A virtuous and good person, keeping in mind who he is, and where he has come from, and by whom he was created, concentrates on one thing alone: how he may fill his post in a disciplined manner, remaining obedient to God. (Discourses 3.24.95) I grew up watching The Wizard of Oz every year when it was broadcast on live TV. I always loved the famous scene where Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow enter the scary forest. As a young child,...
Since this is the inaugural episode of Stoicism On Fire it would be natural for you the listener to wonder what this podcast is about. Obviously, it’s about Stoicism, but What is Stoicism on Fire? As the introduction states, this podcast is about Stoicism as a philosophical way of life, which includes a rational form of spirituality. That form of Stoicism has become known as traditional Stoicism in modern times. Ancient Stoicism: 300 BCE – 200 CE Many credible sources...
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...
The religious impulse of Stoicism is directed toward personal piety rather than public worship. Prayer and worship were certainly included in Stoic practice, and they had a single aim: to bring the thoughts and actions of the individual practitioner into coherence with universal Reason (logos) which pervades the cosmos. As the French philosopher Pierre Hadot argues, What defined a Stoic above all else was the choice of a life in which every thought, every desire, and every action would be...
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. ~ Robert Frost[1] I have always loved those lines from Frost’s famous poem. They highlight the importance of the choices we make in life as the road ahead of us inevitably diverges into...
Who, then, is a Stoic?… someone who has been fashioned in accordance with the judgements that he professes… someone who is ill and yet happy, in danger and yet happy, dying and yet happy, exiled and yet happy… one who is in the process of formation, one who is tending in that direction… a man who wants to be of one mind with God, and never find fault with God or man again, and to fail in none of his desires, to fall into...
The wise person is still not harmed by the storms of life— poverty, pain, and the rest. For not all his works are hindered but only those that pertain to others. He is himself, always, in his actions, and in the doing of them he is greatest when opposed by fortune. For it is then that he does the business of wisdom itself, which as we just said is his own good as well as that of others. (Letters 85.37)...
Note: An updated version of this post is now available as Episode 24 of the Stoicism On Fire podcast. People seek retreats for themselves in the countryside, by the seashore, in the hills; and you too have made it your habit to long for that above all else. But this is altogether unphilosophical, when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself whenever you please. (Meditations 4.3.1) The modern world is bursting with angst. News of an impending environmental...
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...
Our situation is like that at a festival. Sheep and cattle are driven to it to be sold, and most people come either to buy or to sell, while only a few come to look at the spectacle of the festival, to see how it is proceeding and why, and who is organizing it, and for what purpose. So also in this festival of the world. Some people are like sheep and cattle and are interested in nothing but their...
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