Hello there, Summer is around the corner…spring is in the air…vaccines are finding their ways into arms…oh yeah,, I foresee lots more human interaction in our future. With that in mind let’s look at some words from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations X 9: “Drama, combat, numbness, and subservience – everyday these things wipe out your sacred principles, whenever your mind entertains […]
Hello there, We can make all the excuses we want (time, logistics, motivation, etc…), but in reality journaling is not difficult. It can be done in a notebook, in a letter, it could be done during a quiet meditation or reflection…or (in this case) it could be a post. Usually when I write these weekly exercises, they often double as […]
Hello there, For this week’s practical exercise, let us seek some inspiration from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations V 8: “And so accept everything that happens, even if it seems disagreeable, because it leads to this, to the health of the universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus (the universe). For he would not have brought on any man what […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I will let the words of Marcus set the stage. This is from his Meditations IV 47: ” If any god told you that you will die tomorrow, or certainly on the day after tomorrow, you would not care much whether it was on the third day on the morrow, unless you were in […]
Hello there, Last week I went off a little hard on the text, so this week I will keep things nice and simple to atone for my ambition. Let us find some simple inspiration from the king of objectivity. This is form Epictetus’ Discourses I 6/ 6-8: “Who fitted the sword to the scabbard and the scabbard to the sword? […]
Hello there, Same as last week, I want to use some external knowledge to our school to help drive home some of our ancient ideas. Today, let us seek inspiration from one of my favourite political philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard: “Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.” I often do some one on one […]
Hello there, Wisdom is the domain of everyone. As such, wisdom is to be found everywhere, heard from (potentially) everyone. The only way we can learn all that it is we want to try and learn in this life time, we MUST look at other schools, doctrines, studies, etc. Our school has identified many truths, necessary for a tranquil and […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, let us find some inspiration from Seneca. This is from his work on Providence: “It is not possible that any evil can befall a good man. Opposites cannot combine.” I love this one. Simple, yet so much happening in this here quote. Today, however, I want to focus on the idea that we are […]
Hello there, Moderation is everything. We know this. Yet we all fail from time to time and overindulge. This week we can try and focus one common over indulgence with some words from Musonius Rufus. This is from his lectures 18a and 18b (Lutz translation): “But to sum up the question of food, I maintain that its purpose should be […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I will seek some inspiration from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations IV 16: “Within ten days you will seem a god to those to whom you are now a beast and an ape, if you will return to your principles and the worship of reason.” We all make mistakes. Daily. We all act out of character. […]