The Strong Stoic Podcast

Groups are an inherent part of human experience. We've been in tribes for a very long time from an evolutionary perspective. But not all groups are created equal. Some groups are formed out of love for others within the group. Others, however, are formed out of hatred for those outside of their group. Though it may sound like a subtle difference, it makes all the difference in terms of group sustainability and flourishing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nietzsche exclaimed in 1882 that “God is dead”. He wasn’t celebrating this fact; he was actually disheartened by it. He was critical of, well, every philosophy, really, including the Christians, and even the Stoics. And though I don't agree with everything Nietzsche has proposed, he does seem to be right about one thing: the death of God as an idea, a construct, would send humanity into a massive conundrum - essentially, the question of: is life worth living? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shane Trotter is an author, educator, and a strength and conditioning coordinator. His book “Setting the Bar: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Era of Distraction, Dependency, and Entitlement” is a book that I often recommend to teachers, parents, or anyone else with kids in their lives. He’s dedicated to improving youth development, and my personal exchanges with Shane has led me to the conclusion that this guy “walks the walk” just as much as he “talks the talk”. This is his second time on the podcast, and in this episode, we discuss history: why it’s important, what lessons we can take from it, and why it’s not as simple as saying “well, let’s just focus on today’s issues”. Please welcome, Shane Trotter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything seems to be easier if you can just... relax. And I don't even mean throwing your feet up on the couch and watching tv. No, I mean relaxing DURING your life, work, catastrophes, or any other stressful situations. Like walking in the wind, life seems to be easier if you can just relax. Unfortunately, we often find ourselves tensing up when facing new stimulus. Yet, even when facing a new challenge, we seem to find ourselves in a better situation to think rationally if we can let this tension go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharon Lebell is a bestselling author, speaker, composer, and performing musician. The wrote The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness, which is a book I highly recommend. She’s also, like me, a founding member of The Walled Garden and it’s an absolute honour to be able to work with her. Sharon is one of the kindest and most compassionate individuals I’ve ever met – and I don’t say that lightly – and so I invited her on to talk about something that all humans inherently struggle with: loneliness: as philosophers and as human beings. We discuss how philosophy, over time, can be an antidote to loneliness. No more spoilers, dear friends, so without further ado, please welcome Sharon Lebell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh W. Bertolotti is the host of the In Search of Wisdom Podcast and the Perennial Podcast where he talks about ancient wisdom and engages in meaningful conversations with modern thinkers. He also manages the Perennial Leader Project, which includes these podcasts along with a weekly newsletter and blog posts. Myself and Josh connected a while ago and we’ve done several collaborations together.  In this episode, we talk about Josh's upcoming meetup on The Walled Garden on Heraclitus, which can be found here:  https://thewalledgarden.com/post/the-poetic-genius-of-heraclitus  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s nothing like a good laugh. We all enjoy it and seem to like humor in other people. Sure, we like it when they tell us funny jokes, but we also like it when they can take a joke. There are some cheesy quotes all over the place like “laughter is cheap medicine, and yea, it sounds kind of obvious – how can laughter not be a good thing? But is there some deep, underlying reason why laughing is so crucial to a happy life? Or is it, even at all? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re all in a battle, in a story. Really, the only story there is: the one between good and evil. It’s tempting while engaging in this fight to consider how easy things would be if we could just destroy evil. Imagine if we could just round up all the evil people and get rid of them - how simple that would be! There are more than a few reasons why that's not a great idea, but even if we could… should we? Would that be the virtuous thing to do? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Todd Leader is a social worker. He’s spent his over 20-year career leading service development and transformation, particularly in the areas of mental health, addictions, health promotions, and primary health care. This is Todd’s third time on the podcast, and this one takes a somewhat different direction than the previous two. In this episode, we talk about one of the most shocking – for lack of a better word – personal stories I’ve ever heard, which is Todd’s story. There’s definitely some potentially triggering content in this episode, including mental health struggles, so please prepare for that, and I’ll also ask that you listen to this story with compassion for everyone involved. As I always say, things are complicated and we have to be very careful before we label people as simply “oppressor” or “oppressed”, as Solzhenitsyn would encourage us to consider. Without further adieu, please welcome, Todd Leader. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The word "soul" carries a certain meaning for most people. Many see it as a solely religious term, often associating it with the Christian supernatural soul. However, is there such a thing as a physical, natural soul? And is the idea of the soul in Christianity and Stoicism something that we should disregard as unscientific? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices