Stoicism On Fire

Stoicism On Fire episodes:

• 04.03.2023

  Beyond the Individual: An Interview with Will Johncock – Episode 64

  An interview with Will Johncock, author of Beyond the Individual: Stoic Philosophy on Community and Connection.

  
• 10.05.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 21 – Episode 63

  Set before your eyes every day death and exile and everything else that looks terrible, especially death. Then you will never have any mean thought or be too keen on anything. (Ench 21) That’s an interesting list: death, exile, and everything...

  
• 04.20.2022

  A Conscious Cosmos – Episode 62

  The doctrine that the world is a living being, rational, animate and intelligent, is laid down by Chrysippus in the first book of his treatise On Providence, by Apollodorus in his Physics, and by Posidonius… And it is endowed with...

  
• 03.30.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 20 – Episode 61

  Keep in mind that what injures you is not people who are rude or aggressive but your opinion that they are injuring you. So whenever someone provokes you, be aware that the provocation really comes from your own judgment. Start,...

  
• 03.23.2022

  Remembering Dirk Mahling – Episode 60

  Let your every action, word, and thought be those of one who could depart from life at any moment. (Meditations 2.11) I cannot find a more fitting passage to describe the last few months of Dirk Mahling's life. Dirk departed from this...

  
• 03.09.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 19 – Episode 59

  You can always win if you only enter competitions where winning is up to you. When you see someone honored ahead of you or holding great power or being highly esteemed in another way, be careful never to be carried...

  
• 03.02.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 18 – Episode 58

  Whenever a raven croaks ominously, don’t let the impression carry you away, but straightaway discriminate within yourself, and say: “None of this is a warning to me; it only concerns my feeble body or my tiny estate or my paltry...

  
• 02.23.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 17 – Episode 57

  Keep in mind that you are an actor in a play that is just the way the producer wants it to be. It is short, if that is his wish, or long, if he wants it long. If he wants...

  
• 02.16.2022

  Modern Stoic Fallacy #1 – Episode 56

  The Missing Evidence is Evidence I recently decided to start covering Modern Stoic Fallacies periodically. I have been combatting some of these fallacies for years on Facebook, in my blog, and on my podcast. However, I typically only mention them briefly...

  
• 02.09.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 16 – Episode 55

  Whenever you see someone grieving at the departure of their child or the loss of their property, take care not to be carried away by the impression that they are in dire external straits, but at once have the following...

  
• 01.26.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 15 – Episode 54

  Keep in mind that you should always behave as you would do at a banquet. Something comes around to you; stretch out your hand and politely take a portion. It passes on; don’t try to stop it. It has not...

  
• 01.12.2022

  Exploring Encheiridion 14 – Episode 53

  If you want your children and your wife and friends to survive no matter what, you are silly; for you are wanting things to be up to you that are not up to you, and things to be your own...

  
• 01.05.2022

  Exploring Enchiridion 13 – Episode 52

  If you want to make progress, don’t mind appearing foolish and silly where outward things are concerned, and don’t wish to appear an expert. Even if some people think you are somebody, distrust yourself. It is not easy, you can...

  
• 12.29.2021

  Breakfast with Seneca: An Interview with David Fideler – Episode 51

  This interview of David Fideler covers his 2021 book titled, Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living. His book provides a detailed look at the life of Seneca as a Stoic prokopton. David's book is intended for...

  
• 12.22.2021

  Being Better: An Interview with Kai Whiting and Leonidas Konstantakos – Episode 50

  This interview of Kai Whiting and Leonidas Konstantakos covers their 2021 book titled, Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In. Their book provides a short (136 pages, excluding notes) yet highly informative introduction to Stoicism as a way of...

  
• 12.15.2021

  The Festival of Life – Episode 49

  Our situation is like that at a festival. Sheep and cattle are driven to it to be sold, and most people come either to buy or to sell, while only a few come to look at the spectacle of the...

  
• 12.08.2021

  The Winds of Fortuna – Episode 48

  The wise person is still not harmed by the storms of life—poverty, pain, and the rest. For not all his works are hindered but only those that pertain to others. He is himself, always, in his actions, and in the...

