(Part 2) Top products from r/Stoicism

I do think Virtue is the highest good, and living with virtue in accordance with your nature is everything you should strive for. But the Stoics are pretty clear in their writings that the intended consequence of living Stoically is to reach a sense of fulfillment, flourishing, or however you want to translate "Eudaimonia" through living with virtue. So if you're unhappy and anxious, then you're not using all the Stoic tools available to you to overcome this. And that's fine! That's not an admonishment of you or your Stoic skillset - there has never been and never will be a Stoic Sage, it's natural for us to trip and tumble on this journey! What's important is that we get back up and keep working towards our ideal. If you read Meditations and Seneca's Letters, you know they both make references to the study of this philosophy being like wrestlers and boxers who get up over and over again no matter how many times they've been punched and kicked and defeated - and that's us now, against our opponent, Fortune. So don't despair that your life hasn't suddenly improved on Stoicism, your entire life is your Stoic journey - and small steps are still progress.

First you should always remember that "ruin and recovery come from within." You are so powerful in regards to yourself / your mind, and you just have to remember that at every turn - I have the power to change, I have the power to appropriately judge this impression, I have the power to set my goals appropriately!

And that last part (about setting goals appropriately) is essentially why I felt the need to comment, because if you feel your dreams are crumbling around you, then you're not setting your goals according to Stoic principles, and if you're not setting your goals appropriately, then you're not applying the Stoic Fork appropriately.

You should break down every situation into its individual parts, then separate them between things you can control and things you cannot. Let's take a job interview as an example: You want them to like you, you want the interview to go well, you want to get the job. None of those are entirely up to you! So switch them around, look at them differently. Set your goals thusly: "I will try my best, if nothing stops me, to be a likable person in this interview. I will do my best, as long as nothing prevents me, to give compelling answers to their questions and give the best interview I can." And the last part of the goal: getting the job? ENTIRELY out of your control if you think about it - they will be making that decision, not you, so why are you concerned with something outside your sphere of control? You should be focused only on things you can control. These two techniques are called goal internalization and the reserve clause.

On top of that, are you spending time on morning and evening meditations? I'm not talking about mindfulness meditation (although I do love it), I'm talking about the meditations recommended by the Stoics.
In the morning, visualize how your day will go, how you will interact with disagreeable people, how you will react to common disturbances in your life (traffic, horrible boss, lazy coworkers, etc.), and perhaps even bigger disturbances if you have time. Then end that meditation with applying the Stoic Fork "these things are not in my control, only my impressions and my (re)actions are in my control."
In the evening, review your day and ask yourself "What did I do well today? Where did I falter? Where could I have done better and how?" A lot of people say journaling this helps, I'm sure it does. I just do it all in my mind though right as I wake up and just as I'm falling asleep - it takes 5-10 minutes each time, and it's easy. I think it will vastly improve your situation.

And I don't think you should "let go of [your] hopes" - that's not what Stoicism tells you to do. Yes, you should control your desires and set appropriate goals for life, but you are allowed to prefer things in life. The key is not to let your happiness or fulfillment hinge solely on those things. For example, while it's natural that you should desire good health, you shouldn't let the loss of your health defeat you if it ever does happen. Health and many other things are preferred indifferents.

I'd also highly recommend reading Epictetus' Discourses - you will probably get a lot out of it.
What translation of Seneca's Letters did you read? I highly recommend this one, it's super easy to read and flows so smoothly. Perhaps if you were reading the older translations, some of it didn't come across so well - I certainly struggle through the older translations myself. That book is expensive, but perhaps your local library would have it...or it is possible to find it online...

Most importantly, and I know you know this, although if you're anything like me you also forget about it sometimes - reading a book isn't going to help you. Studying it and practicing what it teaches will. Since I started Stoicism, I've actually been compiling all my favorite quotes and explanations into a book for myself, because it helps me keep it all straight. You need to think of Stoicism like seriously religious people think about their religions - you can't just read the bible or qur'an or Torah once and call yourself a follower - it's about reading them, studying, finding analyses of them, studying them in depth, seeing what other scholars are saying about it, and then actually practicing it. And the Stoics knew this, it's why they recommend using maxims so heavily - having these short little phrases that stick in the brain so you can think of them right away and remind yourself "I need to be practicing this...I can do better..." So next time you read any Stoic literature, write down some short phrases that are easy to remember and recall, and memorize them, study them, get the true meaning behind them, and I think this will help Stoicism become a more ingrained way of life for you!

