Listen to this Audio Recording of my Fractional Relaxation Technique

NB: This episode contains a recording of a guided relaxation technique, which you should not listen to while driving. I created this recording for my psychotherapy clients, many years ago, but wanted to make it more widely available. It’s a short and simple exercise, about thirteen minutes in duration. This is the approach that I found to work best for the majority of people.

We’re delighted to announce that our newsletter, Stoicism – Philosophy as a Way of Life, has already been awarded bestseller status by Substack. Check out our most recent posts and podcast episodes.

To celebrate, we have a special offer. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, you can use this link to claim a free 30-day trial of full access to all content. (Offer valid until 31st Jan 2023.)

Latest Posts

• The Philosophical Therapy of Anaxagoras
  January 12, 2023
  Reading Greek Philosophy as Psychotherapy
• Stoicism in a Time of Pandemic
  January 11, 2023
  Listen now | Did Marcus Aurelius create a handbook for coping with the plague?
• Book Giveaway: The Everyday Patriot
  January 11, 2023
  Register for the Plato's Academy Centre Stoicism and Politics event
• The Socratic Philosophy of Wednesday Addams
  January 10, 2023
  How Socrates creeps into the hit Netflix series
• Marcus Aurelius and Carnuntum
  January 6, 2023
  Listen now (23 min) | Audio of Interview with Markus Wachter, CEO, of the Carnuntum Archeological Park
• Exclusive: Marcus Aurelius Poster
  January 5, 2023
  Downloadable PDF of artwork from Verissimus, our graphic novel

Audio of Interview with Markus Wachter, CEO, of the Carnuntum Archeological Park

This podcast episode contains the audio recording from a conversation about Marcus Aurelius, which I had with Markus Wachter, the CEO of the Carnuntum Archeological Park, at the Museum Carnuntinum, in 2019. I was visiting Austria for around a week, doing research for my books on Marcus Aurelius. The audio was recorded live in the main hall of the reconstructed Roman villa in the archeological park, hence the acoustics.

Marcus stationed himself at the Roman legionary fortress of Carnuntum, for part of the Marcomannic Wars. He included the note “At Carnuntum” near the start of the Meditations, proving that he must have written at least part of the manuscript there.

Thanks to Landessammlungen Niederösterreich, Archäologischer Park Carnuntum for permission to film, and to Adam Piercey for filming and editing.

Sign up for our Substack newsletter to download this new Marcus Aurelius poster, with artwork by award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga.

We are delighted to be able to bring you this downloadable PDF of a full-color, 16” x 20” Marcus Aurelius poster designed by Zé Nuno Fraga, courtesy of St. Martin’s Press. Zé is the award-winning Portuguese illustrator, responsible for the artwork in our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

Stoicism – Philosophy as a Way of Life

For the New Year, why not send someone the gift of a subscription to our Substack newsletter “Stoicism – Philosophy as a Way of Life”?

• How to Deal with Overwhelming Feelings
  December 29, 2022
  The Postponement Strategy in Ancient Stoic Practice
• Marcus Aurelius and Carnuntum
  December 28, 2022
  Watch now (23 min) | Interview with Markus Wachter, CEO, of the Carnuntum Archeological Park
• Happy Birthday From Marcus Aurelius
  December 27, 2022
  Today is my own birthday but here's a birthday card from Marcus
• Massimo Pigliucci on Socrates, Stoicism and Leadership
  December 22, 2022
  Listen now (58 min) | Podcast Featuring the Author of "How to be a Stoic" and "The Quest for Character"
• Get our Guide to Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism
  December 21, 2022
  Download our beautiful full-color illustrated PDF free of charge

The latest podcast episode of my podcast, brand new today, is a conversation with Prof. Massimo Pigliucci, author of How to be a Stoic and The Quest for Character. I’ve known Massimo for years and wanted to talk to him about how he first became interested in Stoicism, whether his views had changed, his interest in Skepticism and anti-pseudoscience, as well as what his new book says about Socrates, Alcibiades, good leadership, and the development of character.

You can download from Substack Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many other hosts.

In this episode, I chat with Tim LeBon, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, research director for the Modern Stoicism organization, and author of Wise Therapy: Philosophy for Counsellors, Teach Yourself Positive Psychology, and more recently, 365 Ways to be More Stoic, edited by my wife Kasey Pierce.  

