The Stoics loved learning from their role models. Often they never met the people they admired. In many cases, they weren’t even alive at the same time. It was the founder of Stoicism, Zeno, who was given the advice that those after him would follow so closely: “To live the best life,” he was told,…
What is it that gets you started in the morning? What propels you from the warm familiarity of the bed into the cold uncertainty of the world every single day? I’m not talking about needing that first cup of coffee before you can fire up your faculties. I’m not talking about the motivation to get…
The following is a guest post kindly submitted by Enda Harte. You can find Enda online here: @theirishstoic on Instagram@theirishstoic on TwitterThe Irish Stoic on MediumEnda’s website Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.Epictetus We’re taking a journey back to Ancient Rome to borrow a…
The older I get, the less I seem to enjoy receiving material gifts. Maybe it’s a sign of that increasing age, maybe it’s a sign of becoming more Stoic, or maybe it’s just a tendency towards minimalism. It isn’t that I’m not grateful, but more that I prefer smaller, more meaningful gifts to costly clutter.…
What is the ideal life? What way should you live? Do you want to have a life you can describe as happy? Complete? Fulfilled? Do you follow on from what came before you or do you forge a new path? Start a family or not? Put down roots or travel endlessly? Focus on acquiring or…
Are you doing? If you aren’t doing, what are you? In the absence of an action, you might say you’re simply being. Well, not even that. Because you can't be without doing. Doing is Being. There's a poem by Ray Bradbury that takes that very title. Again: Doing is Being. “To not do is to…
Enda Harte is student of Stoicism who lives in Ireland and works in the music industry. Under the moniker The Irish Stoic, he writes on Medium and publishes engaging content on social media. It was great to be able to interview Enda recently. His well-informed answers, which you can find below, feature excellent advice and…
By Kai Whiting and Allan John When Zeno of Citium founded Stoicism he wasn’t particularly interested in what constituted the ideal Stoic individual but rather what made the ideal Stoic community. We know this because his magnum opus is his Republic – a utopian vision of how wise people (sages) live together in one city…
Home truths. Harsh truths. Strong medicine. Metaphorical invasive surgery. Different terms alluding to the same thing: the category of advice that will make you question your beliefs. The personal stuff that you weren’t quite ready to face. The interruption that doesn’t tap you on the shoulder to get your attention so much as whack you…
Massimo Pigliucci is Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York and a well-known student of Stoicism. He is also the author of several books, including How to Be a Stoic, A Handbook for New Stoics and The Stoic Guide to a Happy Life. It was great to be able to interview Massimo…