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Podcasts Stoicism

Podcast: Death, Love, Stoicism

This is a new audio recording of an article I published on Medium about the Stoic contemplation of death. The photo shows me outside the ruined Temple of Hades at the ancient site of Eleusis near Athens.

This is a new audio recording of an article I published on Medium about the Stoic contemplation of death. The photo shows me outside the ruined Temple of Hades at the ancient site of Eleusis near Athens. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
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Stoicism

A Simple Guide to Stoic Anger-Management

What Marcus Aurelius Says in a Nutshell

I recently shared An Illustrated Guide to Stoic Anger Management on Medium, which describes in detail the ten cognitive strategies listed by Marcus Aurelius in the Meditations. The article includes original artwork illustrating each strategy from our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

In this post, though, I’m going to provide a more concise outline of these anger-management strategies, which Marcus calls ten “gifts” from Apollo, the Greek god of healing, and patron of philosophy. I’ll summarize each one in plain English, in a more simplified form, but you can always read the original article if you want more.

Ten Gifts from Apollo

1. Remember that humans are social creatures

This is possibly the strategy Marcus employs most often, reminding himself to focus on our natural capacity for forming families and communities. Greek philosophers had long argued, like modern evolutionary theorists, that our ancestors survived primarily by working together, and eventually building cities for protection. Marcus tells himself that because we’re naturally designed for cooperation, we have a duty to fulfil our potential by forming alliances rather than creating enemies.

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2. Consider their character as a whole

When we’re angry with someone we tend to focus selectively on the most annoying aspects of their behaviour. Marcus, however, had studied law and served for many years as a magistrate. He tells himself that in order to understand others we have to consider their whole character. Doing so often moderates our feelings of anger, by placing their behaviour in a wider context.

3. No man does evil willingly

This was a famous paradox of Socrates. Marcus tells himself that everyone naturally wants to grasp the truth, rather than fall into error. Likewise, we naturally want to do what’s rational, and in our interests. The Stoics argue that doing evil is against our true interests, which means that wrongdoing only occurs because of errors of judgment, about right and wrong. Of course, people commit crimes knowing that others consider them to be morally wrong but they don’t typically agree with that judgment — they believe what they’re doing is right and in their own self-interest. Marcus views this as an ethical mistake on their part rather than an act of genuine malice.

4. Realize that we all have similar flaws

Modern psychotherapists have often argued that anger is a form of “projection”, meaning that we get angry with other people for having flaws that we possess ourselves. Realizing that, though, can often moderate our feelings of anger, and it shifts the focus of attention on to the improvements we could make in our own character. Marcus tells himself to pause when becoming angry so as to ask himself whether he’s guilty, actually or potentially, of similar moral wrongdoing.

5. Keep an open mind about their motives

As a magistrate, Marcus knew that it’s often difficult to look into people’s hearts and ascertain their motives. People often do the right things for the wrong reasons, and vice versa. Some people are not even clear about their own motives, and may find them hard to articulate. When we become angry, though, we tend to jump to conclusions about what other people are thinking. Marcus tries to prevent himself from rushing to judgment, by pausing to consider whether he really understands why others have acted as they did.

6. Remember that you both must die

Reminding ourselves of the transience of material things in general, and even of our own lives, is a common Stoic strategy. When growing angry, Marcus also reminds himself that the other person will be dead before long, and shortly thereafter forgotten forever. The reason for the argument will likewise soon be lost in the mists of time. Focusing on the transience of these things can make getting very angry feel pointless.

7. It is your own opinions that anger you

This saying, derived from Epictetus, is the most famous Stoic psychological strategy of all, and the inspiration for modern cognitive psychotherapy: “It’s not things that upset us but rather our opinions about them.” Here Marcus specifically applies it to anger. We tend to say “He is making me angry” but Epictetus wants us to say “My opinions about him are making me angry”, because other individuals confronted by the same sort of behaviour might feel and respond very differently.