Topics covered include…

• How Tim first got into philosophical practice and Stoicism  
• The relationship between Stoicism and CBT in general
• Stoicism and third-wave CBT — recent advances
• What Tim has learned about Stoicism from his experience as research director with Modern Stoicism
• What’s 365 Ways like?  How it differs from other Stoicism books  

Thanks for following my blog! As a reward, I’m offering everyone who reads this blog 30-day subscription free of charge to my new Substack newsletter, so you can try out premium content at no risk. Offer available only until 23rd Dec – so don’t miss out!

You’ll notice I’ve been posting lots of articles and episodes of my new podcast there, and you’ll see a more new content appearing in the future, as well as special offers for my readers.

Plato’s Academy Centre virtual conference on Sat 3rd Dec

Stories of Character, Confidence and Success

We’re looking forward to the forthcoming Plato’s Academy Centre virtual conference, titled Ancient Philosophy for Modern Leadership. I’ve been planning this event for several years, hoping to bring together a wide variety of academics, CEOs, and other leaders to discuss how ancient philosophies such as Stoicism can help us understand the role of leaders in the modern world.

This is very timely event! We see one leadership crisis after another, in business, education, government, and the military. Philosophy can teach us not only how to become better leaders ourselves but also what to expect from our leaders, and how to know good leaders from bad ones! The ancient Greek sage and lawmaker, Solon, likewise taught Athenians that to be a leader one must first of all learn how to be led by others.

We can also all learn more about how to raise the next generation of leaders, by becoming good parents and educators, as these too are leadership roles in our society. Finally, we must learn to lead ourselves, which is what philosophy promises to teach us, rather than being led by the nose, unwittingly, by Sophists and demagogues. To be a good teacher, you must first become a good student. “The greatest empire is to be emperor of oneself,” according to Seneca.

You will be hearing a wealth of inspirational and insightful talks from our stellar program of twenty speakers! Our two keynotes are Justin Stead, the president of the Aurelius Foundation, and CEO of Radley; and Prof. Nancy Sherman, from Georgetown University, author of Stoic Wisdom. We have presentations from many authors and experts, including former advisor to General Mattis, Mick Mulroy, CEO of Muck Rack, Gregory Galant, and Tom Morris, author of The Stoic Art of Living. I’ll also be giving a presentation on Socrates and Leadership.

Please share the details with your friends. Remember, these Plato’s Academy Centre events are completely free of charge. We welcome donations, of course, because they are necessary to fund the nonprofits continued work — including doing more of these events in the future. You’re able to enjoy these talks free, in other words, because someone else has made a donation, for which we’re very grateful. Thanks, as always, for your continued support!

Look forward to seeing you there,

Donald Robertson

Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Editor’s Preface

This is possibly James Braid’s very earliest publication on hypnotism; his letter was dated March 7th 1842 and published in the March 12th edition of The Medical Times. In it he does not use the term “hypnotism”, though elsewhere he suggests it was already in use by him at his lectures. The anonymous report which precedes his letter mentions his use of the expression “neuro-hypnology”, albeit spelt incorrectly.

Indeed, this is one of Braid’s most interesting letters, providing a neat summary of his early theory and practice.  It illustrates how, from the outset, Braid’s work was independently reported, and publicly examined and endorsed by a wide variety of observers, including some of the most distinguished scientists and physicians of his day.  In his first booklet on the subject, published shortly after this letter, a frustrated Braid reminds his critics of the sincere and persistent efforts which he made in order to substantiate his views,

Had I not, moreover, stated the fact that impressed with the importance of the subject, I had, at great personal inconvenience as well as pecuniary sacrifice, gone to London, that my views might be subjected “to a rigid examination” of the most learned men in our profession, to propound to them the laws by which I consider it to act, and above all, to prove to them “the uniformity of its action” and its practical applicability and value as a curative agency, by [my] mode of operating. 

Satanic Agency, etc., 1852

This journalist’s report and Braid’s subjoined letter, show the extent to which, with the limited means available to him, Braid attempted to develop his theory in a credible manner.  In Neurypnology (1843), Braid comments on the role of Dr. Herbert Mayo, one of the most distinguished medical scientists of the period, at the meeting,

I am fully borne out by the opinion of that eminent physiologist, Mr. Herbert Mayo, in my view of the subject, that my plan is ‘the best, the shortest, and surest for getting the sleep,’ and throwing the nervous system, by artificial contrivance, into a new condition, which may be rendered available in the healing art.  At a private conversazione, which I gave to the profession in London on the 1^st of March, 1842, he examined and tested my patients most carefully, submitted himself to be operated on by me both publicly and privately, and was so searching and inquisitive in his investigations as to call forth the animadversions of a medical gentleman present, who thought he was not giving me fair play; but which he has assured me proceeded from an anxious desire to know the truth, not being biased by having any peculiar views of his own to bring forward; and because he considered the subject most important, both in a speculative and practical point of view.

