After hearing author Ryan Holiday on a podcast, I was intrigued with his knowledge of Stoicism and just how the philosophy aligned with my core values. After purchasing The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living and Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius I decided to document my journey. Here I will share my anecdote while learning and reflecting on Stoicism and how I plan to apply it to my life.
“How does your ruling reason manage itself? For in that is the key to everything. Whatever else remains, be it in the power of your choice or not, is but a corpse and smoke.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 12.33
“…freedom isn't secured by filling up on your heart's desire but by removing your desire.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 4.1.175
“Eat like a human being, drink like a human being, dress up, marry, have children, get politically active — suffer abuse, bear with a headstrong brother, father, son, neighbor, or companion. Show us these things so we can see that you truly have learned from the philosophers.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.21.5-6
“The diseases of the rational soul are long-standing and hardened vices, such as greed and ambition — they have put the soul in a straitjacket and have begun to be permanent evils inside it. To put it briefly, this sickness is an unrelenting distortion of judgment, so things that are only mildly desirable are vigorously sought after.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 75.11
“What is it then to be properly educated? It is learning to apply our natural preconceptions to the right things according to Nature, and beyond that to separate the things that lie within our power from those that don't.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 1.22.9-10a
“People seek retreats for themselves in the country, by the sea, or in the mountains. You are very much in the habit of yearning for those same things. But this is entirely the trait of a base person, when you can, at any moment, find such a retreat in yourself. For nowhere can you find a more peaceful and less busy retreat than in your own soul — especially if on close inspection it is filled with ease, which I say is nothing more than being well-ordered. Treat yourself often to this retreat and be renewed.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.3.1