Declaration of Independence: and Stoic ideas about equality and natural law and natural rights, 140–41
Demetrius (friend of Seneca), 99, 173
destination. See having a destination; wandering vs. having a destination
dichotomy of control, 6; Epictetus on, 92–93; as expressed by Seneca, 91–92; term coined by William B. Irvine, 228n4
Diogenes of Sinope: described as “a Socrates gone mad,” 24
Diotima of Mantinea (teacher of Socrates), 23
egalitarianism: in the Stoic view of virtue, 94
Einstein, Albert: on the rationality present in nature, 110; as a pantheist, 198
Ellis, Albert (psychologist): “ABC Theory of Emotion,” 54; a founder of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), 54; influenced by Stoicism, 54–55
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: and Seneca, xiii
emotional contagions, 133–34, 135. See also crowd psychology
emotions: “ABC Theory of Emotion” (Albert Ellis), and Stoic philosophy, 54–55; the four types of emotions in Stoic psychology, 65–66; Stoics experience normal human feelings, 64–65. See also love or affection; eupatheiai (good emotions); pathē (extreme negative emotions); propatheiai (natural human feelings)
envy: and wealth, 122
Epictetus: on adversity as training, 100; on amor fati, 113; on complaining, 112; dichotomy of control, 92–93; on emotions, 2; on fear of death, 172, 174; on finding goodness inside, 93; on “follow nature,” 111, 114; a former slave, 42; on freedom, 42, 207; on gratitude, 204; on judgments or opinions, 56; on memento mori, 167; on mindfulness (prosochē), 53; on persistence, 159; ridiculed Epicurean philosophers for their antisocial views, 150; on testing impressions, 70; on transforming adversity, 102
Epicurus, 148: his diet, 149, 234n1; encouraged his followers to avoid marriage and politics, 150; “live unnoticed,” 150; on not fearing death, 174; on philosophy as therapy, 4; “rehearse for death,” 167; on wealth, 120
Epicurean philosophy, 148–50; and atomism, 149; “pleasure” only meant the absence of pain, 149
equality: “all men are created equal,” 140–41; human equality in Stoic philosophy, 138–39
eudaimonia (well-being): found by “completing life” in Seneca, 174–75, 210; as “the happy life,” 175; as a lasting state of mind, 211; as “a life truly worth living” in Stoicism, 8; and Stoic joy, 211–13; virtue results in, 7–8, 211–12. See also tranquility or peace of mind
eupatheiai (good emotions), 65–66. See also emotions, the four types of emotions in Stoic psychology
euthanasia, 178
everything is on loan to us from the universe, 114, 186–88; Epictetus on, 187; Seneca on, 187
expectancy: postponing life for the future, 42, 85
exposure therapy, 98: and “practicing poverty,” 125–26; and premeditation of future adversity, 98
external things: as advantages but not real goods, 93–94; as “false goods,” 28, 209; finding real goodness inside, 93; gratitude and appreciation for, 187, 204, 210; not a source of real happiness, 209. See also everything is on loan to us from the universe
false beliefs: as a cause of mental suffering, 7, 18, 19, 27–29, 41, 48, 49, 50, 53, 56, 63, 66, 67, 207, 212. See also judgments or opinions
fame and fortune, 120, 122
Fate (cause and effect), 108, 111–12; Cleanthes on Fate, 111; story of dog and cart, 111
“follow nature” (live in agreement with nature), 5; and complaining, 110–14; Epictetus on, 111; meanings of, 110–12
Ferriss, Timothy: on “practicing poverty,” 125–26; how wealth affects people differently, 120
Fortune, 115–18, 120; appreciating the gifts of Fortune, 187, 203–4; 210; and dichotomy of control, 91–92; Fortuna, a Roman goddess, 115; gifts of Fortune are only on loan to us, 187, 210; nonattachment from the gifts of Fortune, 118, 127; 187; not “up to us,” 91, 116; rising above Fortune and chance, 207–9; transforming misfortune into something good, 100; using the gifts of Fortune, 127–28, 209–10; and virtue, 91–92; Wheel of Fortune, 115–17. See also fame and fortune; freedom, as rising above fortune and chance; poverty; wealth
Frankl, Viktor, 70
freedom: Epictetus on, 42, 206; and eudaimonia, 206–8; meaning of in Greece and Rome (self-possession), 41; as rising above Fortune and chance, 207–9; as self-sufficiency, 208–10; in Seneca’s philosophy, 40–42, 206–9, 210.
freedmen, 40
feelings. See emotions, the four types of emotions in Stoic psychology; propatheiai
friendship: essential for character-development, 21–22, 23, 137–38; and the experience of timeless human community, 44; friends vs. acquaintances, 21; friends as “mirrors,” 22; and letter-writing, 19–20; and real philosophy, xiii–xiv; in Seneca’s philosophy, xiii–iv, 16–23; 31–31, 137–38; with thinkers from the past, 43; three levels of (in Aristotle), 20–22
generosity and gratitude, 200, 205. See also gratitude
Gleiser, Marcelo: on tribalism, 142
God: athesim, pantheism, and theism, 198–99; as being equivalent to nature in Stoic philosophy, 109, 139, 199–200, 240n25
gods: how Stoic philosophers thought about the traditional gods, 200–201
goods vs. advantages in Stoic philosophy, 92–94; wealth as an advantage, 67, 127
grass is greener syndrome, 86
gratitude: both a virtue and an emotion, 192, 195; feeling gratitude for one’s life at the time of death, 204–5; feelings of gratitude inspired by memento mori, 167, 187–88; gratitude for existence experienced by atheists, 202–3; importance of in Stoicism, 192–95; makes society possible, 195; Marcus Aurelius on, 114, 194; as “a philosophical emotion,” 203; and premeditation of future adversity, 98–99; psychology of, 195–96; relationship to appreciation and love, 193, 203–5; replacing grief with gratitude, 188–89; three types of, 196–97; toward nature, 201. See also appreciation; generosity
greed: based on a false belief, 67; gave birth to poverty, 119; and wealth, 122
grief, 181–89; finding moderation in grief, 183–85; as a natural human feeling, 181–84; reducing the shock of, 185–88; replacing grief with gratitude, 188–89; and the Stoic sage, 181; and weeping, 181–83. See also propatheiai (natural human feelings)
happiness: discovered within, 209, 210; found by “completing life,” 174–75, 210; not dependent on external things, 209; and “the happy life,” 175, 210. See also eudaimonia; Stoic joy
having a destination, 79–87, 154; and self-consistency, 153–55. See also Stoic philosophy, as a path; wandering vs. having a destination
hedonic adaptation, 98
Helvia (mother of Seneca), 118, 182
herd mentality, 133. See also crowd psychology
Hierocles: on okeiōsis, 145–47
Highest Good: and having a guiding purpose, 87
hedonism: Roman, 13–15; Seneca on the emptiness of, 15
Holiday, Ryan: on transforming adversity, 102
Holowchak, Mark, 85
Horace, 79
human community, 138–47; and affection or love, 63, 65, 144–45, 191; and the cosmopolis, 142–44, 150–51; and identity politics, 143; and philosophy, xiv; tearing apart, 143; timeless community, 44–45