In his Electro-Biological Phenomena (1851) Braid describes a successful public demonstration delivered by him in Manchester, adding,

I was equally successful in operating upon a number of strangers together at a private conversazione, given to the profession in London, in March 1842, sixteen out of eighteen having passed into the sleep, simply by maintaining a steady fixed stare and fixed act of attention, whilst gazing at root of a chandelier.  Most of these had never been so tried before.  I never touched any one of them until their eyelids closed.  Mr Herbert Mayo, the eminent physiologist and surgeon, tested them, and ran a needle from the back to the palm of the hand of one patient without his (the patient) evincing the slightest consciousness of pain, or remembrance of it after awaking.

Dr. Mayo subsequently published his own favourable account entitled ‘On Mr. Braid’s experiments’, in the next volume of the Medical Times for 1852.

[Report by Anonymous Correspondent]

Mr. Braid delivered two very excellent lectures on this subject last week, one on Tuesday the 1^st of March, at the Hanover Square Rooms, the other, the following day, at the London Tavern.

The lecturer commenced by giving his audience a detailed explanation of the theory and phenomena of animal magnetism, and entered fully into the subject, illustrating the paper by physiological facts, and several interesting anecdotes.  He prefers the term “neuohypnology [sic., an obvious typographical mistake], or the rationale of nervous sleep,” to that of animal magnetism, and thinks that that term is more proper, inasmuch as the effect is produced through the medium of the nervous system. Several experiments performed after the lecture.

The first was a young woman, whom Mr. Braid directed to look at her own finger; in two minutes the face became flushed, the woman sighed, and the eyes closed. She was then requested to sit down, which she did; her arms were raised and also her legs; ammonia was placed under her nose, the galvanic battery applied, pins stuck in the forehead and legs, and without the woman evincing the slightest pain.  The second experiment was upon two deaf brothers, one of them was magnetised by looking upwards, and in three minutes the effect was produced.  Mr. Braid extended both arms, which remained so for some time; he then clapped his hands, and the boy instantly became de-mesmerised.  The experimenter stated that the hearing was increased twelvefold during the time the patient was under the influence of the magnetising process.  The elder brother was then subjected to the same process, and became magnetised in about three or four minutes; a percussion cap was fired at his ear when in this state, but no effect supervened.  It is a singular thing that [presumably at a different stage in the lecture] the pulse in this boy increased from 84 to 140[bpm], and Mr. Braid remarked that such was generally the case.  [Braid repeatedly makes this observation in his writings, which seems to be verified by the reporter.  The induction of rigid catalepsy seems to roughly double the pulse, raising it to a level more typical during intense aerobic exercise.]

The third experiment was upon his own footman [perhaps the young “man-servant” discussed in Neurypnology]. In this case he bandaged the man’s eyes and in three minutes he was asleep; he was subjected to nearly the same experiments as the preceding.  Mr. Braid then recovered him and directed the man to turn his eyes to the side; in a few minutes the eyes closed, and the most curious effect was produced; the man began gradually to turn round, a circumstance by no means uncommon with those who turn the eyes to the side (so the lecturer informed us).  [This phenomenon might be compared to Braid’s later observations on “muscular suggestion.”]

The fourth experiment was upon a young lady, whom Mr. Duncan [who had previously conducted lectures introducing Braid’s work to the London audience prior to his arrival] had been in the habit of experimenting on.  This was a very interesting case; after being magnetised, several objects were placed before her eyes (which were closed), and she distinctly names each article in succession [an illusory feat, later attributed by Braid to the ability to see through eyelids which are not properly closed]; she then walked about the platform, and knelt and arose at the request of the lecturer.

The last and concluding experiment was upon a young woman, who after going through nearly the same operations, finished by singing “off, off, says the stranger,” and it really seemed as if she were about to go off.