(continued)

>Are there any areas where you feel CBT or Hypnotherapy have significantly added to or expanded the ideas and techniques of Stoicism?

Yes. This is such a vast issue that it would take a very long time to answer this question properly, so I'll try to just make some brief comments. Modern psychological therapies are diverse and continually expanding, there are hundreds of books on CBT alone, so that in itself means there's always more and more scope for new comparisons with Stoicism. The Philosophy of CBT describes many points of comparisons between Stoicism and CBT, REBT, and hypnotherapy. In all of those areas, modern approaches and Stoicism offer different but perhaps complementary perspectives, and practical techniques. CBT practitioners certainly don't just "do Stoicism" with their clients, they use a vast array of different concepts and strategies, most of which would be of interest to Stoics. One difference is that CBT tends to focus on clinically-severe problems, diagnosable mental health disorders, which naturally leads to a different emphasis from ancient Stoicism. However, there's now more interest in applying CBT to "resilience-building", improving the overall wellbeing and resistance to stress of the normal population, and that's an area where the aims coincide more closely with the focus on traditional Stoicism. Stoicism has a fairly limited repertoire of practical techniques, which modern therapy has vastly expanded. We also have a fairly incomplete picture of Stoicism, unfortunately - only a tiny fraction of the ancient Stoic literature has survived. There was obviously a lot more to Stoicism than we know about. Chrysippus was one of the most prolific authors in the ancient world and yet virtually nothing of his remains. We could draw a huge list of CBT techniques that would be relevant to Stoicism but it would take time to explain them all. You probably want one or two examples, though, so here goes:

• Imaginal exposure. The discussion of premeditatio malorum ("negative visualization") by William Irvine and others seems very simplistic to a modern therapist and very lacking in terms of links to current research on similar techniques. The most robust finding in the field of psychotherapy, in this regard, is that anxiety (and sometimes other feelings) tend to "habituate" or naturally wear off during repeated, prolonged, systematic exposure to the stimulus (when certain factors are controlled). Clearly, if the Stoics repeatedly visualized misfortune one of the things modern psychology tells us is that their level of anxiety will tend to naturally abate, whether or not they directly attempt to challenge their thinking - and in some cases too much verbal rumination might actually prevent the natural process of habituation from happening. So most anxiety specialists would probably advise Stoics to learn a bit more about that process in order to engage in premeditatio malorum, and that the procedure should probably be prolonged beyond the point at which most people would normally stop, i.e., for about 15-30 minutes per sitting, or until anxiety has reduced by at least 50%, in order for lasting habituation to occur.
  
  
• Worry/rumination. In recent years there's been growing interest in the notion that traditional CBT may have placed too much emphasis on disputing the content of negative thoughts and not enough on managing the whole process of thinking, particularly learning to stop and interrupt prolonged episodes of worry (chains of thoughts about future catastrophes) or rumination (chains of thoughts analyzing past events). I'm sure the ancient Stoics make many passing comments that suggest they were "against" disputation or self-analysis being allowed to turn into prolonged worry/rumination. However, they don't give very clear and explicit advice on spotting and interrupting chains of thinking, which is perhaps a particular problem, an "occupational hazard", for philosophers! Again, tricky to be concise here, but learning to spot typical early-warning signs of worry/rumination spirals and then practicing postponing further thinking until a pre-specified time of your choosing is a common behavioural strategy (called the "stimulus control" method) for managing worry/rumination - although there are now many other methods being used for these issues.
  
  
• Learning to gain "psychological distance" (or "defusion") from thoughts rather than engaging in disputation of them seems particularly important in this area, something hinted at in the Handbook of Epictetus but not often brought up in discussions of Stoicism because it's a concept most philosophical commentators don't seem to be familiar with, although it's very important in modern CBT and behaviour therapy. Epictetus appears to say that the Stoic should spot disturbing thoughts and remind himself that they are mere appearances before attempting to dispute them. There's now some evidence to suggest that "cognitive distancing" (or "defusion") may be more powerful than previously assumed and perhaps more important in many instances than trying to question the evidence for thoughts or beliefs. There are lots of studies in this area now and we're learning more all the time about the factors that are relevant and the value of different techniques of distancing thoughts from reality.
  
  > What, if any, practices of Stoic life do you feel should be added to the general practice of CBT, to enhance its effectiveness?
  
