For those of us who live our lives in the real world, there is one branch of philosophy created just for us: Stoicism. A brief synopsis and definition on this particular school of Hellenistic philosophy: Stoicism was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC, but was famously practiced by … Continued
We’ve written about the overlap between Seneca and Jesus—how both were born in the same year and how many of their teachings are similar in nature—and got great responses from the Daily Stoic Community. Our interviews with Professor Joey Dodson and Dr. Kevin Vost on the links between Christianity and Stoicism received wide attention as … Continued
Desire for influence is human nature. Many people allow this to dictate the course of their lives, often unaware. But the Stoic philosophers developed a deeper sense of awareness and took the opposite approach. Influence wasn’t their end goal. They approached it with indifference and chalked it up to fortune–nice to have but nonessential. Instead, … Continued
Think of all the people throughout history who were wrongly condemned and criticized by the mob. From the Civil Rights Activists to Galileo to ordinary people whose lifestyles were hypocritically condemned as perverted or a violation of God’s law. Think of Jesus himself, condemned and nailed to a cross for no good reason. In a … Continued
Look, a lot of people just are the way they are. They’ve been stubborn or lazy or obnoxious for so long that they don’t even understand there is a different way to be. And what should you do when you bump up against these folks and their stubbornness or laziness or obnoxiousness? Marcus Aurelius, a … Continued
The Daily Stoic Podcast launched August 17, 2018. Each weekday since, we’ve published an audio companion to our popular daily emails. As 2018 came to a close, downloads for all episodes closed in on one million. All episodes can be found listed here. The goal of the Daily Stoic Podcast is to provide ideas to make you stronger, more … Continued
In late December, Richard Overton passed away at the ripe old age of 112 and 230 days. When he was born, Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States, and the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery in America, was only a few decades old (for contrast, Richard was nearly 60 when the Civil Rights Act … Continued
From both Seneca and Marcus we see a fairly remarkable admonition: Stop reading. Throw away your books, Marcus says to himself. Seneca tells Lucilius to stop chasing new titles and gorging himself on new books. For philosophers, this seems like strange advice. Isn’t the whole point of the pursuit of wisdom to read as much … Continued
Just two and a half years ago, General Michael Flynn stood on the stage at the Republican National Convention and led some 20,000 people (and a good many more at home) in an impromptu chant of “Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up!” about his enemy Hillary Clinton. A few months later, he was swept into … Continued
On December 25th, people all over the world celebrate Christmas, a holiday which marks the birth of Jesus Christ, one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. This was a man who lived two thousand years ago, taught timeless lessons about kindness, mercy, forgiveness, on doing one’s duty, on the dangers of money and the … Continued