About us
Welcome to Orlando Stoics! We are a very active group, with over 3,800 members and five meetings a week. Some meetings are held online, while others are in-person. All classes are free.
What is Stoicism? It's an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded in Athens about 300 BC. The first teacher was Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue (the highest good) is based on knowledge, and that wise people live in harmony with nature. The school also taught tolerance and self-control. Famous Stoics were Seneca the Younger, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. We also study modern Stoics.
Why Stoicism? In our world of instant gratification, constant stimulation, and endless distractions, Stoicism offers a novel perspective on life. Interested in developing an unconquerable mind? Stoicism has the answers. We also link ideas to Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Existentialism, Minimalism, and other "lived philosophy" systems. We love in-depth discussions!
If you join our group, feel free to adjust the email and notification settings to suit your preferences. Since we have new meetings every week, those emails might be too much for your inbox. Feel free to turn them off (go to our meetup page, click "You're a Member", and then click group notifications). You can still check our meetup page for upcoming events whenever you want.
The goals of our group:
1. We read the ancient books, plus the modern books on Stoicism.
2. We discuss Stoicism in the media, pop culture, and arts & literature.
3. We compare recurring themes in Stoicism to history, religion, and psychology.
There have always been people attracted to Stoicism. It was a significant influence on Shakespeare, JD Salinger, Tom Wolfe, and Nelson Mandela. It has also attracted political and military leaders, such as Frederick the Great, President Bill Clinton, and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who stated that he has read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations over 100 times.
We hope you will join us. The group is open to the public and has no subscription fee. Stoicism can help you cope with life's stresses, while retaining your ethics & character.
We hope to see you soon!
Upcoming events
28
What Counts as Wealth?
·OnlineOnline***
For the past few weeks, we've followed the architecture of modern finance: how credit reaches people the banks ignore, and how money itself might be built outside the reach of any state or bank. This week we step back and ask the question behind both: what is wealth in the first place, and why have we let one form of it crowd out all the others?
The framework comes from Ethan Roland and Gregory Landua, a permaculture designer and a regenerative business builder who published their essay "Eight Forms of Capital" in 2009 and expanded it into the book Regenerative Enterprise in 2013. Their work underpins much of John Fullerton's regenerative economics, which we discussed earlier in this series. The claim is simple but powerful: money is not the only form of capital, and treating it as if it were has quietly impoverished every other form that human life depends on.Roland and Landua describe eight forms of capital, each real and each able to grow or shrink. Financial capital is money, securities, and currencies. Material capital is the physical world of buildings, tools, and goods. Living capital is the soil, forests, rivers, and ecosystems that make biological life possible. Social capital is the web of relationships and trust that holds communities together. Cultural capital is a people's shared meaning: their traditions, language, stories, and art. Experiential capital is the wisdom and skill that come only from doing. Intellectual capital is ideas and knowledge. Spiritual capital is the sense of meaning and connection to something larger than the self.
The point isn't that money doesn't matter. It's that money is one form of value among many, and a small one beside the rest. A community rich in trust, skill, ecological health, and shared meaning is wealthy in a deep and lasting way, even with modest bank balances. A society that piles up financial capital while exhausting its soil, its trust, and its sense of purpose is not truly wealthy. It is converting one form of capital into another, calling the result growth, and failing to notice what it has lost.
Roland and Landua pay special attention to the four "nurture capitals": living, social, cultural, and spiritual. These take generations to build and only moments to destroy. Modern economies are very good at turning them into financial capital, treating forests, communities, and traditions as raw materials for profit. The trouble is that the trade runs mostly one way. Money can rebuild a road. It cannot easily rebuild a trusting community, a healthy watershed, a living language, or a shared sense of purpose.
Here the framework becomes philosophical, not only economic. For the Stoics, wealth was never money; it was the inner condition of a person who had cultivated virtue, friendship, wisdom, and self-mastery. Roland and Landua point in a similar direction, but at the scale of communities and ecosystems. A regenerative enterprise, in their definition, grows the nurture capitals while still functioning in the financial world. It doesn't pretend money doesn't exist. It just refuses to let money be the only thing that counts.
Our discussion this week turns on what this reframing asks of us. If wealth comes in eight forms, our usual measures of success start to look strange. GDP captures financial and material capital and ignores the rest. A career, a town, a marriage, or a life can grow in financial capital while shrinking in everything that matters. So: Which forms of capital are you actually rich in? Which are you quietly depleting to grow another? And if you took stock of your life in all eight rather than just one, what would you find?
Links
Ethan Roland and Gregory Landua Regenerative Enterprise (book site and PDF) https://www.regenterprise.com/
"Eight Forms of Capital" essay (Resilience.org) https://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-05-30/permaculture-and-the-8-forms-of-capital/Ethan Roland –
Looking Back Regenerative Enterprise: 4 Years Later https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/regenerative-enterprise-4-years-later-ethan-roland-soloviev
AppleSeed Permaculture https://appleseedpermaculture.com/
Regen Network (Landua) https://www.regen.network/John Fullerton
Capital Institute https://capitalinstitute.org/
Regenerative Capitalism essay https://capitalinstitute.org/regenerative-capitalism/Timezones 6:00 AM Pacific · 7:00 AM Mountain · 8:00 AM Central · 9:00 AM Eastern (USA)
About Our Group We welcome open-minded, respectful conversation on Stoicism and its relevance to daily life, personal growth, and modern thought. Our discussions connect ancient philosophy with contemporary science, psychology, economics, and culture, with the shared aim of cultivating wisdom together. The meeting begins at 9:00 AM Eastern, with dialogue starting promptly at 9:15 AM.
