Stoic Meditations

Seneca is critical of the fact that many ships are required to convey the requisites for a single meal, bringing them from no single sea. Still today so many people indulge in pleasures that cost a lot and cause much environmental damage. Time to revise our priorities about where our food comes from? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Let's talk about the ancient Roman goddess Fortuna, or what the Greeks called Tyche, to whom Seneca often refers in his letters to Lucilius. Why does she play such an important role in Stoic philosophy? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca argues that we want joy in life, and we want it to last. And yet, we insist in seeking it in all the wrong places, from ephemeral pleasures to the fickle praise of others. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca claims that flattery is a subtle enemy of our work toward becoming better persons. Too readily we agree with those who tell us that we are good, sensible, holy even. What's a good attitude toward praise, then? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca reminds Lucilius that we can't relegate our quest for becoming better persons to intervals between indulgences. It's like going to the gym: you have to do it regularly and often, or you won't get the benefits. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca says that the wise person (and, by extension, the practitioner of Stoicism) will deal with poverty, sorrow, disgrace or pain, because she is alert and fortified, ready to treat adversity as a way to improve her character. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca tells Lucilius that old age is natural and to be welcomed. So long as it maintains our mind in working order. If that's not the case, then the Stoics prefer to exit through the open door, as virtue itself becomes impossible to practice. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca reminds us that we have some power to make our body last longer, by exercising temperance in our pleasures. Enjoy your next meal, just don't over do it. And remember, Stoics drink wine, but they don't get drunk. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that there is no difference between acting according to nature and according to reason. What did he mean? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

According to Epictetus philosophy gets started when we are genuinely interested in why people disagree about things. Not in terms of factual matters, which empirical evidence can settle, but about values and how we should think about the world and therefore act in it. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca tells Lucilius that he welcomes knowledge from all fields, not just philosophy. That's why he wrote books on natural questions, including on the nature of comets, earthquakes, thunderstorms, and the causes of the flooding of the Nile. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca tells Lucilius that we need rest and relaxation, but we can exercise virtue even in our choice of how we relax and entertain ourselves. Consider how you refresh your mind, the next time you pick a movie or organize a vacation! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca quotes the Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus to the effect that everything changes all the time, panta rhei. It follows that it is futile to get attached to things, including our own bodies. Enjoy what you have, but consider it a temporary loan from the cosmos. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Marcus Aurelius talks about being helpful to society. And yet he was an emperor who waged war and presided over slavery. How do we reconcile his actions with his Stoicism? At least in three ways, explored in this episode. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

A splendid example of Epictetus' sarcasm by way of a bit of dialogue with one of his students. In the course of which we learn about the virtue of practical wisdom, the discipline of desire, and the dichotomy of control. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca nicely explains what a proto-emotion is, and we discuss how proto-emotions can then develop into fully formed healthy or unhealthy emotions. It all comes down to what cognitive judgment we apply to our initial response. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca reminds us that real tranquillity comes from a relaxed mind with a clear conscience. Which is why Stoics engage in an evening meditation on the major events of the day, learning from their mistakes, and filing them away before going to sleep. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca challenges the common assumption that someone is self-sufficient if he has enough money, a nice place to live, and so forth. True self-sufficiency requires serenity, which comes from inner strength, not from externals. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca agrees with Epicurus: death is a state of non-existence, therefore we do not feel anything, and there is nothing to be afraid of. Moreover, it is no different from the aeons before we were born, and we don't regret those, do we? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca tells us that philosophy, understood as a way of life, cannot be relegated to spare moments. Just like someone can't be a Christian only on Sunday mornings, so a Stoic applies her principles at every opportunity, big or small. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/support