8. Anger hurts you more than the thing you’re angry about

Although less well-known today, this also seems to have been a common strategy in ancient Stoicism. For Stoics, all of our irrational “passions” (the pathological desires and emotions) do us more harm than the things they’re supposedly about. Fear does us more harm than the things of which we’re afraid, they say, and anger does us more harm than the people do with whom we’re angry. Focusing on the harmful consequences of anger, particularly the damage it does to our moral character, can help motivate us to change our response.

9. Kindness is the antidote to anger

This resembles a simple concept from modern behaviour therapy called the principle of reciprocal inhibition. Emotions that are genuine opposites, and mutually exclusive, can potentially be used to replace one another. You can remove anger, in other words, by focusing on cultivating its opposite. For Stoics, anger is typically the desire for revenge, i.e., the desire for others to be harmed or punished, because of some perceived injustice they’ve committed. In that regard, its opposite would be the desire to help others, which the Stoics call kindness. By making a conscious effort to respond with genuine kindness to others, instead of anger, we can create new habits, and eventually change our own character in a positive direction.

10. Realize the folly of expecting everyone to be wise

Marcus concludes with what he says is the most important strategy of all for coping with anger. The Stoics noticed that, paradoxically, when people are upset they usually talk as if they were shocked by events which are actually quite normal. “I can’t believe that traveling merchant lied to me about these magic beans!” We all know that people lie and steal every day, and seemingly foolish, vicious, behaviour, is very common. Reacting with surprise is quite irrational. A wise person cultivates a more philosophical attitude toward human behaviour, accepting in advance that people aren’t perfect, and that they often do things that seem unjust. Stoic philosophers try to view the wrongdoing of others calmly and dispassionately, as a natural phenomenon, like the behaviour of nonhuman animals. There’s a story that once when angry man attacked Socrates in the street, kicking him, an onlooker said the philosopher should sue him for assault. However, Socrates thought doing so would be ridiculous. He felt no more offended, he said, than if a donkey had kicked him.


Of course, you don’t need to master all ten of these strategies. You only need to find one of them that works for you in order to overcome feelings of anger. Most people, though, will find that they can relate to several, perhaps even most, of the Stoic strategies described by Marcus. If you want more vivid examples of how Marcus struggled with his own anger, until he learned to master it through Stoicism, please take a look at our graphic novel about his life, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, which was chosen by Amazon editors as an Editor’s Pick for Best History Book, and has just reached 150 reviews on Amazon US.

Regards,

Donald Robertson

Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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Podcasts Stoicism

New Podcast on Stoicism

I’m experimenting with Substack and have started a new podcast. The first episode, an audio recording of my recent Medium article, How to Actually Practice Stoicism, has already proven very popular.

In this episode, I speak with Anthony Magnabosco a founder and the current Executive Director of the nonprofit Street Epistemology International, an educational organization that is committed to addressing dysfunction in public and private discourse by encouraging rationality through civil conversation. Anthony has been involved with Street Epistemology since 2013, and has given dozens of talks and workshops at conferences and events domestically and internationally. Many of his conversations have been uploaded to YouTube and demonstrate how Street Epistemology can be applied to a variety of claims including ones that are spiritual, political, or societal.Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Highlights* What is Street Epistemology?* What have you learned from your experience of using Street Epistemology?* How do you think it relates to the original Socratic Method?  * How might it relate to psychotherapy?  * Do you think Street Epistemology has any therapeutic potential?* What do you think of variations of Street Epistemology like Hidden Claim or the Spectrum SE we see Peter Boghossian doing?* What do you think the future holds for the method? Links* Street Epistemology website* Anthony Magnabosco YouTubeThank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
  1. Street Epistemology and the Socratic Method
  2. The Plague of Marcus Aurelius
  3. Overview of "Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor"
  4. Did Marcus Aurelius say Kindness is More Manly Than Anger?
  5. Areté: Philosophy and Coaching

Categories
Stoicism

Three Sources of Happiness in Stoicism

What Marcus Aurelius said about healthy emotions in Stoic philosophy

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new Substack newsletter. I just wrote a short article on the Stoicism Subreddit about the three forms of healthy emotion that Marcus Aurelius said should be cultivated. I’ve also written a longer and more detailed Medium article about this topic. I think it’s very important for an understanding of how Stoicism can be incorporated into modern self-help.