  
• 12.01.2021

  The Religious Sentiment of Marcus Aurelius – Episode 47

  Everything suits me that suits your designs, O my universe. Nothing is too early or too late for me that is in your own good time. All is fruit for me that your seasons bring, O nature. All proceeds from...

  
• 11.24.2021

  The Religious Sentiment of Seneca – Episode 46

  Seneca’s writings reveal a committed Stoic, a pious soul, and an inspirational moral philosopher. Nevertheless, some of his actions and financial dealings have generated doubt about his genuineness. Seneca is a mixed bag if the historical record can be trusted....

  
• 11.17.2021

  The Religious Sentiment of Epictetus – Episode 45

  If I were a nightingale, I would perform the work of a nightingale, and if I were a swan, that of a swan. But as it is, I am a rational being, and I must sing the praise of God....

  
• 11.03.2021

  Universal Reason – Episode 44

  What defined a Stoic above all else was the choice of a life in which every thought, every desire, and every action would be guided by no other law than that of universal Reason. ~ Pierre Hadot[i] The Stoics placed a...

  
• 10.27.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 12 – Episode 43

  If you want to make progress, dismiss this kind of reasoning: “If I neglect my business, I will have nothing to live on,” or “If I don’t punish my slave, he will be no good.” It is better to starve...

  
• 10.20.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 11 – Episode 42

  Never say about anything, “I have lost it”; but say, “I have returned it.” Has your little child died? “It has been returned.” Has your wife died? “She has been returned.” “I have been robbed of my land.” No, that...

  
• 10.13.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 10 – Episode 41

  In all circumstances keep in mind to turn in to yourself and ask what resources you have for dealing with these things. If you see a good-looking man or woman, you will find self-control the appropriate power; if pain afflicts...

  
• 10.06.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 9 – Episode 40

  Sickness is an impediment to the body, but not to the will unless the will wants to be impeded. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. If you tell yourself this at every occurrence, you...

  
• 09.29.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 8 – Episode 39

  Don’t ask for things to happen as you would like them to, but wish them to happen as they actually do, and you will be all right. (Ench 8) This passage, and several other similar passages within the Stoic texts, present...

  
• 09.22.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 7 – Episode 38

  When you are on a voyage and the boat is at anchor, if you disembark to get water, you may pick up a little shellfish and vegetable on the way, but you need to keep your mind fixed on the...

  
• 09.15.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 6 – Episode 37

  Don’t preen yourself on any distinction that is not your own. If the preening horse should say “I am beautiful,” it would be acceptable. But when you are preening and say, “I have a beautiful horse,” admit that you are...

  
• 09.08.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 5 (part II) – Episode 36

  Uneducated people blame others when they are doing badly. Those whose education is underway blame themselves. But a fully educated person blames no one, neither himself nor anyone else. (Ench 5) In Episode 35, I covered the first part of Encheiridion...

  
• 09.01.2021

  Exploring Encheiridion 5 (part I) – Episode 35

  It is not things themselves that trouble people, but their opinions about things. Death, for instance, is nothing terrible (otherwise, it would have appeared that way to Socrates as well), but the terrible thing is the opinion that death is...

  
• 01.07.2019

  Exploring Encheiridion 4 – Episode 34

  Whenever you are about to start on some activity, remind yourself what the activity is like. If you go out to bathe, picture what happens at a bathhouse—the people there who splash you or jostle you or talk rudely or...

  
• 12.08.2018

  Exploring Encheiridion 3 – Episode 33

  This famous passage from Encheiridion 3 highlights the fact that this handbook is intended for practitioners who are already familiar with Stoic theory and practice. I say that because passages like this one, read in isolation, without an adequate understanding of...

  
• 11.18.2018

  Exploring Encheiridion 2 – Episode 32

  Encheiridion 1 focuses on what is up to us and contrasts the tranquil psychological state of those who focus their attention and impulse only on those things and events within their control with the troubled mind of those who attempt to control...

  
• 10.29.2018

  Exploring Encheiridion 1 – Episode 31

  The Path to Freedom vs the Path to Slavery As I noted in the last episode, the focus of this podcast series exploring the Encheiridion will be Epictetus’ concept of freedom, which is not the same as the commonly held concept...

