Whereas if you see it as an avoidance of stress, as an avoidance of unnecessary disturbance-- which is how it used to be perceived. Stoicism was the most popular school of philosophy for 500 years before Christianity exploded into the scene and took over that whole question.And their model was about achieving a sort of tranquility.
And what's really cool about stoicism -- Well, we can talk about stoicism a little bit more in a minute. But stoicism , the three most prominent stoics are Marcus Aurelius, who I just said was the emperor, Epictetus, who was a former slave. So you have the most powerful man in the world, and then a totally powerless man.
That's what I think. I think that modern stoicism has been revived in cognitive behavioral therapy. I think that the Epicurean philosophy has been revived in positive psychology.
Now, it's mostly pretentious, confusing, and complicated academic debates, right? So I focus on stoicism , specifically on Marcus Aurelius, who is at the time of writing his book "Meditations," which mine is partially based on, is this totally unique historical figure.
How do you actually deal with those practical issues in life? That's what stoicism 's about. Got it. Are there like a handful of lessons that you see yourself applying like on a daily basis that come from that philosophy, or that help you
And if you have equated wealth with personal happiness, now your personal happiness is outside of your control. And so stoicism is about control in that sense. How do you make the distinction between externals and internals and focus most of your energy on internals.
have to be true to yourself and like I don't allow that noise to distract me. We were talking um earlier about stoicism . I think like Marcus Aurelius's meditations is so informative on so many levels. I mean here you have somebody who was literally an emperor and he's writing this journal in a tent in a
your understanding of cause and effect human behavior is only half the equation. So stempathy is the combination of stoicism , of cause and effect of human behavior, and empathy of understanding the human being through that nonjudgmental curiosity from their point of view.
It's probably not partying, or going to nightclubs, or something like that. One of the most beautiful exercises in Stoicism is this exercise they call the dichotomy of control.
And the other is, am I doing the best possible job that I can do? For someone just getting into stoicism , where do you find a natural starting point?
We fall to the level of our training. So what I like about stoicism is that it offers practical ways of practicing this. The second would be practicing your worst-case scenario.
either-- Stachelski-- he had a picture of him on his desk for his rest of the time at the Patriots because this is And my last book was about stoicism and the stoics are always talking about having an attitude that's resilient, in case that always happens.
To me that's what philosophy is. And what's really cool about stoicism -- Well, we can talk about stoicism a little bit more in a minute. But stoicism , the three most prominent stoics are Marcus Aurelius, who I just said was the emperor, Epictetus, who was a former slave.
with in any way if they had any book advice. So weirdly I got introduced to stoicism , because when I was in college I got invited to this conference that was put on by Trojan condoms of all things. They had a conference in West Hollywood for like college journalists.
achieve that, which I'm sure we'll speak about. So what drew you-- said you'd become fascinated by stoicism . So what drew you into that?
I won't embarrass myself by trying to pronounce any of these. Mostly, I write about stoicism . The two stoic concepts are apathea and ataraxia.
Got it. You mentioned Seneca, who was like one of the wealthiest people at his time. I think a lot of people nowadays think stoicism is like sort of either not feeling emotion, or forgoing like all of your worldly possessions and not being materialistic.
is about making us join dots in a way that tell a story that becomes an impossible story. So what drew you from that world into thinking about philosophy and stoicism ? What's the connection? I began my career as a hypnotist, and then a close-up magician doing card tricks and that kind of thing, and then moved into a purely psychological realm
And then, that kind of level of exploration sort of for a couple of thousand years. So it is starting to join up, and stoicism is quite popular now.
And the other is, am I doing the best possible job that I can do? Right. So you talked a lot about stoicism .
And the other is, am I doing the best possible job that I can do? I wrote a piece for Tim Ferriss' website a few years ago called Stoicism 101, Philosophy for Entrepreneurs.
But that doesn't distill itself well into a headline or a three minute video, and so you see so much content created along those lines. Cool. Let's talk about philosophy and stoicism a little bit. That's the subject of the newest book.
I said, this guy's talking like normal people. What all academics, the view of stoicism , is that they'd be like academics-- boring, and like fashionable stoicism , unmoved by the world.
But it's difficult to control for it. And then there's a lot of disciplines, like stoicism or mindfulness meditation or cognitive behavioral therapy that try to get you to have more control over your conscious experience.
OK. It was inspired, I should say. That is something rooted in history, and it had this grandeur and this sort of stoicism to it. How did you feel doing a movie like that?
And then, that kind of level of exploration sort of for a couple of thousand years. And there's plenty of that, and you see it in, well, cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is a very popular form of therapy, is based on stoicism .
And then, that kind of level of exploration sort of for a couple of thousand years. So you start to see it-- or rational-behavioral therapy, I think it was called first-- based very much on the tenets of stoicism .
All right. All right. ERIC M. RUIZ: So, Ryan, I've been a huge fan of your work and following your career since the Tim Ferriss stoicism post days, and something that I noticed about your latest book was that it was very much kept under wraps.
are documented in his book, "The Happy Body." Beyond that, what I'm learning is that the story that brought him on this journey is equally engaging and entertaining, and this takes us into realms of mindfulness, philosophy, stoicism , and that will be woven through. So it's not just about diet and exercise, although those things are core to his message.
What's the one thing you need to do to beat all your friends and family at Monopoly? How has that changed your philosophy, and how have things like minimalism, and stoicism , and kind of non-attachment to material things and money
So how do you reconcile those things? Sure. Well, one of the saddest parts of philosophy is that stoicism is known as being the philosophy of not having emotions. And then epicureanism is known as being the philosophy of like loving luxury, and whatever.