  Good question. I'd have to start by explicitly saying that this is speculative and that I wouldn't recommend introducing treatment components to CBT in clinical practice until they've been tested. (Although, incorporating some Stoicism might often just mean making the sort of slight "tweaks" to established techniques, which nobody would think it's necessary to run a clinical trial before doing.) Some suggestions?
  
  
• Values clarification is absolutely integral to Stoicism, i.e., contemplating the nature of the good and acting with virtue. This wasn't really part of CBT, although something similar is now very central to Positive Psychology and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which both evolve out of CBT. Being clear about what you value most in life and trying to act more often in the service of your values (or the virtues) is something that seems to mitigate against and depression and possibly generalized anxiety. It seems to me that expanding this aspect of CBT raises some of the best opportunities for explicit dialogue with philosophers, particularly Stoics. (See my book Build your Resilience for a detailed discussion of values work in behaviour therapy, with links to Stoicism.)
  
  
• Distinguishing between things under your control and things not, which I would call "control appraisal". Obviously that's fundamental to Stoicism; Shaftesbury even calls it the "sovereign" precept of Stoicism. There are traces of it in CBT, especially in a recent protocol (Dugas' method) for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but we could probably develop that concept and techniques derived from it much further in certain forms of CBT.
  
  
• The "view from above", as Hadot calls it, isn't a common strategy in Stoicism. It's not clear how it would function in terms of CBT theory but it's a very popular meditation and I think it deserves to be studied more systematically. It can be done simply by listening to recording, which is "gold dust" in therapy because it makes it extremely easy for clients to do it for ten minutes or so each day, with minimal training or preparation. (It also makes it much easier to do research on a technique if it can be administered with a standard recording: there's a complete script for this at the back of The Philosophy of CBT.) I've used this technique with hundreds of people over the years and almost everyone reports a sense of serenity that comes from it, and a shift in perspective. Technically, it may contribute to "cognitive distancing" but we need to be careful it's not misused as a form of "experiential avoidance", or a way to avoid confronting unpleasant thoughts and feelings.
  
  Moreover, there are lots of aspects of Stoicism beyond "technique" that add something of value, as I tried to emphasize in the introduction to Philosophy of CBT. The beautiful literature, the broad philosophical perspective, the sense of community with fellow Stoics - are all important things we don't really get from CBT.
  
  (continued)

> There's been quite a few posts lately about why virtue is actually good. What is the concrete argument in favor of virtue being good?

I have not yet read it, but Lawrence Becker's A New Stoicism attempts to formally answer this question.

> and although Stoic principles still function well as a way of living, the moral impetus seems to be lost

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here by the moral impetus being lost.

> Why are we supposed to be virtuous and to follow reason and the like? It is because logos is the first principle of the cosmos

This was my response to /u/anaxarchos:

"I don't see how the claim that virtue is the sole good is dependent on the claim that the universe is providentially ordered. If living virtuously results in the best possible life, and if we want the best possible life, then it makes sense to live virtuously. Or if having the most money resulted in the best possible life, then it would make sense to do whatever it takes to acquire the most money."

(Of course, the claims that either "living virtuously results in the best possible life" or "having the most money results in the best possible life" would still need to be defended. But neither necessarily depends on Providence existing.)

I would personally start with the William Irvine book:

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195374614/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YduuDbEW3T11Z

I don’t necessarily agree with him on everything in the book, but it gives a good view of stoicism. It’s easier to read since its in modern English.

I would also recommend “The Daily Stoic.”

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HNJIJB2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IguuDbHAQG82S

It is a good book that you can get into if you only have brief periods of time to read. Ryan Holiday books are all pretty good. He mostly uses stoicism in his books, but also a little from other philosophies.

The reason I would start with these books is because the language is a little easier to understand, unless you are used to reading older English. Though “Meditations” does have pretty good translations.

• Meditations: Either get the one by Gregory Hays or Robin Hard. I have both. Hays uses more modern English and is easier to understand, but he can be pretty liberal with his translation. Hard is a little more straight laced in his translation it seems but still uses pretty modern English. Also the Hard translation contains Letter from Marcus to his Rhetoric teacher Fronto which are cool to read. Other versions of Meditations do not have this in them afaik.
  
• Epictetus, Enchiridion + Discourses: Epictetus's Discourses, Fragments, Handbook by Robin Hard. Best translation of Epictetus I have found ( I like more modern English). Lots of good footnotes in this one.
  