[Braid’s Letter to the Editor]

To the Editor of the Medical Times,

Sir,

I feel obliged by the kind note you have sent me stating your intention of honouring me by a report of my lecture.  I much regret you could not attend the conversazioni, but I shall furnish you with a brief account of what took place on that occasion.  When I had briefly explained to those present my theoretical views, and the ground on which I had come to such conclusions, I expressed my intention to exhibit the phenomena on some of the subjects I had brought with me; some stranger proposed that it might be still more satisfactory and convincing to all present, were I to operate on a stranger, to which I readily assented, provided any one present was willing to become the subject of experiment.  It was then announced that a person born deaf and dumb was present, and had come with the express desire to be operated on, and would now come forward if I chose to begin with him.  I assented, and the patient came forward accordingly.  He was totally deaf, was never known to have heard sound at any time in his life, and was 32 years of age.  In about eight minutes, I evinced to all present the most incontestable proof of hearing being restored.  I then operated on another stranger successfully, and on a third, who was one of my subjects; the varied phenomena intended, and expressed as meant to be exhibited by said patient, were all demonstrated, to the satisfaction of all present.  The next operated on was Herbert Mayo, Esq., so well known to the profession; afterwards my other subjects were operated on, exhibiting these varied phenomena, both mental and corporeal.  As the last experiment of the evening, eighteen were subject to their operation at once, and in ten minutes 16 of the number [89%] were all in a state of somnolency, and some in the cataleptiform state, with insensibility to pain, as tested both by myself and Mr. Mayo [who seems to have shoved a pin straight through his hand].  The other two did not comply with my injunctions.  For the correctness of this statement, I beg to refer you to Dr. [Archibald] Billing [a physician and medical author] and Mr. Herbert Mayo, who tested the patients, and neither of whom I had had the honour of knowing till that evening.  [In Hypnotic Therapeutics, 1853, Braid adds, that of this group, ‘twelve of whom had never been tried before’, the sixteen responsive subjects ‘went into the condition at same time, by gazing fixedly and abstractedly on the root of a chandelier.’]  I should feel obliged by your recording the fact now stated, in addition to what your reporter might see or hear at the public lecture.  In short, the whole of my experiments go to prove, that there is a law of the animal economy by which a continued fixation of the visual organ, and a constrained attention of the mind to one subject, which is not of itself of an exciting nature; a state of somnolency is induced, with a peculiar mobility of the whole system, which may be directed so as to exhibit the whole or greater part of the mesmeric phenomena.

The remarks of your talented correspondent, Mr. Barrallier, relative to Mr. Catlow’s experiments, are quite in accordance with my own views.  I had made experiments to prove this, and had come to the same conclusion as Mr. Barrallier before I was aware of his experiments, and have confirmed them many times since on different subjects.  Mr. C.’s cases on the sense of hearing, touch, taste, smelling, and muscular motion, were nothing beyond natural sleep, at any rate totally different from mesmeric sleep, unless in those cases where the patients had been repeatedly operated on in my way, or through the eye. After a certain time, and frequency of being operated on in this way, the brain has an impressibility stamped on it which renders the patient subject to be acted on entirely through the imagination, and this is the grand source of the follies which have misled Mr. C. and the animal magnetisers.  I feel most confident of this, and shall feel obliged by your publishing this letter to record what I believe to be the fact.

On my return home, I delivered a lecture at Birmingham on Thursday evening, 3^rd inst. [3^rd March 1842], when I exhibited a series of experiments which were quite conclusive on the subject.  I am to deliver another lecture in Manchester next Saturday evening, when I shall exhibit the same, and many more, illustrative of the imagined transposition of the senses [i.e., seeing with the stomach, and other supposed paranormal abilities called the “higher phenomena” of Mesmerism], and the magnetic power of attraction, a report of which shall be sent to some of our papers, which I shall correct if any mistakes should appear before I send it.

I beg leave further to state, that as I have operated successfully on the blind, it is evident it is not the optic nerve so much as the ganglionic or sympathetic systems and motor nerves of the eye, and state of the mind, which influence the system in this extraordinary manner.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your much obliged and obedient servant,

James Braid.

3, St. Peter’s Square, March 7^th 1842

PS. I may add, that last night I was called to a lady suffering the most agonizing Tic Douloroux.  In five minutes by my mode of inducing refreshing sleep, I succeeded in putting this patient into comfortable sleep, from which she did not awake till Sunday in the morning, being five and a half hours, and was then quite easy. By what other agency, I now ask, could such an effort have been induced.

