Sellars on the Definition of Virtue

I'm working my way through John Sellars' book "Stoicism" as part of my studies for the College of Stoic Philosophers SES course. His book is excellent so I decided to search Youtube to see if he has any lectures posted.

He does. 

In his talk he gives some definitions which stand out to me and which I'd like to record (I use this blog as a sort of commonplace book):

"Bad" Passions: unpleasant emotional experiences based on mistaken value judgements

"Good" Passions: positive emotional responses that are based on correct value judgements

Good: something that always and necessarily benefits us

Virtue: the only good... an excellent, healthy state of mind

Joy: the good passion produced by virtue

New Stoa

I'm on hiatus while I work through the Stoic Essential Studies course from the College of Stoic Philosophers.

On Losing One's Mojo

My advice to a reddit user who had lost his mojo:

So there was an incident. You got sucked in. You made mistakes.

That's in the past now. You can't change it, so you might as well get something out of it, right? And besides, did you think that you're a sage? You're not. I'm not. Nobody on this forum is. So these things are going to happen. You will never be perfect; you'll just approach perfection, if you study and practice regularly.

I would make a T-chart. I'd actually write it in pen and paper. It helps focus the mind (like Marcus's journaling). On the left write "What did I learn?" On the right write "What can I fix?"

Perhaps you learned that you would rather not express political opinions when you don't have to, because nobody gets much out of it. Perhaps you can somewhat fix things by apologizing to Ted. By the way, if you apologize I recommend doing it once, completely, and then never again. They accept it or they don't, but groveling won't help anyone.

You seem like a person who might hold himself to a high standard. That is certainly useful, but then again there is a freedom in realizing that you're not perfect and you never will be. Accepting this lets you view yourself with some sympathy. Like Seneca says, it allows you to become a better friend to yourself. As Stoics we are to be kind to our fellow people, but we are also called to be kind to ourselves. Correcting our faults need not come with a big dose of guilt. Look at the Meditations; here's a man who is honest with himself without beating himself up. He writes to himself as he would write to a close friend.

As for your work schedule, your diet, your working out etc. I would view this as an opportunity. It's good training. If you can force yourself to muster some discipline and follow a schedule in the bad times it will be MUCH easier to do in the good times. It will build character and expand the soul.

And consider this: 1.5 months ago when you were happily rolling along were you REALLY being tested? Were you REALLY developing as a person? Perhaps you were, but not as much as you are about to. Easy living is NOT what builds a life, right? This is. This is where a strong soul is forged. How else would it happen? How can you grow if you're never tested?

Since I am a Stoic theist* I'd also say that God has given us the tools we need to achieve virtue. Epictetus said this too. You have all you need. It's reassuring when you think about it like that.

Finally I would be really interested to hear back from you. Did any of our advice work? Did you learn something that we can use? Please keep in touch. Better yet maybe start a blog and let us follow your progress. Watching somebody break through (and you WILL break through) is heartening.

*No offense to my atheist brothers and sisters! Big tent! Big tent!

A Baltimore Cop Lays It All Out

Joe Rogan recently interviewed Michael A. Wood, an ex police officer from Baltimore, Maryland. Wood is totally honest. Whether you agree with him or not he is speaking the truth as he sees it. It's very brave. Very self-reflective.

He says this of walking through Black neighborhoods off duty: "When you go through the city, it's not at all what you think it is... it's not like things were chaos in the neighborhood; ladies are sweeping their steps. But the neighborhood changes once you have that uniform and those lights and you are now the authority."

He seems to want to change the world by first questioning his own impressions. Pretty Stoic.

That said, I am a mere consumer of information. I don't know the whole story down there and I can't pretend to.

Check it out here.

A Little Boy With Nothing Giving A Millionaire His Phone Back

It starts at minute 4:00...

Russell Brand is distributing chocolate in a slum (which he admits might be tasteless and ego gratifying) when a kid steals his Iphone. Another kid brings it back and refuses any reward. That is virtue.

Verba Rebus Proba

Verba rebus proba. "Prove your words with things."

Duffstoic posted this maxim by Seneca on the Reddit sub, and it's a good one.

Jules Evans on Stoicism and CBT

In this video Jules Evans explains how "millions of people have got access to the theraputic wisdom of the ancient Greeks" through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He was a student of CBT first and then became a Stoic as a result.

It happened like this: after benefiting from CBT Evans decided to look up its founder, Albert Ellis. Ellis, at the age of 92, gave Evans an interview (his last). Ellis described how, as a Fruedian psychoanalyst, he had become frustrated by his patients' lack of progress. He looked back to his earlier studies and revisited Epictetus. He synthesized some of Epictetus's teachings into a new therapy which has been proven by science to be highly effective.

In light of this one might ask why Stoicism is necessary at all, since we have a modern evidence-based version. Evans gives us two reasons. First, because the ancients expressed Stoic ideas in some of the most beautiful language available in the Western canon, and that makes Stoicism highly persuasive. Second, CBT left some things out. Specifically it left out a concept of virtue, or what it means to live a good life. Also it left out higher questions such as "what is the meaning of life?" and "what does it mean to flourish?"

Worth your time.