• Seneca's Letters: Either Letters from a Stoic to get a taste of what Seneca is like, or go all the way in and get Letters on Ethics which contains all 124 letters to Lucillius. Hardcover book is awesome, high quality, great foot notes throughout.
  
• Seneca's Moral Essays: There are a bunch of these, I haven't found a favorite translation yet. If you only read one, read On the Shortness of Life

I haven't studied enough history of philosophy to have an answer to the following, but I'd be interested to know how much they studied each other. I also don't know how much of this era of Roman stoicism was tied to Stoic physics. Stoic ethics (what is called Stoicism today is properly a branch of ethics; that is, it is concerned with how one can live a good life (being moral is a large part of living a good life, that is why there is less distinction in non-philosophical discourse between ethics and morals)) was highly, highly based off their physics. Stoic physics was the 'foundation' of their philosophy, so to speak, and literally everything else followed from it. I do not know how true this was for these later Stoics, though.

I do know, though, for example, that when you see them say things like "act/live in accordance with nature", this is a conclusion from their physical conception of the world. Explaining this is far outside the scope of a reddit comment reply like this, though. If you are interested in something more academic on the topic, I can highly recommend A. A. Long's The Hellenistic Philosophers. I also recommend the parts on Epicureanism as well if you like Stoicism. Don't feel intimidated by it, either; this shit is old and all of their physics is wrong. If you don't understand something, take the time to understand it just out of interest if you want to, but feel no guilt in skipping stuff.

The Philosophy of CBT is an interesting book, but I think it is of most interest to those versed in the CBT already and is a touch academic. Robertson's other book Build Your Resilience is a great practical introduction to some modern forms of CBT (the acceptance/mindfulness strand) with frequent comparisons to aspects of Stoicism, so I'd recommend that first.

CBT is useful in providing simple techniques to challenge and replace irrational patterns of thinking, such as examining cognitive distortions and cognitive restructuring. That aspect isn't covered so much in the Resilience book, but will be in any standard CBT book (however that link covers most of the ground). I think CBT is an especially useful tool in support of Stoic practice where there are engrained problems such as anxiety, because of its stepwise practical nature. However Stoic practices, including the simple ones in Irvine's book, are aiming beyond what CBT aims for; CBT helps lay groundwork but I don't think it overlaps well with the ideal of the "Stoic sage". CBT is more accepting of "normal" emotions in certain situations where the Stoics would have seen a "passion", or negative emotion.

Marcus Aurelius, is not something you read and go "FUCK YEAH, I CONQUERED THAT BOOK. I'M A BADASS!!!!"

It's an investment that will pay dividends years to come. It's not the simplest stoic text to read. However if you want the feeling of reading the words of a Roman Emperor from 1,000 years ago, and also actually use his words to change and live your life by, here are a few ideas:

• Read and skim through it. Get a general sense of the book. Read the Gregory Hays translation. READ THE GREGORY HAYS TRANSLATION. READ THE GREGORY HAYS TRANSLATION (shout out to a hero of mine /u/ryan_holiday for this)
  
  (I'm trying to emphasise this and I might not get this point across, but honestly you can read a translation written by someone who knows the english language and the worldview context in 2002, or by someone from the 19th century. Your choice.)
  
  
• You won't really understand the book. But you'll get a sense of the general philosophy he was trying to remind himself. They're called The Meditations. Aphorisms and pieces of advice written in a specific format to remind himself how to live. We actually don't have any modern equivalent to this.
  
  
• Now, you're ready for the golden treat. The princess at the end of the castle. The goose that will keep laying golden eggs. Pick up a copy of The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot. Think of it as the guide to read the Meditations. The cheat guide to the crossword puzzle. The How-To Manual on how to understand Marcus Aurelius' mindset as he wrote that beast throughout his life. It's with this book that you'll understand Meditations. You'll understand the 3 central tenets he wrote by, and just why he wrote them in a codified mysterious way. You'll get a glimpse into the man. You'll understand just what role Philosophy actually played in ancient times. (Hint: it wasn't the circle jerking that modern philosophy is) And you'll come away with a deep understanding of Stoicism. Heck, it might just change your life.
  
  Honestly it's not the greatest introduction to Stoicism. Personally I prefer Seneca (I've gifted a short version of his On The Shortness of Life to 4 different friends), because he was writing for a wider audience as opposed to just himself. But if you want to go down the rabbit hole. If you want to take the red pill, read it like I've just suggested.