In search of ancient wisdom: A Journey across Greece and the Mediterranean World

We have a very special announcement for our members… Tickets are now available to join me, Donald Robertson, for a once in a lifetime cruise, setting sail on March 24th and touring the Ancient Shores of Greece, Italy, and Sicily, until April 7th 2023.  Join us onboard the new expedition cruise ship Diana, for 12 nights, to discuss Greek philosophy.

SPACE IS LIMITED! 

The Swan Hellenic Diana only has so many cabins available at each price point… so you will have to act fast if you want to reserve your spot for the adventure of a lifetime.  Book now and you’ll also receive a signed copy of my graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

Beginning in Athens, whose acropolis is the crowning achievement of Classical Greece, we will explore the Bronze Age Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete, walk the streets of medieval Rhodes, and marvel at the Monastery of Chozoviotissa, clinging to the side of a cliff on Amorgos. From the Peloponnesian port of Gytheion, we will visit the Byzantine town of Mystra, before sailing north to the oldest oracular site in Greece at Dodoni and to Emperor Augustus’s city of Nikopolis, built to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Actium. We call in Saranda on the Adriatic coast for an excursion to Butrint, an archaeological site that spans nearly 2500 years from the neolithic to the 19th century, and then cross the Ionian Sea to discover the Baroque splendor of Gallipoli and Lecce. We end this journey into the past with a visit to Syracuse and the marvelous Greek and Roman ruins that still define its Old Town.

Throughout the voyage, I will be giving talks about the origins of Stoic thought, its focus on the art of living well, and its relationship to current modes of wellness and self-improvement.

Learn more about this exciting journey by downloading the full PDF brochure, for details of the itinerary and prices.  This offer is brought to you in collaboration with Classical Wisdom Weekly and Thalassa Journeys. If you’re looking for more specific details about the ship, itinerary or pricing, etc., please contact Thalassa Journeys directly on +1 866-633-3611 or email reservations@thalassajourneys.com.

Sincerely,

Donald Robertson

Talking with Tanner Campbell on his Practical Stoicism Podcast

I recently had a pretty in-depth and original discussion about Stoicism, psychotherapy, and our graphic novel, with Tanner Campbell for his Practical Stoicism Podcast. You can listen via Apple, Spotify, or other podcast links available on Tanner’s website.

• Marcus Aurelius: Spoiler Alert!
  November 8, 2022
  How we created a graphic novel about Stoicism
• Announcing: 365 Ways to be More Stoic
  November 5, 2022
  A new book on Stoicism by Tim LeBon and Kasey Pierce
• Death, Love, Stoicism
  November 4, 2022
  Listen now (18 min) | The Ancient Stoic Philosophy of Death
• A Simple Guide to Stoic Anger-Management
  October 28, 2022
  What Marcus Aurelius Says in a Nutshell
• You are Invited to Join our Philosophy Cruise
  October 24, 2022
  Ancient Shores of Greece, Southern Italy, and Sicily

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How we created a graphic novel about Stoicism

He dies at the end. Actually, he dies at the beginning. We borrowed that idea from How to Think Like a Roman Emperor when writing the script for Verissimus, because it made it much easier to structure the story of Marcus Aurelius’ life by embedding it within a framing story about his death. So this is how the book begins…

Verissimus was a labor of love. Our 260-page full-color graphic novel about the life and philosophy of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, was published in July 2022. It took a small team of us about two and a half years to create — normally you’re given about one year to write a conventional prose book. The project began when I was contacted by an award-winning illustrator, from Portugal, called Zé Nuno Fraga, who had recently published the graphic novel Assemblywomen, the ancient Greek satire by Aristophanes. A couple of major publishing houses were interested and before long we had a book deal with St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan.

Get Verissimus from Amazon

I’d never worked on a graphic novel before so I immediately plunged into reading books on the art of writing scripts for them, and illustrating them. The best is Scott Macleod’s fantastic Making Comics, which I read cover to cover 2-3 times — it became my Bible. I also sought advice from comic book enthusiasts who read the script and reviewed the draft illustrations. Before long I’d added Kasey Pierce, a freelance comic editor, to our team — a couple of years later we got married!

Click here to read the rest of this article on Substack!

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Happiness, serenity, and fulfillment, according to Stoicism, are all within your control.

