Melbourne Stoa

"What upsets people are not things themselves, but their judgements about the things." — Epictetus, The Handbook [5].

Welcome to the Melbourne Stoa,

We are a group of people interested in studying, discussing and applying the wisdom of Stoic philosophy.

Stoicism is a classical philosophy developed in Ancient Greece that focusses on developing resilience, becoming a kinder, more active member of society, and thinking clearly. This is hoped to help individuals thrive and live what the ancients called 'The Good Life'—a life in which we are fair, confident, self-controlled, and mindful.

The Stoics' main ideas were that:
1) Our beliefs about things lead to emotional suffering (not things themselves), and
2) The only things we truly control are our actions, thoughts, desires and motivations (not the outcomes).

They developed a number of techniques in light of the above to help us live better lives which are still employed today by psychologists, such as in CBT and Frankl's Logotherapy.

In our groups, we use Stoic and other philosophical ideas to foster self-development and clearer thought, action and desire. Not everyone who attends would call themselves a 'Stoic' and people of all persuasions are welcome, but we believe Stoicism has many important ideas that could improve our lives. 

We use stoic readings to facilitate our discussions (see the event page for the chosen readings for any given date), but we welcome everyone to our meetings, whether they're familiar with the readings or not. 

We meet every 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month at Federation Square.

We love meeting new people. Hopefully we'll see you at a meeting soon!