How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Speak to Kai Whiting about Stoicism

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 15:50:16 GMT

I have applied Stoicism to contemporary and contentious problems (climate change, vegetarianism, immigration, economic inequality) that challenge us in the 21st century.

My unique selling point is that I have combined my philosophical and engineering/applied science expertise, to give readers a more in-depth understanding of the complexity of the problems and their potential solutions from a Stoic perspective. (website)

Quotes from others:

The Stoicism and sustainability lecturer and researcher Kai Whiting’s work centers around applying ancient wisdom to these challenges, how the “life well-lived” translates into something bigger than our personal endeavors – Daily Stoic

“Of the talks I liked this morning, particularly liked the one on “Stoicism and sustainability”. He made a very clear talk. My eldest son is an environmental scientist, I was thinking “I wish he was here” – Stoicon 2018, audience member

“The one that really inspired me is the sustainability [talk]. Stoicism has always been about myself, not necessarily about the wider world… but that’s given me a bit of a different perspective on it” Stoicon 2018, audience member

Topics I Cover

(The brackets are just so you can see, where the expertise comes from)

Kleomenes III and Sphaerus’ Stoic social and land reforms in Sparta (Chapter 7)
Stoicism and progressive education (Chapter 7, academic paper and chapter)
Stoicism and unjust Economic Inequality (Chapter 5)
The contemporary sage (various podcasts)
Stoic God (Chapter 8, various academic papers)
Stoicism and Islam (Chapter 8)
Environment, climate change (various)
Stoicism and politics (chat with Greg Sadler)
Stoicism and immigration (Chapter 6)
Stoicism and fate (Chapter 4, the cylinder and the dog to the cart)

Stories

The story of the REAL connection between Stoicism and Sparta
How Stoicism offers solutions to educators
Stoicism is not indifferent to politics and certain types of activism (Cato, Cicero, Julius Caesar etc)
Stoicism for a better world: The missing component of self-help
The immigration stories in Stoicism (Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysippus)
Taking Stoicism Beyond the Self: The Power To Change Society

Media Questions

Why do you say that Stoicism is anything but a “dead white man” philosophy?
“Silicon Valley Stoicism” focuses on corporate exploits, but your book says Stoicism is much more community based than that – where have they got it wrong?
You state that self-help shouldn’t be only about the self. Doesn’t that seem like a contradiction in terms?
Stoicism is an ancient philosophy but yet your book talks about climate breakdown, the civil rights movement and economic inequality. How can you say that ancient wisdom has something to say about modern life?
Stoicism and Sparta are often linked by male lifehackers because of a perceived sense of toughness but your book talks about a Spartan Queen and land reforms! Why is the popularity perception and historic reality so different?
In your book, you tell the story of Muslims bridging the gap between themselves and the local English community through the building of an eco-mosque. Why do you say that is a good “Stoic” example? Is Islam and Stoicism the same?
How can Stoicism help us build community and cope with COVID?

Some Podcast/article links

Podcasts

Blog/Magazine Pieces

Contact

Video: The View from Above in Ovid

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:10:09 GMT

My friend Lalya Lloyd reading a passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses in English and Latin.

Video: Troy Baker on Stoicism

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 20:33:41 GMT

How to Fall Out of Love

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 23:02:53 GMT

Ancient Philosophy and the Cure of Lovesickness

Freud was not the first psychotherapist. Thousands of years ago, in Greece and Rome, a great many books and poems were written about techniques of psychological therapy. Among the most explicitly therapeutic philosophies were the two great rival Hellenistic schools of Stoicism and Epicureanism.

It is curious to note both the differences and similarities between ancient and modern psychotherapy. One striking difference is that the ancients tended to focus their therapeutic endeavours on different maladies than the ones with which therapists are nowadays are concerned. One cannot read the Stoics, e.g., without noticing that they think of anger as being a much more significant problem than anxiety or depression. However, it is to another, far graver, preoccupation of the ancient philosopher-therapists that we now turn: the treatment of pathological love.

Read the rest of this article free on Medium…

How the Stoic Mindset is the Key to Success in Life

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 01:45:45 GMT

This new article is huge and it’s got a lot of great ideas especially for newbies to Stoic philosophy — great lists of resources.

What do you think? Would you recommend this to your friends if they wanted to learn about Stoicism?

Read Article

Last Chance: Modern Stoicism Virtual Conference

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 09:17:48 GMT

Tomorrow, Saturday 17th Oct, is Stoicon 2020, the 8th international Modern Stoicism conference. We originally had a limit of 1,000 attendees but have managed to extend our capacity by creating an overflow feature. So we’re now anticipating over 1,500 attendees, making this the largest Stoicism conference ever.

