With the title “Roman Emperor,” you might think life would have been easy for Marcus Aurelius, but it wasn’t. Within the first year of his reign, one of Rome’s client states, Armenia, was seized by their common enemy, the Parthians. War ensued to reclaim Armenia as Aurelius faced other difficulties in the Empire, including chronic …
The ancients believed that character is fate. That what we are taught when we are young, the lessons we absorb into our DNA, in effect, determines what kind of people we are going to be. You believe that too. Or you wouldn’t be so worried about your kids. The reason you send them to the …
Stoicism serves well as a practical system of values for confronting modern-day dilemmas. And there is perhaps no more imposing set of problems facing society today than climate change and global warming. The question is, how can a philosophy founded thousands of years ago help us respond to the climate emergency? While we can’t say …
For as long as there have been people, there have been people doing stupid things because they were angry. Moses killing the Egyptian, Xerxes lashing the river, Alexander the Great brawling and killing his best friend, Caligula declaring war against the sea, Ivan the Terrible killing his own son. Me? When I think back on …
Anger Management: 8 Strategies Backed By Two Thousand Years of Practice Read More »
“Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.” — Dante, The Divine Comedy Imagine how much easier life would be if we could learn to regard everything bad that happens to us as an act of nature. To keep our cool in …
How To Be A Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci: Book Summary, Key Lessons and Best Quotes Read More »
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pascal The Buddhist word for it was upekkha. The Muslims spoke of aslama. The Hebrews, hishtavut. The second book of the Bhagavad Gita, the epic poem of the warrior Arjuna, speaks of samatvam, an “evenness of mind—a peace …
Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday: Book Summary, Key Lessons and Best Quotes Read More »
Introduction Many of us don’t consider philosophy a laughing matter. After all, we turn to philosophers to understand the world around us and determine how to find meaning in it. To many, philosophy is a matter of life and death. However, that doesn’t mean philosophers take their own lives so seriously. The death of Chrysippus …
Who Is Chrysippus? The ‘Second Founder of Stoicism’ Who Died Laughing Read More »
Summum Bonum was the expression from Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator. In Latin, it means “the highest good.” And what is the highest good? What is it that we are supposed to be aiming for in this life? To the Stoics, the answer is virtue. They said that everything we face in life was an opportunity …
The Highest Good: An Introduction To The 4 Stoic Virtues Read More »
This is a guest post by Donald Robertson. Donald is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, trainer, and writer. Robertson has been tirelessly researching Stoicism and applying it in his work for twenty years. He is also the author of the remarkable new book on Marcus Aurelius, How To Think Like a Roman Emperor *** How do we cope when …
How To Control Your Anger (Lessons from Marcus Aurelius) Read More »
