Not to merely know, but to live philosophically
PDF version of this intro can be find here:
“It isn’t the events themselves that disturb people, only their judgements about them”
Epictetus
“If it is not right don’t do it, if it is not true don’t say it”
Marcus Aurelius
“Through my efforts, I gain the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”
Secular serenity preyer
What is Stoicism?
In today’s English, we refer to stoicism as: the ability or the predisposition of a person to endure pain or hardship without the displaying of feelings.
However, that is not Stoicism!
Stoicism is a philosophy, a school of thought founded in Athens about 2300 years ago by a man named Zeno of Citium. Zeno started his school by standing on a porch in the market and talking to anyone who happened by. The word for porch in Greek is stoa, and the followers of Zeno were known as Stoics.
Stoicism became the preeminent philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome; it penetrated all sectors and classes of the society such that two of the most important Stoic authors are the slave Epictetus and the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Stoicism flourished for nearly 500 years, until the fall of the empire. It re-emerged occasionally in many philosophers and thinkers during the Renaissance when people returned to reason to find answers about how to live.
However, only recently has it been rediscovered as a philosophy to live by!
Continue reading “Introduction to Stoicism – pamphlet”