18 attendees
ONLINE / SPANISH: EPICTETO DISERTACIONES POR ARRIANO
·OnlineOnlineEsta reunión es cada miércoles a las 7 p.m. EST
CALENDARIO
EPICTETO DISERTACIONES POR ARRIANO5/27/2026 XXI A LOS QUE QUIEREN SER ADMIRADOS
6/3/2026 XXII SOBRE LAS PRESUNCIONES
6/10/2026 XXIII EN RESPUESTA A EPICURO
6/17/2026 XXIV CÓMO HAY QUE LUCHAR CONTRA LAS CIRCUNSTANCIAS DIFÍCILES
6/24/2026 XXV SOBRE LO MISMO
7/1/2026 XXVI CUÁL HA DE SER LA NORMA DE VIDA
7/8/2026 XXVII DE CUÁNTAS MANERAS SE PRESENTAN LAS REPRESENTACIONES Y QUÉ AYUDAS HAY QUE TENER A MANO FRENTE A ELLAS
7/15/2026 XXVIII QUE NO HAY QUE IRRITARSE CON LOS HOMBRES Y QUÉ COSAS SON PEQUEÑAS Y CUÁLES GRANDES ENTRE LOS HOMBRES
7/22/2026 XXIX SOBRE EL APLOMO
7/29/2026 XXX QUÉ HAY QUE TENER A MANO EN LAS DIFICULTADESZONAS HORARIAS
Hora de encuentro (EE. UU.):
19:00 h, hora del este
18:00 h, hora central
17:00 h, hora de las montañas
16:00 h, hora del PacíficoPara nuestros amigos internacionales:
Conviertan la hora con la herramienta gratuita
https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ENLACE ZOOM
HAGA CLIC PARA COMENZAR LA REUNIÓN - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7156108004
Si no tienes una computadora con cámara, también puedes marcar usando un teléfono. Elige uno de estos números y agrega el ID 7156108004#
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US
+1 301 715 8592 USNuestro grupo disfruta de conversaciones abiertas y respetuosas sobre el estoicismo y su relación con la ciencia, la cultura, la filosofía, otros sistemas de creencias e incluso la cultura popular (libros y películas). A veces "acordamos estar en desacuerdo", pero el objetivo a largo plazo es mejorar nuestras mentes a través de debates grupales.
En general, el estoicismo nos enseña cómo manejar personas y eventos difíciles, cómo evitar la ira y la preocupación y, sobre todo, a utilizar la moderación en todos los aspectos de nuestra vida.
Esta reunión es gratuita y abierta al público.
1 attendeeONLINE / SPANISH: EPICTETO DISERTACIONES POR ARRIANO
·OnlineOnlineEsta reunión es cada miércoles a las 7 p.m. EST
CALENDARIO
EPICTETO DISERTACIONES POR ARRIANO5/27/2026 XXI A LOS QUE QUIEREN SER ADMIRADOS
6/3/2026 XXII SOBRE LAS PRESUNCIONES
6/10/2026 XXIII EN RESPUESTA A EPICURO
6/17/2026 XXIV CÓMO HAY QUE LUCHAR CONTRA LAS CIRCUNSTANCIAS DIFÍCILES
6/24/2026 XXV SOBRE LO MISMO
7/1/2026 XXVI CUÁL HA DE SER LA NORMA DE VIDA
7/8/2026 XXVII DE CUÁNTAS MANERAS SE PRESENTAN LAS REPRESENTACIONES Y QUÉ AYUDAS HAY QUE TENER A MANO FRENTE A ELLAS
7/15/2026 XXVIII QUE NO HAY QUE IRRITARSE CON LOS HOMBRES Y QUÉ COSAS SON PEQUEÑAS Y CUÁLES GRANDES ENTRE LOS HOMBRES
7/22/2026 XXIX SOBRE EL APLOMO
7/29/2026 XXX QUÉ HAY QUE TENER A MANO EN LAS DIFICULTADESZONAS HORARIAS
Hora de encuentro (EE. UU.):
19:00 h, hora del este
18:00 h, hora central
17:00 h, hora de las montañas
16:00 h, hora del PacíficoPara nuestros amigos internacionales:
Conviertan la hora con la herramienta gratuita
https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ENLACE ZOOM
HAGA CLIC PARA COMENZAR LA REUNIÓN - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7156108004
Si no tienes una computadora con cámara, también puedes marcar usando un teléfono. Elige uno de estos números y agrega el ID 7156108004#
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US
+1 301 715 8592 USNuestro grupo disfruta de conversaciones abiertas y respetuosas sobre el estoicismo y su relación con la ciencia, la cultura, la filosofía, otros sistemas de creencias e incluso la cultura popular (libros y películas). A veces "acordamos estar en desacuerdo", pero el objetivo a largo plazo es mejorar nuestras mentes a través de debates grupales.
En general, el estoicismo nos enseña cómo manejar personas y eventos difíciles, cómo evitar la ira y la preocupación y, sobre todo, a utilizar la moderación en todos los aspectos de nuestra vida.
Esta reunión es gratuita y abierta al público.
1 attendee
Past events
1709
Group links
Members
4,793
