Stoic Meditations

People think that externals are good, and then, after having won their wish, and suffered much, they find them evil, or empty, or less important than they had expected. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Fortune sometimes favors villains and turns against good people. That's why our happiness should depend on our own decisions, not the vagaries of chance. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

External goods like fine clothing, gourmet food, and nice houses ought to be regarded as the playthings of children, not the shackles of adults. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Nature has not given us such a generous and free-handed space of time that we can have the leisure to waste any of it. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

The Stoic concept of preferred and dispreferred indifferents always gets people confused or, the other common human response to lack of understanding, scoffing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

We are in love with our vices; we uphold them and prefer to make excuses for them rather than shake them off. The reason is unwillingness, the excuse, inability. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Do you find yourself in the thralls of fear, jealousy, or anger? Do you act inconsistently in life? Then you ain't wise yet. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

One of the major differences between Stoics and Aristotelians has always been the treatment of disruptive emotions, such as anger and fear. They are helpful, in small measure, for Aristotle, but definitely to avoid for the Stoics. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

We have become alternately merchants and merchandise, and we ask, not what a thing truly is, but what it costs. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

From the point of view of someone who has managed to overcome his attachment for externals, people going after riches and luxuries look like fools. Are you one of them? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca reminds us that in the time of Nero - just like today - famous, rich and powerful people are hiding much evil under a thin coating of titles. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca, who knew a thing or two about wealth, warns us about pursuing it. A mind that revels in luxury, he says, is a mind that has lost its balance. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca reminds us that striving to be a better person is an end in itself, not to be pursued in order to boast to others of our accomplishments. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca reminds us that Alexander the Great conquered everything, except his own destructive emotions, which led to endless grief for him and his friends. Beware, therefore, of reacting in anger to your problems. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Doesn't it take time to practice Stoicism? We are all so busy! Here is Marcus Aurelius' response to that question. A response that applies also if you are a Christian, or a Buddhist, among other things. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Epictetus argues that things are useless or useful not in themselves, but as a result of what we do with them. As usual in Stoicism, the answer comes from within, from our own attitudes toward things. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca explains that courage has little to do with rushing into battle to face an enemy. It's about how we handle the good and the bad that Fortuna throws our way. Also, wanna play ball with Socrates? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Human beings have an unparalleled ability to communicate with each other. And yet, Seneca suggests, much of the time we talk about things that are neither improving ourselves, nor making the world a better place. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Philosophers can be clever. Too clever for their own sake, suggests Seneca. Indeed, one measure of wisdom is precisely the ability to tell the difference between cleverness and usefulness. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Epictetus bluntly tells us that if we have not been affected by philosophy and have not changed our mind about something important as a result of it, we are simply playing a game. So, has philosophy changed your mind yet? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support