Ticket price is by donation – you choose the amount. We have 24 speakers in total, including some well-known authors and academics. See the event listing for full program details. Our keynote this year is from William B. Irvine, author of A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.

Don’t worry if you’re in a different time zone or can’t make the whole event for some other reason. All presentations will be recorded and available afterwards to registered attendees to watch at your leisure.

Book now to avoid missing out. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

How I wrote Verissimus

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 16:18:22 GMT

I’ve been immersed in writing a graphic novel about the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius for the past couple of years now.
I get lots of questions about the project so I’ve decided to finally break my silence and write about the whole experience of creating Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. From what I’ve learned, people approach writing comics and graphic novels in lots of different ways. This article is about how we went about things and what our experience has been like so far.

The book will be available in roughly a year’s time, published by St. Martin’s Press. It’s going to be about 250 pages, full colour. The illustrator, Ze Nuno Fraga, has just started inking and colouring the pages. So I figured it was a good time to pause and reflect on the experience as we’ve reached a crucial stage.

Read the rest of this article free on Medium.

Book Review: Lives of the Stoics

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 11:13:31 GMT

The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius

Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman is a new book that explores the teachings of Stoic philosophers by telling the stories of their lives.

Holiday and Hanselman are well-known to many as the authors of the bestselling The Daily Stoic. Holiday is also the author of a trilogy of successful books inspired, among other things, by his interest in Stoic philosophy: The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and Stillness is the Key.

Lives of the Stoics is due for publication in the US on September 29th, by Penguin Random House, and will be available in audiobook and ebook as well as hardback format. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance review copy. I’m an author myself and so I receive a lot of new books to review but I can honestly say this is the one I was most looking forward to reading.

Read the rest of the review on Medium.

How Marcus Aurelius wrote The Meditations

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 05:58:34 GMT

The Art of Paraphrasing Philosophical Maxims

If thou would’st master care and pain,
Unfold this book and read and read again
Its blessed leaves, whereby thou soon shalt see
The past, the present, and the days to be
With opened eyes; and all delight, all grief,
Shall be like smoke, as empty and as brief.

This epigram is found at the end of a Vatican manuscript of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, one of the most widely-read spiritual and philosophical classics of all time. Readers of The Meditations are usually aware that Marcus was a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. However, they often don’t realize how much more we know about him.

Marcus studied rhetoric under Fronto for many years, and learned certain techniques from him that appear to have shaped the writing of The Meditations.

In my recent book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, I drew upon the surviving evidence to make connections between Marcus’ life and thought. We have three main contemporary biographical sources: The Historia Augusta, Cassius Dio’s Historia Romana, and Herodian’s History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus.

In addition to these, one of our most important sources is a cache of letters belonging to Marcus’ family friend and rhetoric tutor Marcus Cornelius Fronto. These were discovered in the early 19th century by the Italian scholar Angelo Mai. They give us a remarkable window into the private life of the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.

We learn, for instance, that Marcus was, in private, an exceptionally warm and affectionate man. He also shows evidence of being adept at diplomacy and at resolving conflicts between his friends. As we’ll see, Marcus studied rhetoric under Fronto for many years, and learned certain techniques from him that appear to have shaped the writing of The Meditations.

“It is that I learn from you to speak the truth. That matter (of speaking the truth) is precisely what is so hard for gods and men…” — Marcus

Read the rest of this article on Medium.

Zoom: Stoicism and Anger

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 07:59:49 GMT

Come and join our free Zoom webinar hosted by Matt Sharpe at Deakin University, Melbourne.

The Stoics considered anger to be the main focus of their therapy of the soul. We’re lucky enough to have an entire text by Seneca, On Anger, but Marcus Aurelius also talks extensively about anger in The Meditations. In one key passage, he lists ten distinct cognitive strategies for coping with anger, which can be compared to strategies employed in modern cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

When: Friday August 28th, 10.30am (Melbourne, Australia time)

Join Zoom Webinar

Video: Stoicism and the Art of Happiness Interview

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 22:04:02 GMT

Timestamps:

How Donald Started Writing About Stoicism 01:50
What Is Stoicism and Its Main Principles 07:55
Stoicism VS Epicureanism 14:15
Voluntary Hardship 21:32
Stoicism and the Art of Happiness 24:45
Who Was Marcus Aurelius 32:04
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor 38:30
Remembrance of Death 45:00
Premeditation of Evils 58:22
Marcus Aurelius and Commodus 01:04:55
Donald’s New Graphic Novel About Marcus Aurelius 01:14:10

NEW: Paperback of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 01:54:58 GMT

I’m very pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the paperback edition of my latest book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, published by St. Martin’s Press. It is due out in the US on 4th August 2020 and will be available in most other countries around the same time.