We’re delighted to announce the new book written by Tim LeBon, with editor Kasey Pierce, 365 WAYS TO BE MORE STOIC, published by John Murray Press, is now available for preorder from all good bookstores! Check out the listing on Amazon or visit the publisher’s website for other online retailers.

Read the rest of this post on Substack…

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This is a new audio recording of an article I published on Medium about the Stoic contemplation of death. The photo shows me outside the ruined Temple of Hades at the ancient site of Eleusis near Athens.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1148467/private/0d7d10f6-8591-411b-849a-5ec089c8ee88.rss

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I’m experimenting with Substack and have started a new podcast. The first episode, an audio recording of my recent Medium article, How to Actually Practice Stoicism, has already proven very popular.

https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1148467/private/0d7d10f6-8591-411b-849a-5ec089c8ee88.rss

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My conversation with Ryan Holiday for the Daily Stoic podcast, talking about Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism, and Verissimus, the graphic novel.

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People keep asking me how I got into Stoicism. Sometimes I’m asked in interviews. There’s even a guy who trolls me on the Internet making stuff up about my past, and sometimes people who Google my details get random info that’s incorrect. So this is an attempt to set the record straight. I find it’s easier to write an account like this down in one place so if it comes up again, all I need to do is share the link. It also helps me remember all the specific details! Some of the event dates, etc., might be off by a year or so either way but, basically, this should be about as accurate as it gets. For reference, you can read most of my publication history in my Google Scholar profile.

The Beginning

I was born in Irvine, Scotland, in 1972, and grew up in the nearby town of Ayr. My father passed away when I was about thirteen years old. He didn’t leave much behind except some old books on Freemasonic rituals. I saw they mentioned symbols and ideas from the Old Testament combined with allusions to Hellenistic philosophy. I think I probably saw mention of Plato, Pythagoras, the four cardinal virtues, etc. That was what first sparked my interest in religion and philosophy.

At that time, books were hard for me to obtain. My mother, a widow, cleaned the houses of schoolteachers, and we didn’t have a lot of money. There weren’t many bookshops. I would scour second-hand shops for hours at the weekends looking for any used books on philosophy that I could find – there were pretty slim pickings available! I loved the Carnegie Library in Ayr, spent a lot of time there, and would often request books on order. One challenge was even knowing the names of books worth ordering in the first place. One day the library were selling off old books, including a huge set of Books in Print, a catalogue of all published books, which I managed to obtain. That allowed me to look up books by specific authors, which I could then try to order from the library or bookstore.

A few years later, I started trying to learn Hebrew. A church minister lent me some books on the language. I began reading more and more obscure religious texts, including various ones on the Qabbalah – I liked modern esoteric commentators such as Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, Dion Fortune, but also primary sources such as Sepher Yetzirah and Sepher Zohar. At the same time I was also reading the classics of Indian religion, particularly the Hindu Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, the Buddhist Dhammapada, the Tao Te Ching, and many other scriptures.

Ayr College

I was kicked out of school when I was sixteen, and eventually ended up at Ayr College, studying computing, where my study of religious and mystical texts intensified even more in my spare time. Later, by the time I was around seventeen, I had also become interested in martial arts (Taekwondo) and hatha yoga and practiced meditation – I read many books on yoga philosophy.

My interest in Hebrew mysticism led me to Christian mysticism, and, eventually to Gnosticism. I found a copy of Elaine Pagel’s The Gnostic Gospels (1979) in a local book shop. I managed to get a copy of the Naj Hammadi Gnostic corpus from Carnegie Library, which I found fascinating. I noticed it contained many references to Neoplatonic philosophy, and even an excerpt from Plato’s Republic! I read many other ancient mystical texts, such as those of the Corpus Hermeticum, which also seemed influenced by Neoplatonism.

That sparked my interest in ancient philosophy. I began reading Plato. I read Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy and many other introductory books. I then tried to work my way through many of the key texts in the history of philosophy, which was pretty hard going for a teenager with my level of formal education! I read very widely. I particularly liked Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, etc. (I thought at the time that Schopenhauer was underrated as a philosopher and liked the parallels between his thought and the Indian philosophy I had read.) I also read Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness at this time, and other French existential texts, which I loved. It was the Gnostic texts and the dialogues of Plato that had the most profound and lasting effect on me, though.

Studying Philosophy at Aberdeen

In 1992, aged nineteen, I went to Aberdeen University to study philosophy. The course at Aberdeen is named “Mental Philosophy” for historical reasons but it’s a standard philosophy degree. Scottish undergraduate degrees like this are four years long, and lead to the award of an MA degree rather than a BA.

