“How great Thou art, The Lord supreme for ever and for aye! No work is wrought apart from Thee, O God, Or in the world, or in the heaven above, Or on the deep, save only what is done By sinners in their folly.” – Cleanthes Stoicism has always had a deep spiritual and sometimes even mystic tradition. In it’s heyday the idea that Stoicism was an agnostic or atheistic philosophy was not the normt. Their understanding of God differs greatly from the Abrahamic norm of today but nevertheless there was a deep spirituality and understanding that the individual is connected to ever larger and larger ..read more

Salvation is often applied to more religious and theological concepts. In the Abrahamic faiths salvation is granted by God. Regardless of how one receives salvation in these faith’s varying conceptions of it, there is an understanding that it comes from the outside to some extent or at the very least requires the participation of God to make it possible. I posit that in the Stoic conception of salvation, if one wants to use that word and concept at all, salvation is a self-driven, internal process. Salvation comes from within. One’s own effort and action determines salvation. There is a way of ..read more

Does a Spiritual Stoic worship? Does she pray? Are there rituals? Spiritual Stoicism does not eschew worship and prayer. Cleanthes wrote his “Hymn to Zeus¹” in praise of God. It is a hymn showing God’s power, describing what God’s surroundings may be, showing what happens to those who “obey” God and those who do not, with Stoic thought running thoughout it all. I will do an in-depth breakdown of this poem later on but for now just reading it will show you that praise and worship is not foreign to the Stoic. It is part of our tradition to recognize that which is greater than ourselves. As for p ..read more

God. Providence. Nature. The Universe. The Logos. What does it all mean? These words tend to refer to the same concept yet are applied in slightly different ways. God is the concept itself. That which we have so much trouble articulating. Providence might be seen as a heavenly or divine foreseeing, guidance, and care. Nature, the Universe, referring to world surrounding us being somehow greater than us, something complete and total. A complex web of individual parts working together in ways we don’t quite understand. The Logos, the reason, the word, the logic, that makes all the gears that mak ..read more