards all; nor do you yet realize that acting justly is the only true wisdom.” […]
Hello there, This week, let us find inspiration with the slave turned philosopher’s words. Although the target quotes is Discourses II 18 – 19, I will include a few other lines of Epictetus to put it into context: “Today, when I saw a good-looking girl, I didn’t say to myself, ‘It would be nice to sleep with her,’ or ‘Her […]
Hello there, I thought we could continue this week with the theme of actively applying virtue externally, with some words of motivation from Marcus IV 17: “Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” Simple and powerful, let us never […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, let us look at the words of Epictetus from his Discourses III 23.1: “First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want and […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise let us look at some words from Epictetus Discourses I 4-32: “We offer the gods sacrifice because they gave us wheat and wine. But they have produced such wonderful fruit in a human mind, as part of their plan to bestow on humanity the true secret of happiness. Are we going to forget to […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise let us look at some words from Seneca on the Brevity of Life III.1: “We’re tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.” As you go through your day there will be countless interruptions (cravings, emails, visitors, texts, […]