Stoic Meditations

Latest Episodes:

504. How to keep a philosophical journal Dec 09, 2019

Show notes

Seneca gives us a rationale and detailed instructions on how too keep a philosophical journal. And modern cognitive science confirms that it works in order to improve self-analysis and let go of negative emotions.

503. The problem is money Dec 06, 2019

Show notes

Money is what wearies out the law-courts, sows strife between father and son, concocts poisons, and gives swords to murderers just as to soldiers: it is stained with our blood.

502. Examine your balance sheet of giving and receiving Dec 05, 2019

Show notes

Do you ask, what is your greatest fault? It is, that you keep your accounts wrongly: you set a high value upon what you give, and a low one upon what you receive.

501. Envy is the root of much unhappiness Dec 04, 2019

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A person will never be well off to whom it is a torture to see any one better off than themselves. Have I less than I hoped for? Well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought.

500. Treat fools like fools, don't get angry with them Dec 03, 2019

Show notes

It makes no sense to get angry with children or non-human animals, because they can't reason. So why get angry with an adult who has temporarily lost the use of reason?

499. The futility of revenge Dec 02, 2019

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Revenge takes up much time, and throws itself in the way of many injuries while it is smarting under one. We all retain our anger longer than we feel our hurt.

498. Understand and forgive Nov 29, 2019

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Let us be more gentle one to another: we are bad people, living among bad people. There is only one thing which can afford us peace, and that is to agree to forgive one another.

497. I have entrusted the guidance of my life to reason Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

Say to fortune: Do what you will, you are too feeble to disturb my serenity: this is forbidden by reason, to whom I have entrusted the guidance of my life: to become angry would do me more harm than your violence can do me.

496. On magnanimity Nov 26, 2019

Show notes

Seneca runs us through a long list of reasons why people do us wrong. And then concludes that we should be magnanimous, not vengeful, toward them, in part because they are human beings like us, and like us they make mistakes.

495. Act the opposite of anger Nov 25, 2019

Show notes

Let us replace all of anger’s symptoms by their opposites; let us make our countenance more composed than usual, our voice milder, our step slower. Our inward thoughts gradually become influenced by our outward demeanor.

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