If you don’t already have a copy, check it out, as the paperback is almost half the price of the original hardback edition. Amazon are also currently offering a discount off the price. In fact, if you order now you’ll benefit from the Amazon pre-order price guarantee, which basically means you’ll get it for the cheapest price offered between now and the publication date. So you might get a bargain!

When it was released in April last year, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor became the #1 top-selling book on philosophy in the US. It’s recently been #1 new release on Amazon for Greek and Roman philosophy. It’s already available in eight different languages, with more to follow. It’s since been reviewed/rated by over 340 people on Amazon, and over 2,370 people on Goodreads! The audiobook has also been reviewed/rated by over 1,550 listeners on Audible.

Get the Paperback

Hope you enjoy reading or listening, and, as always, please feel free to get in touch if you have any comments or questions.

Regards,

The Stoics on How to Stop Doing Things

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 06:08:22 GMT

The Stoic Way to Find More Time in Your Day

Philosopher Marcus Aurelius urged people to get rid of ‘needless actions.’ Here’s how to do that today.

“I just didn’t have the time.”

That’s one of the most common phrases I hear from my psychotherapy clients who’ve neglected to do the exercises we talked about — things like keeping a record of upsetting thoughts or practicing a mindfulness meditation technique. Over and over again, people call me and apologize uncomfortably for ignoring their homework, as though I’m there to scold them instead of help them.

I can certainly understand being stretched thin right now. We’re all living under pressures we’ve never experienced before. But in my own clinical practice, I’ve found an effective way to help my clients find more time, and that’s to challenge them to stop doing the things that do not serve their deeper goals in life.

It’s a tool I borrowed from the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. In Meditations, his collection of writings, Marcus cites a quote from the Greek philosopher Democritus: “Do little if you want contentment of mind.” However, Marcus puts a Stoic twist on this ancient maxim, suggesting that we should do only what is necessary for achieving our fundamental goals in life:

For this will bring not only the contentment of mind that comes from acting aright, but also that which comes from doing little; for considering that the majority of our words and actions are anything but necessary, if a person dispenses with them he will have greater leisure and a less troubled mind.

Marcus describes a very simple technique for achieving this, one that we all can practice: Before engaging in an activity — at least one that might be of questionable value — ask yourself:Is this really necessary?Pause and consider whether doing it will actually be good for your well-being. He writes:

And we should dispense not only with actions that are unnecessary, but also with unnecessary ideas; for in that way the needless actions that follow in their train will no longer ensue.

It’s a powerful strategy that’s not unlike ones we use today in cognitive-behavioral therapy. (I recently wrote about Marcus’ influence on cognitive psychotherapy in my book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor.) Here’s how to do it in practice.

Read the rest of this article on Medium.

The Virtue of Being Wrong

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 19:18:06 GMT

How Stoicism Teaches us to Welcome Refutation

Nobody likes being wrong, we’re told. Least of all those individuals who suffer from pathological narcissism. They have to believe that they were right all along, even when it becomes obvious they are very much in the wrong.

Figures who live in the public eye, such as celebrities and politicians, if they become overly-incentivized by praise, risk turning this into a habit. As Aristotle once said, habits become our “second nature”. They solidify into character traits if we’re not careful.

Perhaps sometimes the person who gains the most is the one who loses the argument.

So do we always have to be right? The ancient Greek philosophers — who loved paradoxes — said the opposite: maybe true wisdom requires the capacity to delight in being proven wrong. My favourite expression of this idea comes from Epicurus:

In a philosophical dispute, he gains most who is defeated, since he learns the most. — Epicurus, Vatican Sayings, 74

How crazy is that? Perhaps sometimes the person who gains the most is the one who loses the argument. The one who wins the argument gains nothing, except perhaps some praise — but what does that matter? The one who loses, though, gains knowledge, and perhaps gets a step closer to achieving wisdom. It wasn’t just Epicurus who had this paradoxical insight. The rival Stoic school of philosophers taught essentially the same thing.

Read the rest of this article on Medium.

Giveaway: How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Sat, 18 Jul 2020 14:31:59 GMT

Enter this new Goodreads giveaway and win yourself a signed paperback copy of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius!

Enter Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

by Donald J. Robertson

Giveaway ends August 17, 2020.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

New: Paperback of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 04:16:44 GMT

I’m pleased to announce that the paperback of my latest book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, is now available for pre-order and will be published on 4th August by Macmillan. When it was released last April, the hardback remained at #1 in Greek and Roman philosophy on Amazon for several weeks. It’s already available in hardback, ebook (Kindle/EPUB), and audiobook formats, and has been translated into seven languages so far.