  
• 10.22.2018

  Exploring Encheiridion (Introduction) – Episode 30

  This episode of Stoicism On Fire kicks off an exploration of the powerful, poignant, and perennially inspiring Encheiridion of Epictetus. The fifty-three chapters of this Stoic handbook will provide the primary content and plan for this exploration of Stoic theory and practice....

  
• 10.08.2018

  Characteristics of Good and Bad People (Part 3) – Episode 29

  In the last episode of Stoicism On Fire, I focused on the Stoic doctrine of an excellent human life and the fact that such a life requires agreement with both human nature and cosmic Nature. The corollary of that doctrine...

  
• 09.30.2018

  Characteristics of Good and Bad People (Part 2) – Episode 28

  The last episode closed with a thought-provoking passage from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius that places our human reason into the proper Stoic perspective. It reads: to have the intellect as a guide towards what appear to be duties is something that...

  
• 09.17.2018

  Characteristics of Good and Bad People (Part 1) – Episode 27

  In Meditations 3.16, Marcus Aurelius notes three different capacities of the human psyche and the corresponding character traits of bad people who are controlled or guided by them. He writes: To receive impressions by means of images is something that we share...

  
• 09.02.2018

  Tending the Stoic Orchard – Episode 26

  Stoic practice is distinct from academic philosophy because it is a way of life—an art of living—supported by a holistic philosophical system. The Stoics never intended their system to be a primarily intellectual endeavor. Nor was it created as a...

  
• 08.21.2018

  Epictetus’ Prescription for Psychological Resilience – Episode 25

  From everything that happens in the universe it is easy to praise providence, if one has within him two things: the faculty of taking a comprehensive view of the things that happen to each person and a sense of gratitude....

  
• 08.06.2018

  Step out of the Epicurean Garden and into the Stoic Cosmopolis – Episode 24

  Our modern world is bursting with angst. News of an impending environmental crisis, worldwide political turmoil, gratuitous violence, wars, and human suffering are delivered instantaneously, twenty-four hours a day, to the smart devices in the palms of our hands. It...

  
• 07.29.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 7 – Episode 23

  Prepare for Death to Discover Freedom What is most important? Having your soul on your lips.  This makes you free not according to the law of the Quirites, but according to the law of nature. A free person is one who...

  
• 07.21.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 6 – Episode 22

  The Good Fight Against Fortuna What is most important? Raising your spirits high above chance events; remembering your human status, so that if you are fortunate, you know that will not last long, and if you are unfortunate, you know you...

  
• 07.19.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 5 – Episode 21

  A Contented Mind and Pure Hands What is most important? Refusing to let bad intentions enter your mind; raising pure hands to heaven; not seeking any good thing if someone else must give it or must lose it so that it...

  
• 07.15.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 4 – Episode 20

  A Courageous Mind for Courageous Action What is most important? A mind that is brave and defiant in the face of calamity, not just opposed but hostile to luxury, neither courting nor fleeing danger; one that knows not to wait for...

  
• 07.13.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 3 – Episode 19

  Love of Fate (Amor Fati) What is most important? Being able to endure adversity with a glad mind, to experience whatever happens as though you wanted it to happen to you. For you ought to have wanted it to, if you...

  
• 07.11.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 2 – Episode 18

  The Cosmic Viewpoint What is most important? Raising your mind above the threats and promises of fortune, thinking that nothing is worth hoping for. For what have you to desire? Whenever you sink back from engagement with the divine to the...

  
• 07.09.2018

  What Is Important in Life? Day 1 – Episode 17

  Seven Days with Seneca What is most important in human life? That is a perennial question that almost all of us ask ourselves, in one form or another, at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, many of us neglect to confront...

  
• 07.01.2018

  Purpose in the Universe with Tim Mulgan – Episode 16

  From the back cover of professor Tim Mulgan's book: Two familiar worldviews dominate Western philosophy: materialist atheism and the benevolent to God of the Abrahamic faiths. Tim Mulgan explores a third way. Ananthropocentric Purposivism claims that there is a cosmic purpose,...

  
• 06.25.2018

  The Religious Nature of Stoicism – Episode 15

  Many people who were introduced to Stoicism by popular books that were written in the twenty-first century are surprised by the religious nature of Stoic philosophy when they first encounter it in the surviving Stoic texts and scholarship on those...