How to Be a Stoic: An Interview With Massimo Pigliucci
We first interviewed Professor Massimo Pigliucci back in 2015 after his popular piece in New York Times on Stoicism became one of the most shared and viewed articles on the site. And today, with the release of his new book on stoic philosophy we decided to again reach out and...
Doing The Right Thing Can Cost You Everything
In early 2014, an employee of the multi-billion dollar medical company Theranos began to worry that the company may be engaged in fraudulent activities. Despite being a relatively low-level employee in his early twenties, he decided to do something about it. So he wrote a letter to the company's CEO...
Focus On The Present Moment
The temptation exists for all of us to let our imagination run wild envisioning all the ways things can go wrong. Of course, such an exercise can be useful in preparing us for the future and making us ready for adversity, but Marcus Aurelius well understood that it can become...
A Clever Thought On Death
It’s scary to think that we will someday die. What of our family, we think? What of our possessions, our potential, and our plans? Death in this way, is a great loss. The poet Lucretius described it in haunting language: “Never again will your dear children race for the prize...
Our Choices Are The Only Thing That Matters
The Stoics are very clear that the stories we tell ourselves about why things are the way they are has an enormous impact on how we feel about them. If we decide that something is unfair, we’ll feel wronged. If we tell ourselves that we deserve something, we’ll be disappointed...
Judge Yourself, Not Other People
It’s easy to think that Stoicism is about judging other people. Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus talk critically about their fellow men quite a bit. In one passage, Marcus says, “Robbers, perverts, killers and tyrants—gather for your inspection their so-called pleasures!” This a good exercise but it can also lead...
Clarify Your Intentions
“Let all your efforts be directed to something, let it keep that end in view. It’s not activity that disturbs people, but false conceptions of things that drive them mad.” —Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 12.5 Law 29 of The 48 Laws of Power is: Plan All The Way To The...
Rise And Shine
“On those mornings you struggle with getting up, keep this thought in mind—I am awakening to the work of a human being. Why then am I annoyed that I am going to do what I’m made for, the very things for which I was put into this world? Or...
The Less You Want, The More You Have
There is a line in Seneca’s famous play, Thyestes. “It is a vast kingdom,” Thyestes says, “to be able to come without a kingdom.” It reminds me of a line in Steven Pressfield’s novel on Alexander the Great, Virtues of War, where the an old philosopher accosts the great conqueror. This...
If Everything Is Ephemeral, Then What Matters?
If everything is ephemeral, as the Stoics insist, then what does matter? The answer is simple: Right now matters. Being a good person and doing the right thing right now, that’s what matters and that’s what was important to the Stoics. Take Alexander the Great who conquered the known world...
