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Stoic Philosophy Book Club? Want to join?

1179 sats \ 27 comments \ @Se7enZ 8 Feb BooksAndArticles

I recently had an exchange on social media where I was challenged to introspect my difficulties with getting distracted by too many interests and not following through on projects by reading some stoic philosophy. I'm not a stranger to Stoic ideas, but I haven't actually sat down and read the material directly, yet.

Lately, I've been spending more attention with Buddhism and Eastern ideas, but perhaps it's time to balance that with a healthy does of Western thought. Reading some Stoicism for myself may also hopefully encourage more decisive action in my life.

So... is anybody here interested in participating in an experimental online book club? My initial thought would be to try this out reading Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, but open to other suggestions. We'll decide on a translation, set some timeline goals for reading, and share our reflections either here on StackerNews, or on Nostr. If interested, add a comment with:

Hell yes, confirming interest
If you have a recommendation of translation or specific interest in a book other than Meditations
If you prefer StackerNews or Nostr as a means for periodic communication
Any preferences with regard to timeline

LMK - I'm interested to see where this experiment might go!

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580 sats \ 4 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 10 Feb

@siggy47 @cryotosensei @carlosfandango

Welp. My copy just arrived in the mail, and I've been brainstorming about organizing principles to facilitate us learning from each other and stay engaged. Here are a few thoughts:

Since there are multiple translations, it might be helpful to share quotes liberally, especially when context or wording might be important.

Perhaps each person reads and writes at their own pace. Each chapter could be a separate post, and the first person to write up their initial reaction can take the initiative to author it. Primary discussion on that chapter would take place on that participant's post in the comment section.

I imagine all the users who have openly expressed interest in being a part of the project should be tagged in the post body, and that list might grow over time if new people join. Also, maybe we keep an index of these posts here by adding a comment thread here which links to each new post.

We share whatever we want -- anything from purely interpretive analysis on the text to deeply personal reflections on how you relate to it in your own life. Whatever we feel comfortable with.

What do you all think? Personally, I hope to read Chapter 1 sometime early next week.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 11 Feb

Sounds good. I agree that chapter posts will be best, so that we can consolidate all the discussion related to a chapter in one post.

I would suggest no more than 3 chapter posts in one week, regardless of how fast we are reading. Keeps the discussion focused

Let’s roll

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @carlosfandango 10 Feb

Cool. Just to be sure by ‘Chapter’ do you mean ‘Book’? Not sure how your copy is divided up..?

179 sats \ 1 reply \ @Se7enZ OP 10 Feb

You're right. "Book" it is.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @carlosfandango 10 Feb

Great!

129 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bitman 13 Feb freebie

Hey guys, I've just been made aware of this post by @cryotosensei and I'm also down for this.

However, with my poor health at the wheel expect more of a freewheeling Bob Dylan than a pole position Lewis Hamilton.

Marcus, as a stoic obviously was seen to persevere:

in his old age takes up his tablets and goes to school¹

So I'll give the journey a go and pick up my tablet too.

I'm down for the book and author.

Thankfully, as bitcoiners, we're reading the author with his Stoic hat and not his hat as emperor.²

BTW is there a link to the discussion?

https://wikiless.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius?lang=en ↩
According to Wikipedia Marcus, as Emperor, chose to devalue the Roman currency. If he had a tablet, surely he could have run Bitcoin? /s ↩

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 13 Feb

@Bitman Great! Happy to have you contribute in any capacity. I just finished reading Book 1 right now and am in the process of reflecting and compiling my thoughts. What I didn't plan for, was a massive, fascinating introduction to the book which has me a little slow to get going.

I hope to get a post for Book 1 up today, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 13 Feb

Discussion post is up, in case you aren’t aware

I’m sure you will have plenty of things to say, even if you regard yourself as a freewheeling Bob Dylan

Speedy recovery!

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @byzantine 13 Feb

hell yes

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 10 Feb

I’m in. I just borrowed this from the electronic library in my country. After @Se7enZ expounded so much on the benefits of meditation, I figured I should take it as a sign from the Universe to learn more about it

https://m.stacker.news/15561

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 10 Feb

Ha! Glad to have you! This initiative is the result of wondering whether I've been doing a little too much silent sitting and trying to cultivate some more activity and accomplishment in the world... So yeah, I'm sure we have a lot to learn from each other :)

21 sats \ 9 replies \ @siggy47 8 Feb

Yes, I'm interested. Meditations really lends itself to this type of thing, IMO. Kind of like this podcast: https://fountain.fm/show/0Q13Qq59vjwnywODmMiy

50 sats \ 6 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 9 Feb

FYI - I've got Meditations: A New Translation on the way from Amazon, translated by Gregory Hays.

Are you still down if it's just the two of us to start?

141 sats \ 4 replies \ @carlosfandango 9 Feb

If you build it they will come….

20 sats \ 3 replies \ @siggy47 9 Feb

Am I being too optimistic to say that makes three?

148 sats \ 2 replies \ @carlosfandango 9 Feb

Optimistic as to whether I have anything to offer..

41 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 9 Feb

You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm interested in learning. I hope someone knows what they're talking about.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 11 Feb

Well we have a Chinese saying that goes something like “ three ignorant cobblers add up to a genius”. I’m sure our collective wisdom will lead to something beautiful 😍

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 9 Feb

Yes.

298 sats \ 1 reply \ @Se7enZ OP 8 Feb

Great! The podcast looks good too... I'm going to try and stay away from interpretive content on the subject beforehand though, so I can see what comes up for me organically.

Happy you're interested. Let's see if there are others.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 8 Feb

I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of stoics lurking around SN.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Roll 13 Feb

Seems to be interesseteing topic, if i can help no pb (but i m not an english native).

But why have you choose to start with Marcus Aurelius? As i would have probably choosen someone from India/China first...

5 sats \ 1 reply \ @Se7enZ OP 13 Feb

Somebody suggested I read Meditations to be cultivate more motivation. Feel free to chime in. Are you signalling that you want to be mentioned on future posts to stay up to date?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Roll 13 Feb

Yes i m interesseted in but i do not know until where.. Because i ve realized with time that the experience has to be inward throught meditation, yoga or other method ( now i try to invest more and more time on it vs books/videos...)

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 13 Feb

Discussion Index Post

2/13/2024: Stoic Book Club: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius #1 - Debts and Lessons

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Se7enZ OP 19 Feb

2/19/2024: Stoic Book Club: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius #2 - On the River Gran, Among the Quadi

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Se7enZ OP 26 Feb

2/26/2023: Stoic Book Club: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius #3 - In Carnuntum

Footnotes

Discussion Index Post