By this time, I’d already been reading many of the first year philosophy texts for several years, so I got off to a very good start, and flourished at university. I also took courses in cultural anthropology, psychology, and history of Indian religions, which meant I studied the Bhagavad Gita and Dhammapada in more depth. I joined the Buddhist society, regularly meditated, and went on several Buddhist meditation retreats.

We were fortunate to be able to study quite advanced topics at Aberdeen, and I particularly focused on Kant, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. However, I also took two courses in classical philosophy: Plato and Aristotle. We mainly focused on the Theaetetus and Nicomachean Ethics, although I read many other Greek philosophical texts at this time. I graduated joint top of my year, in 1996, won the John Laird memorial award for moral philosophy, and obtained a first class MA Hons degree.

Discovering Stoicism

It’s often observed that Stoicism is one of the main schools of ancient philosophy that’s largely ignored in undergraduate philosophy curricula. I loved studying philosophy but I was slightly frustrated that I still hadn’t found a philosophy of life, which I felt comfortable with. I had dabbled with yoga and Buddhism, but somehow they just didn’t click with me sufficiently. With more time now available to choose my own reading, I went back to the Gnostics. I read Hans Jonas’ The Gnostic Religion, which was inspired by Heidegger. I read Freud and Jung, trying for a while to find a way to combine existential philosophy, psychoanalysis, Neoplatonism, and Gnosticism.

Around 1996 or 1997, I began training in counselling and integrative psychotherapy. I studied very widely, covering many different models of psychotherapy, including Freud, Jung, Adler, Klein, Gestalt, REBT, CBT, Carl Rogers, and many more. I was a bit of a geek about the history of psychotherapy, actually, and read many obscure early texts. I became fascinated by the history of hypnotism, and evidence-based clinical hypnosis. (Not “New Age” hypnotherapy but what psychologists such as Hans Eysenck had written about research on hypnotic suggestion.) I later edited the complete writings of James Braid, the Scottish physician who discovered hypnotism, The Discovery of Hypnosis (2009) was therefore my first book.

Between graduating from Aberdeen and starting my masters degree, I stumbled across Pierre Hadot’s Plotinus, or The Simplicity of Vision, this was probably around 1997. I loved this book and began reading Hadot’s others: What is Ancient Philosophy?, Philosophy as a Way of Life, and his book on Marcus Aurelius, The Inner Citadel. Suddenly I realized that Stoicism combined all of my interested and I began immersing myself in reading the ancient Stoics. (That was about a quarter of century ago now, at the time of writing this summary.)

Sheffield University

In 1998, I enrolled part-time on the MA program in Psychoanalytic Studies at Sheffield University’s interdisciplinary Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies. This was really a course comparing academic philosophy and psychotherapy, mainly psychoanalysis. My dissertation was on Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism and Freudian psychoanalysis. I also studied a lot of Jacques Lacan at this time, and other postmodern thinkers, which weren’t really to my taste. I graduated with distinction in 2000. I was already starting to question psychoanalysis and losing interest in existentialism and psychoanalysis by the time the course began. During my time at Sheffield, I became progressively disillusioned with psychoanalysis and more interested in the relationship between Stoicism and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

Why didn’t I do my PhD in philosophy? When I graduated from Aberdeen, everyone assumed I’d go on to have a career in academic philosophy. I didn’t have much money, though, and, to my surprise, despite having a first, I was turned down for funding to do a PhD. I looked hard for an alternative, and found my way on to the integrative program at Sheffield, which seemed to be the best option I could afford at the time. Later, when I was earning more money, I tried to enroll on several PhD programs. Now I had both a 1st class degree in philosophy and a masters with distinction in philosophy and psychotherapy. However, I wanted to write my thesis on Stoic philosophy and CBT, and at that time could not find either a psychotherapy or philosophy department who would agree to supervise me. They told me they didn’t have anyone who knew enough about either subject to act as supervisor. (I could probably solve that problem now but I no longer feel the need to do a PhD.)