Live your whole life through free from all constraint and with utmost joy in your heart… — Meditations, 7.68

I want to write something a little more informal here, from a personal perspective, about how I understand the role of healthy emotions in Stoicism.

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1. Happiness with Yourself

Marcus seems to be clear that the most important source of happiness and contentment for Stoics is the contemplation of their own moral progress and he refers to this often. It stands to reason that possessing what you believe to be the highest good in life would be the greatest source of joy — for Stoics that means our own progress toward virtue. Christian authors later criticized the Stoics for excessive pride as they viewed our fulfilment or salvation as a direct result of our own actions, our freewill, rather than something requiring the grace of God. However, I think many modern readers might agree more with the Stoics.

2. Happiness with Mankind

The virtue of others is not under our direct control but, nevertheless, we should wish for them to achieve fulfilment, “Fate permitting”. This caveat is called the Stoic “reserve clause”. It means we wish for something while simultaneously accepting that it is not up to us. Book One of the Meditations shows Marcus repeatedly contemplating the virtues of his closest family members and favourite tutors.

Marcus actually explains one of his reasons for doing this later in the same text:

When you wish to delight yourself, think of the virtues of those who live with you. For instance, the activity of one, and the modesty of another, and the liberality of a third, and some other good quality of a fourth. For nothing delights so much as the examples of the virtues, when they are exhibited in the morals of those who live with us and present themselves in abundance, as far as is possible. Hence we must keep them before us. — Meditations, 7.28

The Stoics believed that one of the best ways to acquire virtue is through the contemplation of those we admire, or having genuine role models. When the wise glimpse the highest good in others, they naturally experience a very profound sense of happiness. It is as though they are contemplating the mirror image of the potential for wisdom and virtue they have within themselves.

3. Happiness with God or Nature

For the Stoics, the key to happiness with the universe as a whole is acceptance of our own external fate, or amor fati. Marcus also emphasizes that by contemplating the transience or absence of certain things, presumably preferred externals such as health, we can cultivate a healthy emotion of gratitude.

Do not think of things that are absent as though they were already at hand, but pick out the [the best] from those that you presently have, and with these before you, reflect on how greatly you would have wished for them if they were not already here. At the same time, however, take good care that you do not fall into the habit of overvaluing them because you are so pleased to have them, so that you would be upset if you no longer had them at some future time. — Meditations, 7.27

Throughout the Meditations, Marcus reminds himself of the transience of material things, and of his own existence. This allows him to experience joy or gratitude toward existence. The Stoics, incidentally, considered appropriate gratitude to be a virtue, classed under the heading of justice.


I think it helps humanize Stoicism when we realize that healthy emotions played an important role in their system of psychology. The Greek philosophy of Stoicism (capitalized) should not be confused with the unemotional coping style we call stoicism (lowercase) today.

The three categories of healthy emotion above correspond with a threefold structure that is found throughout the Meditations. For instance, Marcus lists all three together in this passage:

Different people find their joy in different things; and it is my joy to keep [i] my ruling centre unimpaired, and [ii] not turn my back on any human being or [iii] on anything that befalls the human race, but to look on all things with a kindly eye, and welcome and make use of each according to its worth. —Meditations, 8.43

We should, in other words, train ourselves to welcome our fate, while exhibiting kindness toward others, and living wisely, in accord with virtue.


The conversation I had recently with Ryan Holiday about Stoicism has just been published on the Daily Stoic YouTube channel.


News. Our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, which is available in ebook and hardback formats, from all bookstores, has now been reviewed by nearly 140 readers on Amazon.

