C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

      Although my posts on Stoic philosophy are not as popular as those on lifting (or drinking beer, or good literature), I am going to continue with them nonetheless.      For those interested in lifting weights – whether you’re a bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just casual lifter (or, hell, even for you Crossfitters) – Stoicism is the philosophy par excellence.  Lifting weights, particularly hard and heavy lifting, can teach us a lot about how to live our lives, but we have to learn to listen to what our lives have to tell us.  For some, the art of listening is a little more difficult.  This is where philosophy comes in.      This particular piece comes from Seneca.  Seneca has long been my favorite of the Roman writers on Stoicism.  Perhaps this is because he is not just a Stoic, for he borrows on other philosophies of antiquity when they serve his purpose.      This piece on death, and how it’s one thing to live a life, and it’s another thing to just exist, is also one of my

      I have long been enamored of ancient Greek philosophy – but of Stoicism in particular.  The truth is, I have long been a Stoic, even when I didn’t realize what exactly that word meant.  Its philosophical thought rings ever true in my ears.  It is, in many ways, so similar to the Buddhist and Taoist philosophy that I have practiced – to both greater and lesser degrees – throughout much of my life (and it is, also in many ways, a bridge that helped me to crossover from eastern philosophy to Orthodoxy).      But Stoicism – despite what many modern “stoics” say in various books or in places on the internet – is not “Buddhism in Greek garb.”  The truth is that the Stoics were very theistic, as is evidenced by this wonderful, always delightful (and forever ringing with the sounds of Truth) essay by the great Stoic philosopher Seneca.      Seneca is best known for his work “Letters to a Stoic”, but, personally, I enjoy his moral epistles and his essays much better.  This is also my