🌷 Sunday Snippets: July 20th, 2025
Including reasons to do philosophy...
Hi all,
Here are the latest Stoic snippets for you to enjoy this Sunday!
Wishing you a great week ahead,
Allan
📌 Stoic Reminder
🤔 New Substack Post
Why Do Philosophy? - This is a longer post that I was inspired to write after reading Italo Calvino’s excellent essay, Why read the classics?.
It aims to convey the benefits of practicing Stoicism by presenting 15 different, but related, definitions of philosophy.
That might sound like an unusual format, but it should hopefully make sense when you read it. I hope you find it useful.
🎨 Art Inspired By Stoicism
Vanitas - This is a really interesting look at the tradition of vanitas artwork, which peaked around the 17th century, and was concurrent with and born from the Neostoic philosophical movement.
It was a movement that prized somber reflection on the human condition, drawing inspiration from the timely warnings of Stoicism to prepare for death and embrace the intransience of life.
From the intro:
When you think of Stoic artwork, what do you think of? Maybe a bust of Marcus Aurelius, or a memento mori illustration with a smiling skull? Or perhaps you’re drawing a blank, wondering if there is even such a thing as Stoic art. In fact, there is a long but somewhat hidden tradition of artwork inspired by Stoic ideas.
We Are Not Disturbed By Events - This was one of this week’s most popular Micro Morning Meditations.
This principle has helped me observe my feelings about life events carefully, from a detached perspective. The idea is to separate our thoughts about events from events themselves. Then we see the proof that it isn’t events that are disturbing us, it’s our opinions about them.
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📜 Quote For The Week Ahead
[The Stoics] believed that we need to lead a virtuous life, a life that is in conformity with nature, according to rationality or logic. A virtuous life in Stoicism is a life of wisdom, justice, courage, and self-discipline. Such a life is a rational life. Therefore, it is the good life which includes a sense of well-being, freedom, and happiness. Freedom is a by-product of the good life.
—Chuck Chakrapani, Unshakable Freedom
🎙 Latest Podcast Episode
Controlling What You Can Gives You Wings - In this episode, we explore the timeless Stoic lesson that true freedom lies in accepting what we can’t control—echoed powerfully in the life and art of Frida Kahlo.
Drawing parallels between Epictetus’s teachings and Kahlo’s indomitable spirit, we see how even when life confines our bodies, our will can still soar.