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to mystic institute.org. As Cadet Connolly mentioned in his introduction, I am by academic specialization,

a historian of ancient Greek philosophy, and Stoicism certainly falls under that heading.

It came about in the third century BC in Athens due to a guy

named Xenocidium. There's another one, people, Clanthes, Chrysippus, but back then it was, you know,

one among several leading philosophical systems. You still had the recitalians around,

Epicureans, Plato's Academy, was still rolling, mostly filled with skeptical philosophers.

But Stoicism soon gained in popularity over its rivals and hit a relative high point in the Roman Empire.

This is where most of the Stoics, if you've encountered any, were writing.

So this includes like Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, though in several ways not a stoic himself, Cicero.

He was at least a very good expositor of the view.

And most popularity, you know, waxes and wanes over the centuries.

It's always had its adherence.

And when I was so nicely invited to come out, I was not surprised when I was asked if I'd be

willing to speak about stoicism.

It wasn't surprising because it is currently undergoing something of a resurgence these days. And the enthusiasm is not just combined to the

Academy, it's escaped the ivory tower and has become something close to a trender fad. There are dozens

of books on Stoicism published in recent years directed towards a

general audience. These often take the form of self-help books. It's advertised as a way of life that

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