Stoic Meditations

Latest Episodes:

154. Don't buy a horse on the basis of its saddle Jul 13, 2018

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Seneca reminds us that all too often we judge people on the basis of what they wear, or of their social rank, mistakenly assuming that those are good indicators of their character.

153. “They are slaves,” nay, rather they are people Jul 12, 2018

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Seneca reminds his contemporaries that slaves are human beings like everyone else. In this episode, we talk about slavery in the ancient world, what the Stoics thought about it, and what follows from their philosophy.

152. Beware of the difference between friendship and flattery Jul 11, 2018

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Seneca warns us to be careful with people who pretend to be our friends, or simply feed our narcissism. Like, you know, most of the "friends" you likely have on social media...

151. Philosophy did not find Plato a nobleman, it made him one Jul 10, 2018

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Seneca reminds us that philosophy is open to all, no matter what our background and means. Engage the philosophical life and you will get to converse with noble minds across time and cultures.

150. What does your inner daimon say? Jul 09, 2018

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Seneca observes our tendency to boast of the good things we do and to keep quiet about the not-so-good ones. As if our own judgment, the judgment of our conscience, didn't matter.

149. How on earth did I get here? Jul 06, 2018

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Seneca says that Stoic mindfulness is about paying attention to what is happening to us. We need to keep charting and re-charting our way forward, as our mind needs to be prepared for the vagaries of Fortune.

148. Fortune has no jurisdiction over character Jul 05, 2018

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Seneca says that Fortune may take just as much, and as suddenly, as she can give. But we can work on improving our character so that we can accept with equanimity both the good and the bad stuff in life.

147. Observe the goodness of those around you Jul 04, 2018

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Marcus Aurelius suggests some simple therapy for our troubled souls: pause and observe some good things done by people around you. Appreciate what they are doing. And use it as an inspiration for becoming better yourself.

146. Whenever you yield to externals, you become their slave Jul 03, 2018

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Epictetus warns us that if we let an external take precedence over the integrity of our character we are doomed to become slaves for life. And who wants to be a slave, right?

145. Our predecessors are our guides, not our masters Jul 02, 2018

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Seneca reminds us that Stoicism is a live philosophy, which must evolve over time in order to incorporate new truths and, if needed, reject old ideas that turned out to be wrong.

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