Regards,

Donald Robertson

Thanks for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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Interviews Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Videos

Video: Conversation with Ryan Holiday about Marcus Aurelius

My conversation with Ryan Holiday for the Daily Stoic podcast, talking about Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism, and Verissimus, the graphic novel.

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Stoicism

As someone else commented, I don't think the Stoics would see these as distinct.

As someone else commented, I don’t think the Stoics would see these as distinct. We live in accord with the Logos of the Universe primarily by living in accord with our own logos, or reason.

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Stoicism

Sure but can you say a bit more then about what sort of definition you're looking for?

Sure but can you say a bit more then about what sort of definition you’re looking for? Virtue is excellence of character. For Stoics that means acting consistently in accord with reason, and for practical purposes it’s divided into the cardinal virtues of wisdom, its most general form; justice or social virtue, which is wisdom applied to our relationships; and the two virtues of self mastery, temperance, or overcoming irrational desires; and courage/endurance, or overcoming irrational fears – these latter are required in order for us to live consistently in accord with wisdom and justice. That’s still quite a schematic definition, though. So are you looking for something else? If so, what sort of answer would satisfy you?

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Stoicism

How to Actually Practice Stoicism

Use these Three Simple Techniques in Daily Life

Use these Three Simple Techniques in Daily Life

Stoicism has experienced a surge in popularity over recent years, especially during the pandemic. It can provide people with a philosophy of life that holds the promise of greater emotional resilience. Today, the original Greek philosophy is known mainly through the works of three famous Stoics from the Roman imperial period: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. It’s also been popularized by modern authors such as Ryan Holiday and Massimo Pigliucci. I’m the author of several books that compare Stoic advice to techniques used in modern cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). So my focus is on how we can all benefit by applying Stoicism in the modern world.

Many people are unclear about how the philosophy is meant to be lived.

There is already a huge amount of Stoic self-help advice available on the Internet but I still find many people are unclear about how the philosophy is meant to be lived. It’s partly because Stoicism is quite a complex philosophy, with a lot of literature. That can make it confusing for people looking for a place to start applying it in daily life. So let’s keep things as simple and practical as possible in order answer the common question: How do I actually put Stoicism into practice in daily life?

1. The Dichotomy of Control

Epictetus was the most influential Roman Stoic teacher. He never wrote anything but his thoughts were transcribed in four volumes of Discourses by his disciple Arrian, who also published a short summary of his key teachings called the Enchiridion or Stoic Handbook. The Discourses open with a talk called On the things up to us and not up to us. The very first sentence of the Enchiridion emphasizes the same distinction:

Some things are up to us and other things are not. — Enchiridion, 1

In other words, we can see this was the starting point of Epictetus’ teachings on Stoicism. It’s also where we should begin if we want to apply Stoicism today. Epictetus didn’t use this term but people today like to call this the “Dichotomy of Control.”

It might seem like this is just a bland truism. Some things are obviously under our direct control and other things are not. That’s like saying some things are big and other things are small. However, human nature predisposes us to blur this distinction.

For example, as a cognitive therapist, I specialized in treating anxiety disorders. People who suffer from severe psychological problems typically struggle too hard, on the one hand, to control involuntary aspects of their emotion, such as trying to conceal or suppress their shaking hands, and other physiological symptoms of anxiety. They’d be better to accept these sensations and stop trying to fight against them. On the other hand, they tend to neglect aspects of their emotion that are actually voluntary, such as the amount of time they spend consciously ruminating and worrying about future events.

What, then, is to be done? To make the best of what is in our power, and take the rest as it naturally happens. — Discourses, 1.1

This basic Stoic teaching appears to have inspired The Serenity Prayer made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous and other forms of the 12 Step Program.

God, give me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The Courage to change the things I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Simply reminding ourselves of this basic distinction and drawing a clearer line between our actions and the events that befall us can help many people to cope better with stressful situations. You can do this simply by asking yourself: “What’s directly under my control in this situation and what isn’t?”

