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
Why did Marcus Aurelius spend those precious hours in his tent, writing by the lamplight, even on the nights and mornings he strained under the burdens of his war-time duties? It wasn’t for our benefit. No, he never expected Meditations would see an audience. He was writing for himself, to himself, as a way to practice the principles of the … Continued
“Most people don’t understand what Stoic is. They think that a Stoic wants to sort of be robust, no positive nor negative emotions, get rid of [their] attachment from the world…My definition is a Stoic Sage is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking. Someone who … Continued
Charlamagne Tha God is the host of the nationally revered radio show The Breakfast Club where provocative celebrity interviews help drive the daily national conversation about issues related to hip-hop, race, society, and politics. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It. And his second book, Shook … Continued
For decades, Robert Greene has been observing, studying, and writing about people and power. Through this research, he has produced a canon of bestselling books that explain why people do what they do, how these patterns affect and shape the world, and of course, how we can develop strategies to protect ourselves and thrive in … Continued
Robert Wright is an award-winning journalist and the bestselling author of Nonzero, The Moral Animal, and The Evolution of God, which was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has taught in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania and the religion department at Princeton University. Wright draws … Continued
Of all the problems facing humanity, which should we focus on solving first? How can we do the most good for the world? How can we make the best use of our time here, for others, but for ourselves too? Those are some of the questions that drives everything WIll MacAskill does. Will is the … Continued
This is a guest post by Ward Farnsworth. Ward is the dean of the University of Texas School of Law, as well as the author of a new book, The Practicing Stoic. After our well-received interview with Ward, we wanted him to clear up in more depth how Stoicism is often misunderstood. *** My new … Continued
There’s an inconsistency that sneaks into our relationship with time. There never seems to be enough of it in the day. We’ll get to it later, we say. Maybe we say yes to too many things, maybe there’s comfort in pushing things to later, or maybe we’re just unaware that our priorities are misplaced. The … Continued
That the works of the original Stoics survive still today is truly remarkable. That you can walk into a Barnes & Noble today, wander to the philosophy section, and grab a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Discourses by Epictetus, or Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, and that hundreds and thousands of people have … Continued