Love your life and get a better one!
What the greatest minds of antiquity through to modernity have always told us is that before we can change anything for the better, we must first not only accept the Continue Reading
Live not by Lies
A few weeks ago, I published a video on the subject of conscription returning to the UK in response to the suggestion by General Sir Patrick Sanders that it be Continue Reading
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, or How to deal with the desire for the approval from other people.
Today we’re going to talk about, something natural to all of us, a normal human desire. We all have a natural desire to be embraced and accepted by others. Continue Reading
The Modern Stoic Approach to the World of Work
Some of the most powerful words in philosophy come from the writings of Marcus Aurelius a true philosopher king, probably one of only a handful in history. Marcus, who Continue Reading
How to beat the fear of death and dying!
I remember when I was a kid growing up in the 1970’s at about the age of 7, I asked my father what happened after we died. He went quiet Continue Reading
How to deal with anxiety
In the bustling modern world, anxiety has become an increasingly common mental health challenge. Fortunately, ancient wisdom offers valuable insights on how to navigate this overwhelming emotion. Stoicism, a Continue Reading
Twitter, Elon Musk, the E.U. Free Speech and the Stoic Approach to Politics
These are dark times for human beings everywhere, none more so than within the European Union. Wales is a small country that is part of the United Kingdom. Wales Continue Reading
Musonius Rufus: The Little-Known Stoic Philosopher Who Revolutionised Education
Musonius Rufus was a Roman Stoic philosopher who lived in the first century AD. Despite being relatively unknown today, he was an important figure in his time and had a Continue Reading
What is the self really?
In everyday non-philosophical parlance, when we speak about a self we are generally referring to an individual. When we are speaking about selves, we are talking about individuals that are Continue Reading
Epictetus and his crutches
I’ve been waiting for roughly ten weeks to write this piece, the result of a recent accident in which I broke my wrist, causing a permanent disability. It wasn’t the Continue Reading
Do I give assent to this?
Among the tools of the stoics is Epictetus’ Discipline of Assent. Now the Greek work for consent or approval is sunkatathesis, but in the stoic context it means agreeing with Continue Reading
A problem for the body…
Something that often comes up in our conversations here at the Standup Philosophers is the subject of bodily aches and pains, illness and disease and their effects upon the peace Continue Reading
Getting out of your own way…
For most of my life, I’ve felt like I was drowning, feverishly thrashing under the water scrambling my way to the surface which is forever out of reach. No matter Continue Reading
Kung Flu and the Human Condition
I’m sure that the Coronavirus is a very nasty piece of work, like most viruses it picks of the weak, the frail and the elderly, just as nature intended. Yet Continue Reading
The Internet and Free Speech
We live in a polarized age, mainly thanks to the internet. It’s a double-edged sword and like all gifts of the gods, it can cut both ways. It can bring Continue Reading
What is Philosophy For? (According to the Stoics)
It’s amazing, that one of the things that I treasure about getting older (for me at least,) is that I have an increased sense of gratitude for the life that Continue Reading
Epictetus on insulting behavior and character assassination…
When I was a kid, going to school and growing up in the 1970’s the adults around us used to encourage us to be unbothered or indifferent to the name Continue Reading
The Tyranny of Positive Thinking
I’ve got an app on my desktop that helpfully shows me little philosophical proverbs and quotes, every day. It’s been very good in the recent past but has crossed the Continue Reading