If you have more time, sit down and draw two columns on a piece of paper. Mark one “Not up to me” and the other “Up to me”. Complete the “Not up to me” column first, listing those aspects of a situation causing you stress that are not completely under your control. When you’ve listed the aspects that you worry most about, or that strike you as most important, complete the second column, “Up to me”, listing the aspects that are completely under your control.

It’s the distinction between what you do and what merely happens to you.

Epictetus makes it clear, in the remainder of the passage, that, in a nutshell, the only things truly “up to us” are our own actions. He means our voluntary actions, and he’s including the things we choose to say to others or to ourselves, our voluntary thoughts, under that heading. Our own voluntary thoughts and actions are “up to us” and everything else is, at least in part, “not up to us”. It’s the distinction between what you do and what merely happens to you. The Stoics practiced a form of “mindfulness” called prosoche in Greek, which consists in continually observing our own thoughts and actions. This means learning to pay more attention, not just in stressful situations, but throughout the rest of life. You can begin by observing, whenever possible, the distinction between what you are actively doing and what you are passively experiencing.

This is the most fundamental Stoic psychological strategy for developing emotional resilience. The next strategy is slightly more advanced, and provides the foundation of modern cognitive psychotherapy. The third strategy, though, takes us beyond self-help and psychotherapy, into the realm of ethics. As we’ll see, Stoicism is not just a therapy but a whole philosophy of life and set of moral values.

2. Cognitive Distancing

Ancient Stoic philosophy was the original philosophical inspiration for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), the leading form of modern evidence-based psychotherapy. Cognitive therapies are based on cognitive models of emotion, which hold that feelings such as anger, fear, and sadness, are actually based upon underlying beliefs. For instance, someone who is afraid will typically believe that something catastrophic is about to happen, and that they won’t be able to cope when it does. They might be mistaken about this in a number of ways, such as over-estimating the probability or severity of the threat, or under-estimating their ability to deal with it. Most people assume that their feelings are separate from their thoughts. However, countless research studies have shown that when people change the relevant beliefs their emotions tend to change as a result.

When the originators of CBT were looking for a way to explain this to clients, they remembered another famous quote from near the start of Epictetus’ Enchiridion.

It is not events that upset us but rather our opinions about them. — Enchiridion, 5

We can tell this doctrine was fundamental to the Stoicism of Epictetus because he frequently talked to his students about it. Marcus Aurelius, who was greatly influenced by Epictetus, also mentions the same idea many times, applying it in a variety of different ways.

As you’ve already seen, Epictetus says we should focus more on our own voluntary thoughts and actions. Building upon that, we are now asked to realize that our thoughts shape our emotions, more than we normally realize. So we should pay close attention, whenever possible, to the interaction between our thoughts, actions and feelings, especially the way that our underlying value judgments, or beliefs about what is important, affect our emotions.

What if you’ve been looking at the world through “catastrophic” lenses?

Aaron T. Beck, one of the pioneers of cognitive therapy, used the following analogy. Imagine that you have a pair of colored glasses, e.g., rose-tinted spectacles, or for our purposes, perhaps, gloomy dark-blue ones. Suppose you’ve been wearing them so long that you don’t even realize anymore and just assume the whole world looks gloomy and blue — as if that’s just the color things are in reality. One day, though, you take the glasses off and look at them instead of looking through them. You now realize that the lenses were blue, not the world. You’ve separated the blueness of the lenses from the external events you were looking at through them. What if you’ve been looking at the world through “catastrophic” lenses? Noticing this means separating or “distancing” your thoughts (or lenses) from the external events to which they refer.

Early cognitive therapists believed it was important for clients to realize how their thoughts and beliefs (“cognitions”) were influencing their feelings. That meant they could potentially view the same events in alternative ways, and experience different emotions. This separation of our thoughts from external events is called “cognitive distancing”. Cognitive distancing was initially thought of as a necessary precursor to cognitive disputation, the process of questioning our own beliefs, by examining the evidence for and against them, and so on.

