Image by John Gilchrist. CC BY-ND 2.0 In April of this year I began biking to work. It's quite the privilege for me since, until recently, arthritis had stopped me from doing all but the most basic or necessary of physically demanding tasks. Thankfully, medication has arrested and reversed a large amount of the harm that arthritis had done over the past few years. I'm also doubly fortunate that the city of Portland has a bicycle rental program, and that the entire fleet is made up of electric bikes. These e-bikes allow me to take the seven mile trip to work, since it would not be possible for ..read more

Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In is a necessary and essential addition to our modern Stoic discourse. The authors, Kai Whiting and Leonidas Konstantakos, masterfully express the heart of Stoic philosophy; a philosophy that is humane, community focused, and action oriented. The book challenges us to examine our moral principles and to allow that examination to reshape our approach to others and to the world as a whole. I see Being Better as an antidote to a variety of misguided approaches to Stoicism, but to be clear, the book is not written as a polemic against anything. It ..read more

The early Stoics believed in divination. They thought that signs from the universe could be interpreted in order to inform us of future events. I do not believe in divination, but I think that the Stoic view of the practice holds lessons that we can all apply to our lives. The most important of those lessons is this, knowledge of the future never releases us from the obligation to take virtuous actions in the present. In the second book of Epictetus's Discourses, Chapter Seven is titled, "How should one employ Divination?" Epictetus begins this talk by saying that people tend to use divinatio ..read more

Portland OR sunset from Sarah Iannarone Take a view from above — look at the thousands of flocks and herds, the thousands of human ceremonies, every sort of voyage in storm or calm, the range of creation, combination, and extinction. Consider too the lives once lived by others long before you, the lives that will be lived after you, the lives lived now among foreign tribes; and how many have never even heard your name, how many will soon forget it, how many may praise you now but quickly turn to blame. Reflect that neither memory nor fame, nor anything else at all, has any importance worth t ..read more

Good Fortune episode 19 is out now. Virtue is the first in a series; to be followed by Wisdom, Justice, Temperance, and Courage. As always, a transcript is available for anyone who prefers reading. I wanted to tackle Virtue because it’s so central to Stoic practice but so hard to pin down. What is it? How do we do virtue? Why bother? This first episode lays a foundation and later episodes will let us focus on applied virtue. I’m really looking forward to creating this series and I certainly hope you get something from it as well ..read more

I had some thoughts that I wanted to share and wasn’t certain I’d ever sit down and write about, hence this video. Along with the thoughts found here, if you are at all worried about the recent pandemic, I would suggest that the Good Fortune episodes Uprooting Fear and Handling Distressing News might be useful ..read more

There is a way to exercise as a Stoic. There is a way to eat as a Stoic. Literally every chosen action can be done, and is done, either in a Stoic way or in some other way. I bring this up because whenever a person enters an online Stoic forum and asks how Stoics exercise, or eat, or drive to work, it seems inevitable that mocking comments will soon follow. Unfortunately it is those who say, “this has nothing to do with Stoicism!” that are showing their ignorance of the philosophy. Take our food choices. We know that the teacher Musonius Rufus, “often talked in a very forceful manner about foo ..read more

I’m kicking off 2020 with a new Good Fortune episode. Episode 18: Conflict addresses the radical approach Stoicism recommends for personal conflict. The podcast is available here, and the transcript is available here. This should be the first of many episodes this year ..read more

I decided to begin this year by examining my values through the writing prompts of The 5-minute Stoicism Journal. This journal is the second book I wrote in 2019, it was released in November, just a month after The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism. I developed the journal with the hope that Stoics both novice and well practiced would put aside just five minutes a day for sustained reflection on their values. Even this short amount of time can help the writer orient their day in a way that promotes personal growth. I built the writing prompts around the three Stoic Disciplines and their correspondi ..read more

The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism had a successful launch and can now be found where books are sold. The 5-Minute Stoicism Journal is coming November 5th and is available for pre-order. Both can be ordered here, or through your favorite bookstore. A recent review said that, “The Beginner’s Guide To Stoicism feels a bit like stoic philosophy itself, seemingly simple, yet profoundly powerful. This book contains a solid overview of stoicism, techniques for implementing the stoic teachings within your ..read more