Stoicism 101
Essential lessons from the painted porch
A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Stoicism is a philosophy of life. Meaning that its principles can be learned and applied to daily living. It is composed of three core elements of understanding: logic, physics, and ethics. Logic is the art of relating to one self. You could think of this as trying to remain tranquil, or rational in everything you do. Physics is the art of relating to, and trying to understand the universe, and accepting your lack of control over it. You’ll see most of the ancient Stoics refer to this as Living according to nature.
Most people in the modern age are primarily concerned with the ethical side of things, which is knowing how to act and relate to other people. The Stoics argue that once we have mastered the art of reason (logic), we can then determine our ethics. Hence the main focus on this article will explore briefly the core principles, mostly from an ethnical standpoint.
A quick history
Stoicism was one of the main philosophies of the Hellenistic Period. The school was founded in Athens, Ancient Greece, by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. The name…
