Hello there, This week for our practice (and do share what you think and how you practice), let us employ Epictetus’ words from his Discourses III 19 2-3: “For nothing outside my reasoned choice can hinder or harm it – my reasoned choice alone can do this to itself. If we would lean this way whenever we fail, and would […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, Marcus Aurelius reminds us we are fallible humans beings with a modus operandi of failing in our pursuit of virtue in Meditations VI 11: “When you have been compelled by circumstances to be disturbed in a manner, quickly return to yourself and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts; […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, Seneca tells us about the “other side of the coin” vis a vis his cautioned advice to give up what is unnecessary in his moral letters V 2: “Repellent attire, unkempt hair, slovenly beard, open scorn of silver dishes, a couch on the bare earth, and any other perverted forms of self-display, are […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, Seneca reminds us that “things” are rarely worth what we think of them in his moral letter XLII 6: “Therefore, with regard to the objects which we pursue, and for which we strive with great effort, we should note this truth; either there is nothing desirable in them, or the undesirable is preponderant. […]
Hello there, This week for guidance, Seneca clarifies that self-deprivation is not virtue in his Moral Letters V 5: ” Just as it is a sign of luxury to seek out dainties, so it is madness to avoid that which is customary and can be purchased at no great price. Philosophy calls for plain living, but not for penance; and […]
Hello there, This week for guidance, Marcus Aurelius reminds us about the discipline of action in Meditations IV 2: “Let no act be done without a purpose, nor otherwise than according to the perfect principles of art.” We are supposed to take the time to decide on the most appropriate course of action, so as to ensure it is the […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, let us continue on a similar mental path as last week and draw inspiration from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations VIII 32: “Act by act thou must build up thy life, and be content, if each act as far as may be, fulfils its end. And there is never a man that can prevent it […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, let us continue on a similar mental path as last week and draw inspiration from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations XII 25: “Cast away opinion and you are saved. Who then hinders you from casting it away?” We are constantly looking at the world around us and internally making judgments (false judgments) and putting opinions […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, let us keep with a similar theme guide to last week and look at the same letter from Seneca (just further down) LXIII 10: “If we have other friends, we surely deserve ill at their hands and think ill of them, if they are of so little account that they fail to console […]
Hello there, This week for our guidance, let us look at the Moral Letters of Seneca – LXIII 7: “Fortune has taken away, but Fortune has given. Let us greedily enjoy our friends, because we do not know how long this privilege will be ours.” Fortune or Fate is the sum-total of all the things that we do not control […]