I never went to college, well does a few weeks count? High School was tough, Jr. High really tough and because we moved so often as Beatniks gramner school wasn’t there. I hitch hiked around the world at 17 for my education and I graduated Sum Cum Laude from the School of Hard Knocks in 1972 and have been studying life since. After working in 99 different professions I feel I know enough to help others. I’m not a real Dr. It’s a nickname given to me because I dispense a prescription for a happier and longer life. I always want to learn more each day as one of my philosophies states “The more you know the easier your life will be and the more valuable you are to others” I am an author, entrpreneur, self professed philosopher, motivational speaker and life coach. Much of my knowledge is trenched in common knowledge which today is not so common.
I just learned about Stoicism and it appears I am a stoic. I just googled the definition. For those of us who live our lives in the real world, there is one branch of philosophy created just for us: Stoicism. It’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise–and as a result, better people, better parents and better professionals. Stoicism has been a common thread though some of history’s great leaders. It has been practiced by Kings, presidents, artists, writers and entrepreneurs. Marcus Aurelius. Frederick the Great, Montaigne, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Theodore Roosevelt, General James Mattis, —just to name a few—were all influenced by Stoic philosophy. Add to the list Dr. Fantastic.
I found this great quote.
“Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only they truly live. Not satisfied to merely keep good watch over their own days, they annex every age to their own. All the harvest of the past is added to their store.”
— Seneca
It keeps getting better. Except to the most avid seekers of wisdom, Stoicism is either unknown or misunderstood. To the average person, this vibrant, action-oriented, and paradigm-shifting way of living has become shorthand for “emotionlessness.” Given the fact that the mere mention of philosophy makes most nervous or bored, “Stoic philosophy” on the surface sounds like the last thing anyone would want to learn about, let alone urgently need in the course of daily life.
It would be hard to find a word that dealt a greater injustice at the hands of the English language than “Stoic.” In its rightful place, Stoicism is a tool in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom: something one uses to live a great life, rather than some esoteric field of academic inquiry. Certainly, many of history’s great minds not only understood Stoicism for what it truly is, they sought it out: George Washington, Walt Whitman, Frederick the Great, Eugène Delacroix, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Jefferson, Matthew Arnold, Ambrose Bierce, Theodore Roosevelt, William Alexander Percy, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Each read, studied, quoted, or admired the Stoics. The ancient Stoics themselves were no slouches from Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca—belonged to, respectively, a Roman emperor, a former slave who triumphed to become an influential lecturer and friend of the emperor Hadrian, and a famous playwright and political adviser.
What have all these and countless other great men and women found within Stoicism that others missed? A great deal. Primarily, that it provides much needed strength, wisdom, and stamina for all of life’s challenges. One of my philosophies has been NEVER let circumstances out of your control affect your disposition- traffic, weather, rude people, etc. So I am happy to report I am a Stoic and hope to convince others it’s the way to be.
What you want to be, you can be, be a Stoic.
Dr. Fantastic