Here is a list of his complete works. For his 124 letters i would recommend this. All of them are very good, i would probably start here.

https://www.amazon.com/Senecas-Letters-Stoic-Thrift-Editions-ebook/dp/B01N9BAEOR/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=seneca+letters+dover&qid=1556029398&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

As for other works i have ranked in order what i think you should read first. They are all expertly written so all should be checked out eventually, regardless here is my order.

1. On the Shortness of Life
   
2. Of Providence
   
3. Of Peace of Mind
   
4. Of Anger
   
5. Of a Happy Life
   
6. Of Clemency
   
7. Of Leisure
   
8. Consolation letters
   
9. On the Firmness of the Wise Man
   
   This book has most of them except shortness of life, which you should buy separately as it is his best dialogue, or read it online on wikisouce which has all of his works for free.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Dialogues-Essays-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-dp-0199552401/dp/0199552401/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1556029795

Hi /u/mcnelton - I hope you read this comment because none of the so far suggested books come from an academic approach.

I would recommend the (perhaps poorly titled) Stoicism and the Art of Happiness by Donald Robertson.

It's extremely well sourced and references a significant number of modern of academic and psychology texts as well as ancient ones. Each section contains practical exercises, and the book covers the whole historical context as well as the modern development of psychology treatments such as REBT and CBT which are based on the Stoic tradition.

If you want to take a step further in the academic direction but away from the practical, I would recommend the truly excellent Stoicism by John Sellars.

Don't think about a pink elephant.

Forget about the fact that your heart is beating.

Don't become aware that your nose is actually in your field of vision.

I'm sure that you failed miserably at all these tasks. Our minds work a bit paradoxically when it comes to influencing our thoughts. Much of what we experience as thought is merely what we are holding in our conscious awareness. Because of this, trying to 'not' have certain feelings or thoughts usually makes us have them even more frequently. Then as we become more frustrated and anxious these thoughts become a perpetual cycle of negativity and distress.

So, what are some practical solutions to this conundrum?

Well, like most issues concerning the mind, you cannot always tackle the problem head on. If the mind is a house then the front and back door are heavily locked, better to climb in through a window.

The best modern school of thought that I have found to offer practical solutions to these sort of problems is CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy. (Learning about this therapy actually led me to discovering Stoic philosophy I might add!). CBT, much like stoicism, suggests that much of our distress is the result of irrational thoughts and behaviors. It offers quite a few scientifically backed exercises and techniques for combating such troubling thoughts.

Here are a few quick CBT techniques that have helped me tremendously.

1. Reframe the way you understand thoughts. Although many people feel as though they are controlling their thoughts. Often times, what we may perceive as us having a 'thought' is simply something grabbing hold of our conscious awareness. With practice, you can begin to differentiate between the thoughts that are in your control and those that are simply popping in your head because of your current environment/context.
   
   
2. Learn to accept and detach from unwanted thoughts. Unwanted or 'Intrusive' thoughts will always be with you. Best to just accept that fact. As I'm sure you have experienced, struggling with trying to make such thoughts and emotions go away more often then not only makes them more intense and recur more frequently. When they do pop up, don't panic or try to make them go away. Instead, relabel them and allow them to be there. Just notice that you having thought 'x' and say to yourself, oh there's thought 'x'. With enough practice you will learn which thoughts are your most intrusive ones and it will become easier and easier to detach from them. By not reacting to these thoughts negatively and keeping yourself calm when they arise. You will begin to weaken the association between these thoughts and any negative emotions that may be coupled with them. Often such thoughts become coupled with negative emotions because we fight so desperately to try and make them go away. I believe that meditation is such a tremendous therapeutic tool because it is essentially the practice of learning to detach from your thoughts. So I would highly recommend giving meditation a shot to kick start learning to handle your thoughts better.
   
   
3. Refocus your mind on thoughts and behaviours that are more rational. This will also become much easier once you learn to detach and label your intrusive thoughts better. You will begin to realize over time that just because a negative thought is present, does not mean that it represents reality. It only means that the thought is present in your mind, nothing more or less. By refocusing our attention after accepting intrusive thoughts, we shift our conscious awareness from these thoughts and lessen their chances of recurrence. While you couldn't stop yourself from thinking about the pink elephant, I bet you forgot about him by the time you were looking at your nose!
   
   Whew, hope that helps. If your interested in learning more about using CBT for everyday life I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Happiness Trap
   
   TLDR; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is fucking awesome!

