Stoic Meditations

Seneca says that lacking wisdom is like being sick. Although we can imagine what it would be like to be perfectly healthy, in reality we can be happy if we manage to be less sick than before. That's progress, folks! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca says that people are like dogs who eagerly await the next tasty morsel from Fortuna, swallow it quickly, then eagerly await the next one. Don't be like a dog, that way lies perennial dissatisfaction with life. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca advises us to be careful how we spend our time, and especially how we respond to other people's demands for it. Life is short, surely you won't regret, on your deathbed, not having attended one more useless office meeting... --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca warns us against ambition, understood not as the will to accomplish things, but as the pursuit of fame, money, and power. Modern politicians should be like Cato the Younger, not Alcibiades. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Marcus Aurelius contemplates whether death is a resolution of atoms or a final annihilation. He doesn't seem bothered by either possibility. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca states very clearly that wealth is an indifferent, in Stoic terms. It can be pursued if it allows us to do good, but it should be avoided if it corrupts our moral fiber, making us greedy toward luxury and power. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca explains that if our happiness depends on externals, like fame or money, we are in the hands of Fortuna, who could take those things away at any moment. But if we are happy because we are good, then Fortuna is powerless. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca conjures a vivid image of the goddess Fortuna showering mortals with gifts, which are ruined by the eager crowd, or badly used, and that at any rate do not produce happiness. That's because people lack wisdom, necessary to truly enjoy Fortuna's gifts. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Epictetus notes that nobody tells a doctor that they are rude if the doctor says they are sick and need medicine. But if the philosopher does that with one's moral health... --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support

Seneca gives a splendidly clear and cogent description of the Stoic concept of preferred "indifferents," external things that are not under our complete control, and which Fortuna can take away at any moment. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stoicmeditations/support