Stoicism Winnipeg

“If you hear a raven croak inauspiciously, do not be alarmed by the impression. Make a mental distinction at once, and say, ‘These omens hold no significance for me; they only pertain to my body, property, family, or reputation. For me every sign is auspicious, if I want it to be, because, whatever happens, I can derive some benefit from it.” – Enchiridion Chapter 18

Our next meet-up is scheduled for Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00PM. Stella’s au CCFM will be the venue again.

This time the conversation will focus around Epictetus’ Enchiridion Chapters 24-30. As always, if you would like a little extra material to help you understand the readings, I highly recommend the Reason IO Epictetus’ Enchiridion course which is free here.

One topic that we touched on in our February meet-up that we will likely have an opportunity to explore further at this next meet-up is Duties, Roles and Relationships. Massimo Pigliucci has written an excellent blog series on Epictetus’ role ethics which you also might enjoy perusing.

Whether or not you plan to come on March 27, please consider RSVPing.

Also, if you are new here, please consider subscribing to the newsletter to stay up to date on events.

“When you are travelling by ship, you can go to the shore, enjoy the scenery, collect shells, or pick flowers. But when you are called back to the ship, you need to drop everything and hurry back…” Enchiridion 7

Thanks to all of those who came out on Tuesday! We had a great turn out at this week’s Stoicism Winnipeg meet-up. Seven of us turned out to enjoy the atmosphere, food and drink of Stella’s while discussing Epictetus’s Enchiridion.

If you haven’t come to an event yet, I’d like to encourage you to make an effort to attend the next one. It has been thoroughly enjoyable to meet others from such as wide range of backgrounds with a shared interest in Stoic philosophy.

I would like to stress that a formal training in philosophy is not required to benefit or participate in these discussions. In fact, our reading approach is also “open book”, so if you don’t have a copy of the Enchiridion or decide last minute to attend without having done the readings, you are still more than welcome.

Our next meet-up is scheduled for February 25, 2018 at 7:00PM. The venue will be Stella’s au CCFM, 340 Provencher Blvd.

The readings we will use to focus our discussions for next session will be Epictetus’s Enchiridion, chapters 16-23.

Let’s also try something new! If you are doing the readings and find an interesting article, podcast or news piece that you think is relevant, please send it to me via the contact page or comment on the blog and I will share it with the group. I anticipate this may enrich our discussions even further.

If you are new to our site and are interested in attending a future event, please consider subscribing to the newsletter to be kept up to speed on any venue, date or time changes as well as links to resources for discussion.

Featured image: a photo of my favourite ceramic mug. “Suppose you like a ceramic cup you own. Tell yourself, ‘I love this ceramic cup.’ Then, if it breaks you won’t be disturbed because ceramic materials tend to break at some point.” – Enchiridion, Chapter 3 (Good Life Handbook edition).

Our most recent meet-up was held on December 5. There were a few last minute cancellations, but we ended up as a group of three who undertook to study the first five chapters of Epictetus’ Enchiridion (although I think we only managed to get through the first three chapters).

I think if you’re on the fence about coming to one of these, that you should really step forward and do it. This meet-up, despite being a small group, was a delight for me. It was an incredible experience to open a Stoic text with a couple of others interested in Stoicism, read it together, and talk through some of the difficult pieces.

If you’re interested in meeting up with others in Winnipeg who are interested in Stoicism, please come to our next meet-up, which is scheduled for January 23, 2018 @ 7:00PM. I am very open to venue suggestions, and am also open to hosting again. If you have any suggestions, please speak up!

At the next meet-up we will study chapters 6-15. It might sound like a lot if you’re not well acquainted with the Enchiridion, but most of those chapters are only one to two paragraphs long.

Remember to check out Chuck Chakrapani’s free edition of the Enchiridion if you don’t have a copy yet yourself.

Also, if you have a bit of extra time, please consider engaging in the free ReasonIO Enchiridion course

On a somewhat related subject, I’ve decided to start a blogging project called StoicMedic, where I will be exploring Stoicism in the context of the work of a Paramedic. Please check it out!

The first Stoicism Winnipeg meet-up was Tuesday night. We met as four strangers, but quickly found our common ground in an eager pursuit of understanding the Stoic world view.

Discussion was fast-paced and vigorous and covered a wide range of topics such as the intersection of faith and philosophy, philosophy and psychology, Stoic parenting, the history of Stoicism and the other schools of virtue ethics, and, most of all, what it is that brought each of us to a point where we would be sitting around a table with three other strangers seeking out a deeper understanding of Stoicism.

Personally, I was very encouraged by this small assembly of people humbly seeking a better way to view the world and live their life. I think that if you’ve been sitting on the fence, unsure if you are ready to meet up and “talk philosophy”, you’ll feel very welcome in this group. There is a common theme of a sincere intention to live better lives, not just talk about what that might mean.

Our next gathering is scheduled for Tuesday, December 5 at 7:00PM. We plan to host this one in my home. So, if you want the address, you’ll need to RSVP. 

We initially selected the first half of the Enchiridion, but to better focus our discussion we will focus on chapters 1-5 in Epictetus’ Enchiridion as our reading selection for that night.

Where to get it:

• You can find a free copy of it at the Internet Classics Archive.
• Chuck Chakrapani has published a modern translation titled “The Good Life Handbook” for free on Kobo and Kindle
• And then there are a myriad of paper translations. Personally, I own this Penguin translation of Epictetus’ Discourses.

This is fairly light reading and a great introduction to some of Stoicism’s most fundamental ideas.

If you have time to get a bit deeper I would encourage you to enrol in Reason IO’s free course on Epictetus’ Enchiridion and participate in that course at least up to the end of its commentary and resources for chapters 1-5. This is where I will draw some of the topics for conversation for that evening.

This promises to be an interesting discussion. If you’re on the fence or nervous about coming out, it may be time to exercise the Stoic virtue of Courage and RSVP.

Also, please consider signing up for the mailing list to be kept in the loop about this and subsequent events.

Now, for those of you who are eager to become engaged in this discussion, whether you can attend the meeting or not, please jump into the comments and share some preliminary thoughts on the first five chapters in Epictetus’ Enchiridion.