I have three to recommend.

First is a pocket sized [Enchiridion and Meditations book.](https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Handbook-Pocket-Marc-Libre/dp/1329257359/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481901672&sr=1-3&keywords=meditations+and+handbook"Amazon Page"). It's not my favorite translation, but it is pocket-sized.

Second is [On the Shortness of Life](https://www.amazon.com/Shortness-Life-Penguin-Great-Ideas/dp/0143036327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481902012&sr=1-1&keywords=on+the+shortness+of+life"Amazon Link") which is about the same size (11x18 cm) and fits in your back or coat pocket. It contains [On the Shortness of Life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Brevitate_Vitae_(Seneca), Consolation to Helvia, and On Tranquility of Mind.

The third isn't a physical book. A [Practical Stocism Book](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/comments/4bz797/practical_stoicism/"Reddit Page"), compiled and written by u/GreyFreeman, has been a very handy book to peruse whether you've got a few minutes or an hour.

Take care and enjoy.

I would highly recommend starting with Epictetus and Socrates.

Stay away from the popular marketing stoics of our age, as they teach that stoicism is not about exalted truth and virtue, but that it is about lying to gain power, fame, fortune, and money. That is the exact OPPOSITE of True Stoicism and a sign of our times.

Many good recommendations here: http://twitter.com/philocowboy

"Instead of the lying marketing stoics and foolish professors, read Epictetus who honored Socrates: https://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Selected-Writings-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140449469/ "

Sure there are. But probably with a different name.

Zen Shorts are one. It's a series of books with short Zen stories and illustrations for kids:
https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Shorts-Caldecott-Honor-Book/dp/0439339111/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486130149&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+shorts

Have You Filled a Bucket Today:
https://www.amazon.com/Have-Filled-Bucket-Today-Bucketfilling/dp/099609993X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486129860&sr=1-3&keywords=fill+a+bucket
lets kids know that it feels bad to others to bully, but that you can "fill others' buckets" by giving compliments and saying nice things.

Heck, most kids can even understand The 4 Agreements: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486130060&sr=8-1&keywords=the+4+agreements

I'm sure there are quite a few others, but they are not coming to mind right now.

John Sellers in his book 'Stoicism' discusses the breadth of classic Stoic philosophy, which was not just ethics. It included formal logic (laying down the first description of propositional logic rather than term), physics, rhetoric, and ethics. It was understood that ethics needed to be informed by these other branches of philosophy, at the time. Later, they were slightly divorced from each other, but it's still of interest to note them.

The Heraclitus Fragments have a decidedly mystical tone to them, and are probably the source (this is a supposition) of that quality of the philosophy. The Stoics were not strict materialists, or reductionists. They are more properly described as vitalists, believing in an active principle (pneuma) and a passive one (matter).

Sellers discusses bodies, causes, existing versus subsiting in his book.
If your interests tend towards the little-a academic, you might find looking at these other areas of Stoicism useful. The later Stoics mostly (not entirely) discarded these for ethics-proper.

You can get a copy of the enchiridion pretty cheap too. I think I paid $3.50.

https://www.amazon.com/Enchiridion-Dover-Thrift-Editions-Epictetus/dp/0486433595

I've REALLY gotten a lot out of the Cynthia King Translation of Musonius Rufus, though. Got it from inter-library loan for free. Thin book. Great read.

While I haven't any "Stoic" advice to offer you yet, as I'm a beginner, I am a veteran when it comes to dealing with OCD and anxiety. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say, the following book saved my life. Please, get yourself a copy if you can't get professional help. It instructs you in the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, as well as mindfulness, to help you manage anxiety. https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Trap-Struggling-Start-Living/dp/1590305841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501734358&sr=8-1&keywords=the+happiness+trap

The Four Agreements are as follows:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
   
   
2. Don't take anything personally.
   
   
3. Don't make assumptions.
   
   
4. Always do your best.
   
   They are from a very short book by Don Miguel Ruiz, and it's definitely worth a read.

I recently read and can recommend:
How to be a Stoic
by Massimo Pigluicci
https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Stoic-Ancient-Philosophy/dp/0465097952
It's a great introduction, easy to understand and there is a part with practical exercises.

The most popular by far are the ones by Gregory Hays and by Robin Hard, and which you will prefer depends on exactly what you are looking for. The English of the Hays translation is beautiful, but the translation has a reputation for being loose. (Edit 3: Even the Hard, though, is very readable.)

