Stoa Conversations: Stoicism Applied

Caleb

Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay discuss how to build resilience, develop virtue, and make sense of the world through Stoic philosophy. One episode a week. Get the Stoa app: www.stoameditation.com/pod [https://www.stoameditation.com/pod] Get the Stoa Letter: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [https://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast_description] www.stoaletter.com

  1. 5H AGO

    Excellence Is Boring (Episode 227)

    What makes some people excellent at their craft and others just average? Michael walks through a classic 1989 sociology paper on Olympic swimmers and pulls out three lessons that apply directly to Stoic practice. The answer is not what most people expect. It is not extreme effort. It is not raw talent. Excellence turns out to be mundane. It is how you do the boring things, every day, for a long time. And when the pressure is on, excellence is just doing those boring things well one more time. (00:00) Introduction: What makes someone excellent? (02:50) Lesson One: Excellence requires qualitative differentiation (06:40) Separate worlds: how levels differ in kind, not amount (07:40) Lesson Two: Talent does not lead to excellence (09:40) Talent is indistinguishable from its effects (11:00) Talent as a floor, not a ceiling (14:20) Lesson Three: Excellence is mundane (14:30) Mary Meagher: show up on time, nail the turns (17:40) Long-term motivation is boring (18:30) Excellence is doing the boring stuff under pressure (20:40) How refusing the mundane caps your ceiling (23:10) Summary of the three lessons (25:50) Takeaways for Stoic practice: making good use of impressions Download the Stoa app (it’s a free download): https://stoameditation.com/pod If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we’ll set you up with a free account. Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/ Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/ Get full access to The Stoa Letter at www.stoaletter.com/subscribe

    30 min
  2. Musashi’s Book of Five Rings: The Water Book (Episode 224)

    APR 7

    Musashi’s Book of Five Rings: The Water Book (Episode 224)

    Your mind should be quietly vibrating. Not tense, not slack, not leaning in any direction. That’s Musashi’s opening instruction in the Water Book and it sounds a lot like what the Stoics were after. Caleb and Michael continue their series on Musashi’s Book of Five Rings with the second book: Water. Where Book One laid out general strategy, this one gets into the craft itself: swordsmanship as a lens for how to carry yourself, think clearly, and stay locked onto what actually matters. (00:00) Introduction to the Water Book (03:40) Mindset: Quietly Vibrating, Not Leaning (07:50) Don’t Let Your Body Control Your Mind (10:50) Spirit vs. Body Size (13:00) Posture as Evidence of a Strong Mind (18:00) Make Your Everyday Stance Your Strategic Stance (21:50) Purpose Over Technique: Cut the Opponent Down (25:10) Bruce Lee, the UFC, and Rejecting Styles (28:00) Telos: The Ancient Word for “Keep Your Eye on the Ball” (31:30) Positions That Exist and Don’t Exist (35:00) Precepts as Boats: When to Let Go of Rules (38:30) Rhythm in Fighting, Conversation, and Life (42:00) Offensive and Defensive Lessons on Disruption (44:50) Forge Yourself with a Thousand Days of Training Download the Stoa app (it’s a free download): https://stoameditation.com/pod If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we’ll set you up with a free account. Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/ Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/ Get full access to The Stoa Letter at www.stoaletter.com/subscribe

    45 min
  3. What Stoics Find in the New Testament (Episode 222)

    MAR 10

    What Stoics Find in the New Testament (Episode 222)

    Michael picks up the New Testament for the first time and does something unusual: he treats Jesus not as a religious figure, but as a philosopher. A contemporary of the Stoics and Epicureans, teaching in the same era, competing for the same minds. The results are surprising. Some of Jesus’ core teachings land hard from a Stoic lens. Vice lives in desire, not action. The cowardly adulterer is worse than the bold one — he has two vices instead of one. Virtue demands the right reason, not just the right deed. Film your charity for Instagram and you’ve already collected your reward. Turn the other cheek isn’t passive — it’s radical character consistency. And loving your enemies? If you only love your friends, you’re not doing anything impressive. Everyone does that. But then things get complicated. What’s the ethical function of miracles? Why does faith matter if the Stoics demand knowledge? And if heaven promises a hundredfold return on your sacrifice, doesn’t Christianity collapse into delayed hedonism? Michael and Caleb wrestle with all of it — the overlaps, the tensions, and the parts that don’t resolve neatly. (03:00) Reading Jesus as a Philosopher (07:30) Vice Lives in Desire, Not Action (12:30) Virtue Requires the Right Reason (17:00) Turn the Other Cheek (22:00) Love Your Enemies (28:00) Cast the First Stone (37:30) The Danger of Appearances (41:30) Where a Stoic Pushes Back (51:20) Ted Chang and the Literature of Faith Download the Stoa app (it’s a free download): https://stoameditation.com/pod If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we’ll set you up with a free account. Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/ Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/ Get full access to The Stoa Letter at www.stoaletter.com/subscribe

    55 min
5
out of 5
43 Ratings

About

Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay discuss how to build resilience, develop virtue, and make sense of the world through Stoic philosophy. One episode a week. Get the Stoa app: www.stoameditation.com/pod [https://www.stoameditation.com/pod] Get the Stoa Letter: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [https://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast_description] www.stoaletter.com

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