HOW TO LIVE LIKE A STOIC

Letting it be.

Hodgkinson, author of How To Be Idle (2005), writes that Stoicism is a “living, breathing, practical and rich philosophy which can help us on our route to fulfillment.” More than just a way of facing adversity, the author writes, Stoicism offers moral guidance for public action and spiritual anchors for an inner life. This book offers a history of Stoicism, from the punk-like Greeks who gave up social norms to live on countercultural streets, through Roman rulers, Christian kings, and modern mindful thinkers. Socrates and Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and John Stuart Mill, Montaigne and St. Augustine—just about everyone gets a cameo here. Everyone gets a memorable quote, too. Marcus: “To be moved by passion is not manly, but…mildness and gentleness…are more agreeable to human nature, so also are they more manly.” Montaigne: “Learning lies within us.” The poet Andrew Marvell: “How vainly men themselves amaze / to win the palm, the oak or bayes.” Epictetus: “What is a happy life? It is security and lasting tranquility.” And when we come to that life’s end, the Stoics showed we must not fear. A longer life is not necessarily a better life. The author’s friend, the philosopher Charles Handy, gets some of the last words here: “You too will die, but you will live on processed into the memory of things by the people who knew you and loved you. That is your after life, that’s your new life, that’s the end of your proper life. That is what you are there for, part of the natural order of things.” Stoicism was the original self-help therapy, and this book brings its history and its hopefulness back for our age of doubt.

A lucid introduction to the Stoic way of life, brimming with ancient advice for modern readers.