Harley Street Psychotherapist

After completing my studies at Sheffield, I carried on training in and practicing psychotherapy and counselling. I worked for about a year as a school counsellor for a youth drugs project in South London. Soon after this, I opened a private psychotherapy clinic in Harley Street, London, where I worked for many years, specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders. I also ran a training school for psychotherapists. I wrote many articles for magazines and journals, and gave many conference presentations, including on Stoicism and psychotherapy. A lot of these publications are not online but one of them, for the largest British counselling journal, the magazine of the BACP, was an introduction to Stoicism for therapists, published in 2005. I called it Stoic Philosophy as Psychotherapy. (Bizarrely, the BACP editor didn’t like Stoicism or CBT and renamed it “Stoicism, a lurking presence”, without my consent.)

I later went for an interview at one university well-known for psychotherapy, around 2008, I think, applying for their PhD program in philosophy and psychotherapy. It was a pretty shocking experience to me at the time. The member of staff who interviewed me seemed at the time, and in retrospect, like a real idiot, to be blunt. She made some very inappropriate and unprofessional remarks about other students. She also told me that students are viewed as a nuisance by staff and not to expect much in exchange for my fees, etc. She also told me she didn’t like CBT and that I should be studying postmodern theory and psychoanalysis instead. I left feeling pretty disillusioned – there was no way I was going to pay these people tuition fees or dedicate years of my life to studying in their establishment!

Frustrated, I suddenly decided that if I couldn’t find anyone to supervise my PhD thesis, I would just write it anyway, and try to get it published. I wrote a proposal for a book called How to Think Like a Roman Emperor in 2009, which I sent to Karnac, a British publisher who specialized in psychotherapy. Karnac rejected the proposal but suggested I resubmit with a title about philosophy and CBT. So I renamed it and it was subsequently published as The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy (2010). That would have been the basis of my PhD thesis, if I could have found an academic supervisor. Instead, it launched my career as a writer, and is now in its second revised edition, and has been translated into several languages.

Rather than pursue an academic PhD, I continued to train in different models of psychotherapy. I had already been incorporating elements of CBT in my clinical work for many years, and completed a diploma with Prof. Stephen Palmer. I went on to complete an advanced postgraduate diploma in cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy at Kings College, University of London, in 2011.

Around this time, I was also invited by an editor at Hodder, to write a book on CBT, Stoicism, and psychological resilience, called Build your Resilience (2012), for their popular Teach Yourself self-help series. I followed this up with another book for the same series, called Stoicism and the Art of Happiness (2013), which proved very popular and is now in its second revised edition, and available in several foreign languages.

Modern Stoicism

A few years after The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy was published, I was invited by Christopher Gill, emeritus professor of Ancient Thought at Exeter University in England, to attend a workshop there on Stoic philosophy and its practical applications, in Oct 2012. (There’s a video of the event on Facebook.)

We formed a multi-disciplinary team of academic philosophers, classicists, psychologists, and cognitive therapists. Our first project was to create an online course called Stoic Week, which subsequently ran every year, and in which an estimated 20k people have now participated. I later developed a more in-depth online course called Stoic Mindfulness and Resilience Training (SMRT), which we used to collect more robust data on psychological outcomes. Modern Stoicism also organizes an annual conference called Stoicon, which has led to many smaller Stoicon-x events around the world. It is now incorporated as a nonprofit organization in the UK.

Recent Developments

I started studying Stoic philosophy roughly 25 year ago, around 1997, and soon after that began writing articles and giving talks at conferences, etc. From around 2009 onward, when I began writing The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (2010), I started dedicating most of my time to Stoicism. I wrote Build your Resilience (2012) and Stoicism and the Art of Happiness (2013). In June 2013, I emigrated from the UK to Canada, and subsequently became a naturalized Canadian citizen.

In 2018, I visited Athens for the first time, and have returned many times since. I became a full-time writer, when St. Martin’s Press published my book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (2019). How to Think Like a Roman Emperor has since been translated into eighteen languages.

I subsequently wrote a graphic novel called Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (2021) for St. Martin’s, followed by a prose biography of Marcus Aurelius for Yale University Press’ Ancient Lives series (in press). I obtained my Greek residence permit around 2020 and now divide my time mostly between Canada and Greece.

In Jan 2022, I founded a nonprofit organization in Greece called The Plato’s Academy Centre, which aims to introduce Greek philosophy to a wider audience and to create a new international conference facility in the vicinity of Akadimia Platonos park in Athens, the original location of Plato’s Academy. You can find out more about the Plato’s Academy Centre from our website. At the moment, that’s the main project that I’m working on, along with other books, and ongoing workshops, public speaking, etc.

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