As doctors always keep their knives and instruments at hand to deal with urgent cases, so you too should keep your doctrines at the ready, to enable you to understand things divine and human, and so to perform every action, even the very smallest, as one who is mindful of the bond that unites the two realms; for you will never act well in any of your dealings with the human unless you refer it to the divine, and conversely...
Ancient Stoic theology was natural theology. It wasn’t based on any alleged revelations; it was based on reasoning from observations. It was intended to be consistent with science. But science has come along way in the last two thousand or so years. Stoic theology has not kept up, simply because it has not been pursued. Fortunately, since Stoic theology is based on nature, it can be updated. Stoic theology is not tied to some ancient revelation or holy book. And...
Isn’t it likely that in our case too, it can’t be sufficient merely to want to become a virtuous and good person, but that it is also necessary to acquire some kind of knowledge? (Discourses 2.14.10) Discourses 2.14 is addressed to a wealthy and powerful Roman named Naso, who apparently accompanied his son at one of Epictetus’ lectures. Epictetus opens this dialogue by suggesting that Naso may find his lecture ‘tiresome’ because he is presumably unacquainted with the process of...
The doctrine that the world is a living being, rational, animate and intelligent, is laid down by Chrysippus in the first book of his treatise On Providence, by Apollodorus in his Physics, and by Posidonius… And it is endowed with soul, as is clear from our several souls being each a fragment of it. (DL 7.142-3)[1] Some people think the idea of a conscious cosmos is an antiquated relic of the ancient Stoics that must be abandoned to modernize Stoicism....
What defined a Stoic above all else was the choice of a life in which every thought, every desire, and every action would be guided by no other law than that of universal Reason. ~ Pierre Hadot[1] The Stoics placed a rational, divine, and providential cosmos at the center of their philosophical system and relied on it as a guide for their every thought, desire, and action. For the Stoic, Nature is the measure of all things. As an expression...
If I know Providence, I know my good and can follow it; so, no complaint. If I know not my good, I do not in reality know Providence. So if I complain, I complain of a specter and not a Deity: I complain as an animal, not as a man.[1] Either providence or atoms. By repeated use of this simple disjunction, Marcus Aurelius condensed and contrasted the worldviews proposed by the Stoics and the Epicureans, and emphasized the importance of...
Musonius in situ Of all the Stoics whose teachings survive, it’s fair to say that Musonius Rufus is the least studied, and I would argue, the least appreciated. For the past year I have been mostly a student solely of Musonius. When Chris started his series on The Piety of the Stoics, I asked if he had one planned for Musonius, and he suggested I try my hand at it. This is the result of that. I’d like to start...
Everything suits me that suits your designs, O my universe. Nothing is too early or too late for me that is in your own good time. All is fruit for me that your seasons bring, O nature. All proceeds from you, all subsists in you, and to you all things return. (Meditations 4.23) The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was a deeply spiritual person and that fact comes across clearly in his Meditations. American philosopher and religious scholar Jacob Needleman suggests...
If I were a nightingale, I would perform the work of a nightingale, and if I were a swan, that of a swan. But as it is, I am a rational being, and I must sing the praise of God. This is my work, and I accomplish it, and I will never abandon my post for as long as it is granted to me to remain in it; and I invite all of you to join me in this same...
Seneca’s writing reveals a committed Stoic, a pious soul, and an inspirational moral philosopher. Nevertheless, some of his actions and financial dealings have generated doubt about his genuineness. The historical Seneca is a mixed bag if the record can be trusted. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that Seneca engaged in politics at the highest levels of the dominant world power of his time. Thus, he had powerful enemies, not the least of which was Emperor Nero. When...
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