However, the next generation of cognitive-behavioral therapists discovered that it could help people even if they did not go on to dispute their underlying beliefs. Gaining cognitive distance tends to dilute the intensity of our emotions and it also increases our cognitive flexibility, our ability to view things from different perspectives, which usually leads to better problem-solving and better coping in general. We don’t need to disprove our unhealthy beliefs, in other words, as long as we are able to loosen the grip they have over our minds.

The Stoics already knew this, though — over two thousand years ago! Simply bearing in mind Epictetus’ famous maxim that it’s not things that upset us but rather our opinions about them can be enough to help us create distance between our thoughts and the external events to which they refer. Marcus Aurelius also refers to the “separation” of thoughts and events in this way many times. Epictetus also mentions a related technique, similar to ones found in modern psychotherapy.

Straightway then practice saying to every troubling appearance, “You are just an impression [or thought], and not at all what you claim to represent.” — Enchiridion, 1

In other words, we should address our upsetting thoughts in the second person, as though we’re talking to them, and tell ourselves that they are just thoughts or impressions and not to be confused with external events. For instance, if you lose your job and feel as if something catastrophic has happened to you, you might say: “You are just the thought ‘Something catastrophic has happened!’ and not the event itself.” In modern therapy, we often ask clients to practice saying: “I notice right now that I’m having the thought ‘Something catastrophic has happened!’” Of course, you would substitute whatever thoughts are troubling you at the time.

This was a ongoing practice for ancient Stoics. Indeed, being always mindful of our thoughts in this way, and noticing how they influence our emotions, can help us to gain more cognitive flexibility. Particularly if you sometimes feel overwhelmed by your emotions, it’s a good idea to train yourself to identify the thoughts involved and to practice viewing them as if they were someone else’s thoughts, i.e., from a more objective point of view. Think of it as though you’re stepping away from your upsetting thoughts and viewing them from one side, rather than becoming so immersed in them, that you view reality through them.

3. The Goal of Life

As I mentioned earlier, Stoicism is more than just a psychological therapy — it’s also an ethical philosophy. In the ancient world, as today, though, many people were first attracted to the philosophy because it offered them a way of coping with stress and improving their emotional resilience. In a sense, we have to manage our desires and emotions first, before we can reason clearly about the goal of life.

The real core of Stoicism is its ethical teaching that “virtue is the only true good”.

The real core of Stoicism is its ethical teaching that “virtue is the only true good”. The goal of life, according to the Stoics, is for us to achieve our true potential, as rational beings, by living consistently in accord with wisdom and virtue. Marcus Aurelius, for instance, constantly reminds himself to avoid distractions and focus his attention on his real goal, the most important thing in life. For Stoics that’s arete, which is usually translated as “virtue”, but I prefer to describe it as moral wisdom.

The Stoics employed several philosophical arguments to support their doctrine that moral wisdom is the only true good. The most important, though, goes back to Socrates, their main forerunner. In Plato’s dialogue called Euthydemus, Socrates asks his interlocutor to define “good fortune”. (This is a much simplified account of the dialogue.) He is told that wealth, reputation, noble birth, health, good looks, and so on, are obviously what most people consider to constitute good fortune in life. Socrates proceeds, though, to argue that none of these things are inherently good or bad, but rather they’re indifferent or morally neutral.

He begins with the easy example of wealth. Sure, if you give a lot of money to someone wise and virtuous, that seems good, because it allows them to do more wise and virtuous things —having access to more money can give them more influence over their environment. However, what if you give a lot of money to someone foolish and vicious? Won’t it just allow them to do more foolish and vicious things as a result, and to cause more harm in the world? Wealth, in itself, is neither good nor bad, but what matters is the use we make of it, which may be either foolish or wise, vicious or virtuous. Money gives us certain practical advantages but that can allow bad people to do more evil, or good people to do more good. You could say that it is merely a means to an end, rather than something good in itself.

