Hi. My name is Rubi.
Stoic philosophy is something that my wife and I in our own little way have been trying to incorporate into our life over the last few years. It’s a life long journey but the more we have implemented practices or ideas into our lives the happier we’ve been.
Minimalism is something that my wife and I have also been deeply drawn to and feel connected to. We’ve over the years been making lifestyle changes and doing what we can, drawing from both Eastern and Western sources with regards to minimalism
Ultimately, Stoicism and Minimalism are both small but growing communities on a cultural and society scale, and are kept alive by creation. There is nothing wrong with just consuming stoic content — that alone provides a need for stoicism to continue being put out there. Ultimately for it to thrive I feel that it should be shared with each other. I liken it in my head to a bunch of disparate hobby bakers who meet up or send each other their recipes and baked goods. As part of my journey I want to dive in and share the stoic and minimal practises and ideas that have and continue to improve my life.
I do not claim to be an expert in either stoicism or minimalism. I have benefited and found a quality of life improvement in incorporating these philosophies/lifestyles and hope to continue to learn and to contribute to the stoicism and minimalism movements in my own little way.
I think certain things in life thrive when shared and lived in society to a greater degree than anonymously at home. I’m actually a very private person, and like many I have insecurities, but it is important for me to share what I have learnt and my experiences with both stoicism and minimalism, in the hopes that it will help others.
I’ve shared below my favourite resources for learning stoicism.
The first three are my favorites and in order of importance with the most impactful first.The notable mention extras aren’t in any order of importance.
While these resources aren’t necessarily run by practicing stoics or the main focus I do feel that the quality is great and they have always stood out to me. And depending on where you are on your journey of stoicism it might be easier to digest starting with these sources.
While I do not agree with all the viewpoints of these content creators — especially very political ones like Sam Harris — I have them here purely for their contribution to stoicism.
Firstly, Greg Sadler is an incredible person with a very interesting life story. I’ve been following him for many years for philosophy in general but especially for his stoicism. There is hardly anyone else that has as much quality and content as he does. He has put together some of the most practical breakdowns of stoicism and how to implement it in life.
Most importantly he seems completely genuine and like an honest decent person that I would feel comfortable spending time with. I reside outside the US but If i could I’d go to Milwaukee just to attend some of the book readings or meetups that he hosts.
He is that rare blend of academic and practicing stoic but the combination of his personality and that unique set of traits is what makes me so appreciative of him and his content.
Here is a description from his YT: “I bring philosophy into practice, making complex classic philosophical ideas accessible for a wide audience of professionals, students, and life-long learners. After a decade in traditional academic positions, I started my own business and began doing philosophical work in more practical contexts. I am an APPA-certified philosophical counselor, a public speaker, an author, an ethics trainer, and an executive coach (among other things!). I am also the editor of Stoicism Today and the producer of the Half Hour Hegel series.”
https://modernstoicism.com/perspectives-stoics-are-not-unemotional/
Second, is the blog Modern Stoicism. This is my number one email subscription I choose to follow. It has a variety of contributors and I learn so much from it (Sadler is a prominent member). Sometimes they’ll share technical philosophical aspects of stoicism or just everyday implementation of it. Here is a blurb of the team from their site “Modern Stoicism has grown since its initial founding in 2012. It now includes a number of team members in various roles. At present, there are nine active members in the steering committee for Modern Stoicism, all of whom also serve on the Stoicism Today editorial committee” they also run the International Stoic Week which “The idea behind Stoic Week is simple: it is an opportunity for you to see whether Stoic philosophy can help you lead a better life. In order to achieve this we provide a free online course, with step by step exercises and audio meditations, which you can sign up to. We also provide wellbeing questionnaires before and after the week so you can measure your progress.”
Third is Simon Drew ,the first Stoic podcast (The Practical Stoic Podcast) I started listening to (and happens to be my favourite):
https://www.simonjedrew.com/practicalstoicpodcast/ this is the description he has of his show on YouTube “The Practical Stoic Podcast: Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that originated in Greece over 2,000 years ago, and its teachings have left ripples throughout the world ever since. Simon has been exploring the ideas of Stoicism on the Practical Stoic Podcast for over three years now, and to date he has helped thousands of people around the world to transform themselves using these ancient principles. Go to simonjedrew.com/podcast/to listen and subscribe.”
I actually find that I got more about Simon’s own thoughts of Stoicism than his actual guests and their interviews.
Notable mentions are;
Sam Harris. The reason is actually his app which has an entire course on stoicism — The Stoic Path by William B. Irvine (another practicing stoic and author). I have been following Sam Harris for several years and listening to his podcast Making Sense for many years. While I disagree an awful lot about many things with him I do love what he has been doing with content creation by funding and choosing to move away from the advertisement model and pushing for a cultural shift for many years before Patreon and all these platforms were in vogue. My wife and I use his app and meditations as part of our evening routine. Mindfulness, being present in the moment, and stoicism go hand in hand and this app is really the best out there that I have experienced.
Tim Ferris and his podcast. While I haven’t read all of his books, he has done a lot about putting stoicism out there in the mainstream. https://tim.blog/stoic/
Freedom in Thought is a channel that is beautifully voiced and animated and has some videos on stoicism that have stuck with me. Short simple and actionable application of philosophy and psychology to live a better life.
Stoa Nova is run by another academic and stoic, Massimo Pigliucci he’s put out a lot of videos and articles over the years his blog is here: https://figsinwinter.blog/stoa-nova/
Lastly is the beautifully put together blog Brain Pickings https://www.brainpickings.org/tag/stoicism/ she also has a weekly email that I’ve been getting for many years with tons of value from a variety of interesting fields. Here is a description from her site: “Brain Pickings has a free Sunday digest of the week’s most interesting and inspiring articles across art, science, philosophy, creativity, children’s books, and other strands of our search for truth, beauty, and meaning.”
There is a ton of value that goes unnoticed because most people flock straight out the most popular podcasts, authors and personalities. I’m sure there are some which I have forgotten but these have been my go-to resources for several years.
You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned some of the bigger names in the stoic community or space but that is because they are not my personal favorites. While they have more book sales figures and contributed a lot in terms of books and podcasts they are not necessarily my favourite or what I have personally found useful. This doesn’t mean that you won’t find value from them. We are all different and encourage you to look to many sources before narrowing down on a few that you engage with on a regular basis. There is so much valuable content on various platforms. Even though the community isn’t very big we are spoiled with quality and I hope that the community only grows and that we can learn from each other.
Comment below to let me know who your favorite sources of stoic wisdom are.