A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

Note that Marcus concludes by painting a very compassionate picture. We are all here to work together, he says, like parts of a body. We are all part of a whole. We need each other to function, and petty conflicts do not serve the greater good. His aim, then, is not to avoid those he doesn’t like but to find a way around the clashing of personaliti

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Instead, he (and Epictetus and Seneca) focused on a series of questions not unlike the ones we continue to ask ourselves today: “What is the best way to live?” “What do I do about my anger?” “What are my obligations to my fellow human beings?” “I’m afraid to die; why is that?” “How can I deal with the difficult situations I face?” “How should I han

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Haidt says that the answer—of the Buddha and Chinese sages like Lao Tzu in the East and the Greek Stoic philosophers in the West—constituted the “early happiness hypothesis” of ancient times. The principle was this: We are unhappy even in success because we seek happiness from success. Wealth, power, achievement, family, material comfort, and secur

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"If you are injured and in pain, the path to mental peace can be traversed in a single step: Simply accept the pain as it arises, while doing whatever you need to do to help your body heal. If you are anxious before giving a speech, become willing to feel the anxiety fully, so that it becomes a meaningless pattern of energy in your mind and body. E... See more