Sources and attribution
A great deal of what circulates as Stoic wisdom is not. This is the part of the site that checks.
The practice
How the Stoics actually worked on themselves, daily, and how to run the same exercises without abandoning them by February.
How to keep a Stoic journal
The most famous book in Stoicism is a private notebook. What made it a Stoic one, and how to keep your own.
The Stoic evening examination
Seneca put himself on trial every night, as a judge who does not frighten the defendant. The oldest documented practice in the tradition.
Premeditatio malorum
Rehearsing what could go wrong, and why it is the opposite of worrying about it.
The dichotomy of control
The most quoted idea in Stoicism, and the most consistently flattened in the retelling.
How to actually read the Meditations
It is a notebook, not a book. Skip Book One first time, and read the repetition as the point.
Where to start with Seneca
124 letters and reading them in order is a mistake. Which eight to read first, and how to handle the fact he did not live what he wrote.
Is Stoicism a religion?
No, but the ancient version was religious in a way modern practice is not. Marcus said gods or atoms and got on with the day.
Stoicism and cognitive behavioral therapy
The founders of CBT cited Epictetus by name. A real lineage, and the differences matter more than the enthusiasts admit.
Stoicism and Buddhism
Similar practices from incompatible starting points. Flattening them loses what each is actually for.
The Stoic morning routine
What Marcus actually did at dawn, and why the morning has a different job than the evening.
What the Stoics said about anger
Seneca wrote three books arguing anger is never useful, against Aristotle. The best remedy he gives is delay.
What the Stoics said about grief
An honest account, including the passages that read badly. They never said do not grieve.
Amor fati: loving what happens
The phrase is Nietzsche’s, the idea is older. Willing what occurred, and how it differs from the toxic positivity it gets mistaken for.
The view from above
Seeing your circumstances at their actual size. The exercise only works if you come back down.
Memento mori: remember you will die
Not about death, about time. Seneca’s claim is that life is long enough, and we waste most of it.
Stoicism is not about suppressing emotions
The most common misreading of the philosophy. Seneca wept for his friend, and apatheia never meant apathy.
Did Marcus Aurelius say "what we do in life echoes in eternity"?
No. It is from Gladiator, and Marcus argued the opposite: that being remembered is worthless and oblivion comes fast.
Epictetus: Discourses, Enchiridion, or The Art of Living?
Three different kinds of book under one name, and one of them is not a translation. Which to read, and which never to quote.
Which translation of Meditations should you read?
Hays, Hard, Hammond and Waterfield compared, and why the free edition sounds like the King James Bible.
The four Stoic virtues
Wisdom, courage, justice, temperance. Three of the four are about acting, and one is entirely about other people.
The Stoics and their books
The voices behind the practice, and the translations worth actually owning.
The Stoics
Twelve figures in the order they lived, from a shipwrecked merchant to an emperor. What each taught and where to start.
The Library
Twenty-four books: primary sources in the best translations, modern interpreters, and adjacent thinkers.
Daily Meditations
One short Stoic reflection each morning, tied to something happening in the world. Free.
Marcus turns all of this into a daily practice for iOS: a morning preparation, a daily reading, and a structured evening examination.
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