In May 2019, I bought a book. It is a collection of daily readings offering classic wisdom. It is a book about philosophy, a subject derided by some as utterly useless because they think it debates unanswerable questions but lauded by others because they regard it as the most academic subject available. You needn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge to read philosophy; you can study it in your own front room. Day by day I made my way through this book. Twelve months later I was stunned, it is the most useful book I have ever read. I am re-reading it.
The title is The Daily Stoic written by best-selling author Ryan Holiday assisted by Stephen Hanselman, a philosophy graduate from Harvard. This series of meditations on wisdom is designed to contribute to the art of living and “tested in the laboratory of human existence.” Each day’s entry starts with a quote from people such as Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor, Seneca, a Hispano-Roman playwright or Epictetus, the slave-turned-philosopher.
Holiday follows each quote with an enlargement of the principle supported by an example. May I recommend this book on stoicism, a school of philosophy founded by Zeno in Athens, centuries before Christ, yet still relevant today.
Philosophy will not teach you how to repair your neighbour’s car but it will provide the spirit level of life, the skill to deal with your obnoxious boss or your recalcitrant teenage children. You will acquire the ability to use reasoning principle in many situations, appreciate the benefit of virtue, the ability to minimise the damage caused by adverse behaviour and the capacity to dismiss that which is outside your control. It will help to reduce stress and pave the way to fulfilment. It’s worth a try.