For more discussion, reviews, references to previous discussions, and a list of other translations, see this question in the FAQ.

Edit: The Amazon site is very sloppy about linking to different translations as if they were different formats of the same one. Be careful!

Edit 2: Added links to kindle versions, fixed edit 1 to correct that.

Edit 4: Of the many older, public domain (in the US) translations, I find Chrystal's revision of the Hutcheson and Moor translation most readable complete translation. (The abridgement by Smith is similarly readable.) All of the modern translations I have had a chance to look at were easier to read than even these, though..

If you are prone to rumination self-administering therapy can make you feel even worse. It's possible to get caught in a feedback loop where you wonder if you are doing the therapy correctly, which only makes your problems worse. I know this because I did it myself. It wasn't until I started meditating on a routine basis that I was able to calm my mind down enough to apply what I was reading. Meditation will strengthen your ability to let go of things, build your focus, and lessen your propensity to react emotionally. If someone is going about this alone and the key goal is to ease suffering, then look into mindfulness and ACT. These are designed with that purpose in mind.


Mindfulness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPlG_w40qOE
Presented by a Harvard Medical School Professor

ACT

An Introductory book on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Meditation

IOS/Android app that will easily guide you through everything, it's a wonderful application

We often choose the complex explanation over the simple one, to our detriment. Everything I linked can be consumed quickly and used readily.

I have given this out as a gift a few times and it brought my friends into Stoicism: https://www.amazon.com/Emperors-Handbook-New-Translation-Meditations/dp/0743233832

But, it's not an academic version. It's simple, everyday language.

Penguin Classics is the most recommended. I finished it a few months ago and loved it.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Selected-Writings-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140449469

> Can you point me towards any supporting texts in Stoicism?

My go-to guide to start on any topic is the SEP, so here's the entry on Stoicism. The SEP also has entries on Seneca, Marcus Aurelis, and Epictetus.

For other sources, I bought a used copy of Long and Sedley many years ago and it has been quite helpful.

Edited for grammar.

I think Hays translation is good. https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Modern-Library-ebook/dp/B000FC1JAI/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1500040894&sr=1-2&keywords=hays+meditations+marcus+aurelius

If you are starting, I can recommend two more books for you:

1- https://www.amazon.com/Art-Living-Classical-Happiness-Effectiveness-ebook/dp/B00AHC9PZW/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

2- https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stoic-Meditations-Wisdom-Perseverance-ebook/dp/B01HNJIJB2/ref=pd_sim_351_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BXBTHXJMFXCSM4BJYT7X

There is no definite answer to this question. Meditations is always a hard read and it depends on what your preferences are.

I'd like to refer you to the FAQ, where several translations are compared. For more comparisons, see this comment.

Most people here seem to like George Hays translation.

The translation by George Long is freely available online here, but in general quite hard to read as it resembles a 'biblical' writing style.

Some people also liked the version by Hicks.

Have you considered the Robin Hard one? I like it better. The US Amazon has a Kindle copy, perhaps then the Canada one does to: http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-selected-correspondence-Oxford-Classics-ebook/dp/B006QV7YN8/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HNJIJB2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518225139&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=366+stoic+meditations

The journal that goes along with it is great too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0525534393/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518225180&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=366+stoic+meditations&dpPl=1&dpID=412-uER18tL&ref=plSrch

Apart from the wikisource translations, the only full translation of Seneca's letters is the University of Chicago Press Translation by Margaret Graver and A.A. Long (https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Ethics-Lucilius-Complete-Annaeus/dp/022626517X).

The book can be expensive but it is worth it, the most modern translation I believe. I'd highly recommend it.

I feel Donald Robertson's "How To Think Like A Roman Emperor" is a good introduction to Stoicism. It requires zero understanding of the subject and is updated to reflect modern times psychotherapy.

The two best translations in my opinion are
Robin Hard & Gregory Hays.

I never finished it because I kept loaning it to people who kept keeping it, but I liked Emperor's Handbook (amazon)

"If anyone can refute me— show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective— I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance."
Meditations, Number 21 Book 6 (Gregory Hays translation)

I actually got into a discussion with some folks about that quote; they were suggesting that it is a bit self-contradictory. Turns out the term "perspective" tends to bring in a modern sense of subjectivity that makes it seem self-contradictory (i.e. "are any perspectives wrong? Or just different ways of looking at the same thing?"). Not a debate Aurelius was intending there, I don't think. So, to supplement, below are the two other translations of the same bit, with less ambiguity there.