If you order the paperback now, you’ll benefit from Amazon’s pre-order price guarantee, which means you’ll pay the lowest price offered for the book between now and the publication date. (It’s currently 10% off on Amazon US.)

Order Now from Amazon US

You can also pre-order from Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, and most other online booksellers around the world. See individual sites for publication dates in different countries and pre-order discounts available.

Hope you enjoy the book. I’m currently working on a graphic novel about the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius for Macmillan, which will be available some time next year – stay tuned for more info!

Regards,

How to be Stoic on Social Media

Sun, 05 Jul 2020 15:42:10 GMT

Applying Stoicism to Online Debates

I run several online groups, including the largest Facebook group for Stoic philosophy — it currently has over 78k members. I’ve been running large online discussion forums since way back in 1999, when I created my first Yahoogroup. Since then I’ve written several books on applying Stoic philosophy to modern life. The most recent was called How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. A good Stoic would follow Epictetus’ famous slogan when on social media: endure and renounce. So when it comes to getting sucked into arguments online or wasting too much time on Twitter and Facebook — I should probably know better by now.

I am convinced that Stoicism is especially relevant to the challenges of coping with social media.

I guess I do have the excuse that social media has been an important part of my job for as long as I care to remember now. So maybe I can’t avoid it completely. I’ve been thinking for a long time now, though, that I should be applying the teachings of Stoicism more consistently to my own online behaviour and the way I deal with trolls, etc. I get plenty of practice. If you write books trolls will eventually come after you online. Also, if you run forums often you’ll have to ban people for becoming abusive, usually following complaints from other group members. Most of the time they’ll be angry and you’ll get quite a few abusive messages from them, etc. In this article, I’m going to explain why I think this is really just a modern version of an age-old problem and how some specific techniques from ancient Greek philosophy can help us.

Continue reading this article free of charge on Medium.

Modern Stoicism Podcast

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:46:10 GMT

Listen to my interview on Marcus Aurelius and Alexander the Great for the new Modern Stoicism podcast.

Listen

The Stoicism of John Lennon

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 13:56:49 GMT

Comparing the Lyrics of Imagine to Zeno’s Republic

People often tell me that they’ve heard a song the lyrics of which seem “kind of Stoic” to them. Usually they’re referring to songs about enduring hardship heroically, and so on. However, there’s a very different type of song that strikes me as uncannily reminiscent of ancient Stoicism. It happens to contain some of the most famous lyrics ever written by one of the most celebrated songwriters in recent history.

Imagine by John Lennon describes a shamelessly Utopian vision of society. I’m going to discuss the lyrics below, comparing them to the Utopian dream described in Zeno’s Republic, the most influential early Stoic text. The Republic was, in part, a scathing critique of Plato’s book of the same name, written while Zeno was aligned with the Cynic philosophy. Unfortunately, it has long been lost but we do have several fragments and commentaries, which allow us to make a comparison, as you’ll see.

Read the rest of this article on Medium.

Stoicism and Comics

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 03:43:07 GMT

Interview with Kasey Pierce of Source Point Press

I recently had the pleasure to talk to Kasey about her passion for Stoicism and how it helped her both personally and in her career as a comic book writer and editor.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your work?

Absolutely! First I would like to thank you for this interview. This is truly an honor. I’m a writer from the Metro Detroit area and my prose horror novella, Pieces of Madness (Rocket ink Studios), gave me residency on the comic convention circuit in 2015. This book of short horror stories (about the insane, cultist, and paranormal) picked up a bit of a subterranean following.

Shortly after, I joined the ranks of Source Point Press and created the Norah comic series (illustrated by Sean Seal). I’m so grateful to say this hand-painted sci-fi noir was met with great reception, became film-optioned, and made me one of flagship creators of the company. Pieces of Madness saw a deluxe rerelease in 2018 and my Viking witch one-shot series, Seeress, was released in 2019 (illustrated by Jay Jacot). This year, we introduced the next four-issue arch to the Norah series, illustrated by Kelly O’Hara.

Up until this book, I was only familiar with the term “stoic” with a lowercase “s”; an adjective to describe someone as strong and silent. As I listened, I realized what was being said was reinforcing an overall perspective I’ve exercised in my own life.

However, a large part of my brand was built on inspiring fellow comic creators. I’ve presented my panel on direct selling in indie comics, Good Luck with That, at many shows in the US, Canada, and overseas. This talk gives insight into not only how to sell your work, but how to summarize and pitch it to both the con-goer and potential publisher. Part memoir, it also sheds light on many misconceptions new creators have coming into the industry.

Currently, I run editing company, Red Pen Media; offering editing, copywriting, and creative advising.

Read the rest of the interview on Medium.