Socrates goes on to say that this applies to all of the external goods that his friend listed. All of them merely give us more power to influence the world, which is used well by the wise, but badly by the foolish. Socrates therefore concludes that the only truly good thing is the wisdom or knowledge that allows us to use external advantages well, and folly or ignorance in this regard is the greatest evil that afflicts mankind.

The Stoics likewise believed that most of our problems are caused by confusing these external advantages with our true goal in life. In modern psychotherapy, one of the leading evidence-based treatments for clinical depression (called “behavioral activation”) is based on a similar idea: that depressed people tend to place too much importance on the outcome of their actions, such as gaining wealth or reputation, and not enough on developing certain character traits they gain fulfilment from, such as being a good friend, or exhibiting courage, etc. When people focus more attention, and more effort on embodying their core values, they tend to become less depressed.

Marcus, for example, frequently asked himself before undertaking an action whether doing it was unnecessary in relation to the supreme goal of life, the goal of attaining moral wisdom.

For the greatest part of what we say and do being unnecessary, if a man takes this away, he will have more leisure and less uneasiness. Accordingly, on every occasion a man should ask himself, “Is this one of the unnecessary things?” Now a man should take away not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for thus superfluous acts will not follow after. — Meditations, 4.24

We’re constantly distracted, throughout life, by things that aren’t really important, and neglect the things we all believe, on reflection, to make life worthwhile. Nobody, lying on their deathbed, has ever said: “I wish I’d spent more time arguing with strangers on social media!” We need to consider very deeply what we want our lives to stand for and then make a conscious effort to keep dedicating our activity, each day, to that goal.

When you’re about to do something that you think might potentially be a distraction or waste of your time: stop and think. Ask yourself: “Will this contribute to my long term happiness and well-being?” Or will it perhaps even lead you in the opposite direction? Strictly speaking, a Stoic would probably ask “Does this action contribute to living in accord with Nature?”

Be content if you shall live the rest of your life in such ways as your nature wills. Observe then what it wills, and let nothing else distract you. For you have had experience of many wanderings without having found happiness anywhere — not in syllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in reputation, nor in pleasure, nor anywhere. Where is it then? In doing what man’s nature requires. — Meditations, 8.1

When the Stoics describe the goal of life as “living in accord with Nature”, that can seem a bit obscure to modern readers. What they mean is in accord with man’s higher nature, as a reasoning animal, i.e., living rationally. We’re told that for Stoics it was synonymous with living wisely and virtuously.

A related technique, described by Galen, Marcus Aurelius’ physician, involves beginning each day by imagining two paths ahead of you — as though you’re standing at a fork in the road. On the left would be your day ahead if you allow yourself to be guided by the unhealthy passions, such as fear and anger, which the Stoics opposed. On the right would be the same series of events if you were to exercise wisdom, fairness, kindness, self-discipline, endurance, or whatever character strengths or virtues reason tells you are worth admiring.

These three exercises are only a small part of ancient Stoicism. However, I think they provide a good basis for Stoic practice today. They’re relatively easy to learn and less confusing than trying to do everything at once. I think the ancient Stoics would recognize them as some of the foundation stones of their whole philosophy of life.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Stoics, though, and the other techniques that can be found in the ancient writings, my books How to Think Like a Roman Emperor and Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius provide many examples. Of course, you’ll also potentially gain a much deeper understanding of the ancient Stoic texts if you spend some time each day practicing these Stoic exercises.

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Events Philosophy Stoicism

Announcing Virtual Event: Ancient Philosophy for Modern Leadership

Stories of Character, Confidence and Success

Virtual conference from Plato’s Academy Centre

What does it mean to be a great leader? How can leadership help others to succeed? And how should we define success in the modern world? If you’re interested in these questions, this is the online event for you!