"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm." Maxwell Staniforth translation

"If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's on self-deception and ignorance." Martin Hammond translation (I picked this up at a used bookstore—can't find it on Amazon offhand...)

On the subject of translations, I'm no Greek scholar so I can't offer an informed opinion on which is most "accurate to intent." For easy reading I prefer the Gregory Hays one, and so it is the one I recommend to people interested in reading Meditations for the first time (and which is why it is the one I generally "quote"). But if you love Meditations is much as I do, my next recommendation would be to read every translation you can get your hands on.

EDIT: Links to books of each translation.

Thank you for the recommendations! How does this one look?

The below is my favorite version


Meditations (Penguin Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140441409/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lv.KDbT41KGJR

I’m not 100% confident in my response as I’m trying to recall from memory ... I don’t have my books with me now.

The Enchiridion is just the handbook and really good summary of his Discourses. It is a book on its own. It is included in the Penguin classics addition of Discourses and selected writings: https://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Selected-Writings-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140449469/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=epictitus&qid=1551101547&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I will add too that if you are looking to buy this book, I would suggest you go with the Oxford World Classics edition. Penguin leaves out whole chapters in Discourses, while Oxford has all of them: https://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Fragments-Handbook-Oxford-Classics/dp/0199595186/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=epictitus&qid=1551101610&s=gateway&sr=8-4

I have the "Dover Thrift Edition" (Amazon link) which uses the public domain George Long translation, I would recommend it highly.

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250196620/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_q1iKDb1CNJHAP

The other day in Amsterdam I finally got to meet Spinoza, one of my all time heroes. (I quoted him in the introduction to my latest book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.) Spinoza barely mentioned the Stoics, although his philosophy is often viewed as strikingly similar to Stoicism. Leibniz called him one of the pioneers of the "sect of the new Stoics". I was able to visit the Spinoza museum, the house where he used to live, in which we inspected the list of his personal collection of books. Spinoza had been reading the works of Cicero, Seneca, and Epictetus, among others. So I think Leibniz was right that he was probably more influenced by Stoicism than he let on. It's possible that Spinoza perhaps chose not to mention the Stoics because that would have simply incurred more religious persecution against him and prejudice against his writings.

They are from the book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz.

Here it is on the UK amazon store:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meditations-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0753820161/ref=pd_cp_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AHANSVCE2EJH7Q5SYD3

A New Stoicism by Lawrence Becker (if you are interested in ethics). It's not an easy read, but you don't need any external references to understand it.

It's from Fragments of Epictetus, to be specific it's this copy. And no, as I mentioned in the description the translators added a * which supported my initial understanding.

The one I have is smaller. And it's actually called On the Shortness of Life. https://www.amazon.com/Shortness-Life-Penguin-Great-Ideas/dp/0143036327/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499645356&sr=8-1&keywords=on+the+shortness+of+life

Dialogues and Essays

Dr. Laurence Becker tackled this very question in his book A New Stoicism. He sought to establish a secular foundation for Stoic ethics.

The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743233832/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_G4JXCbDRYZH3W

If you’re looking for a fairly plain English version of the meditations, personally I would probably go with this. Enjoy

I found the ISBN: 0753820161

Amazon US

eBay US

Is this the translation of Gregory Hays? https://www.amazon.es/Meditations-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0753820161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540021714&sr=8-1&keywords=gregory+hays+meditations

​

It's hard for me to find it in Spain

First, I thought Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadot had few insights and was dull and hard to understand. I do not recommend it.

I highly recommend The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a book about stoicism and how it relates to psychology. I read this book twice it was so good. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Cognitive-Behavioural-Therapy-Psychotherapy/dp/1855757567/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1371647936&sr=8-15&keywords=stoicism

Also, you have to read the Enchiridion by Epictetus. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Enchiridion-Dover-Thrift-Editions-Epictetus/dp/0486433595/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371648137&sr=1-1&keywords=enchiridion+epictetus

This isn't a direct answer to your question but it is related. I haven't done much research on this myself, but there's a group of academics out there who argue that Stoicism as opposed to Platonism had a much larger influence on Christianity. Especially so regarding the Apostle Paul. At one point someone even forged a correspondence between Seneca and Paul. Check out section 6.5 of the SEP article on Stoicism.

If you want to learn more you can also check out these books:

• Paul and the Stoics
  
  
• Stoicism in Early Christianity