When you register you’ll have the option to donate an amount of your choosing (or even nothing).* All proceeds go toward the Plato’s Academy Centre nonprofit. Not available or in a different time zone? Don’t worry as recordings will be provided afterwards if you book your tickets now. Thanks for your support – it helps us to keep running these events in the future. (If you do not wish to make a donation, though, you can use the promo code NODONATION.)

What’s it all about?

We bring together a special program of world-class thinkers and renowned authors for an exclusive online event that you absolutely won’t want to miss.

Each speaker will share with you their knowledge and captivating insights into philosophy and leadership, including real life examples, practical advice, and effective strategies.

Speakers

Additional speakers and presentation titles to be confirmed shortly!

  • Keynote: Justin Stead, CEO of Radley, founder of the Aurelius Foundation (30 min.)
  • Donald Robertson, author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor and Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, president of Plato’s Academy Centre (20 min)
  • Kasey Pierce, editor of Verissimus and 365 Ways to be More Stoic
  • Vitaliy Katsenelson, author of Soul in the Game
  • Tom Morris, author of The Everyday Patriot and If Aristotle Ran General Motors
  • Diane Kalen-Sukra, author of Save Your City, and founder of civic leadership academy
  • Andrew McConnell, author of Get out of My Head
  • Ivan Biava, Senior Customer Director at Omie, founder of Estoicismo Prático
  • Tiišetšo Maloma, author of Ubuntu Stoicism
  • Artemios Miropoulos , author of The Nameless King:15 Stories of Leadership from Ancient Greece
  • Eugenia Manolidou, founder of Elliniki Agogi
  • Mick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East. Senior Fellow for National Security and Defense Policy with the Middle East Institute, an Analyst for ABC News, and the Lobo Institute’s Co-founder
  • Anya Leonard, founder of Classical Wisdom Weekly
  • Dr. Sean Lyon, Professor of Leadership and Management, Department of Management, University of Guelph

NB: Details may be subject to change without prior notification.

Who will be hosting?

Our hosts will be Donald Robertson, the president of the Plato’s Academy Centre, and Anya Leonard, the founder and director of the Classical Wisdom website.

About Plato’s Academy Centre

The Plato’s Academy Centre is a new nonprofit, based in Greece, run by a multidisciplinary team of volunteers from around the world. Our mission is to make ancient Greek philosophy more accessible to a wider international audience and to celebrate the legacy of Plato’s Academy in Athens. Everyone is welcome to join us.

FAQ

  1. Will recordings be available? Yes, everyone who orders a ticket in advance will automatically have access after the event to recordings of all presentations. So don’t worry if you’re unavailable at these times or located in another time zone.
  2. Will it be too academic for me? While many of our speakers are notable academics, the sessions are aimed at a nonacademic audience.
  3. How much does it cost? We’re making it free to register, so it’s available to the widest possible audience, but you’ll have the opportunity to make a donation, amount of your choosing. As a rough guide, tickets for a physical conference like this might normally cost €150. Your generosity helps support our nonprofit’s work and allows us to reach more people through future events. *If you do not wish to donate anything whatsoever, you may contact us directly to apply for a free ticket or simply enter the promo code NODONATION when booking.
  4. Where can I get updates? Follow our Facebook Event page and our Twitter account for updates on this event.

Thanks

We’re grateful to our board of advisors, Orange Grove incubator, Classical Wisdom, and the Aurelius Foundation, for their support in bringing you this event. Special thanks to Phil Yanov, Gabriel Fleming, and Kasey Robertson for their help organizing the event.

Categories
Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus

Verissimus: Top-Rated on Amazon

We’re delighted to announce that our new graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius is currently among Amazon’s top-rated books in the Ancient Roman History category, with an average rating of 4.8 stars from nearly 100 reviewers.

On its release, Verissimus was chosen as an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best History Book.

See our publisher, MacMillan’s website for more information and links to other booksellers. Verissimus is available in both hardback and ebook format from all good bookstores.

Verissimus Cover