Name: Saturday Stoa
Start: 2026-09-26T18:00:00.000Z
Location: Panera Bread

If you're interested in going deeper than just the intro classes and exploring the community side of Stoicism, please join us for Sunday Stoa.

We begin at **4:00 PM (ET)** with 10 minutes of Stoic breath meditation followed by 15 minutes of writing practice.
At **4:30 PM**, we move into introductions and social time.
Around **5:00 PM**, we’ll listen to selections from the original Stoic texts and then discuss the ideas they present.

This week, we’ll be listening to Letter 13 from *Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic*: *On groundless fears*.

Here's the text and video if you’d like to check them out beforehand:

Letter 13
Text: [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_13](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_13)
Video: [https://youtu.be/wAf-DxyRano?si=uB_SYOjZ3nTcXWtk](https://youtu.be/wAf-DxyRano?si=uB_SYOjZ3nTcXWtk)

**Come for the whole thing, or join us whenever it works best for you.** See you Sunday!

Stoic Philosophy Practice Group

Joy Salaja

Rohini Sripada

Holly

Gianpiero Maselli

Deb S

Keith277

Bladimir

Sunday Stoa #117

Online event

Join us for an evening of Stoic philosophy and discussion. We'll kick off the event with a short presentation exploring one of the core ideas of Stoicism, focusing on its real-world application with some practices drawn from the texts. Following the presentation, we'll break into smaller groups for a lightly-facilitated discussion about the topic.

This week, we'll be discussing anger and how to master this most dangerous of passions. We'll examine why anger is a form of temporary madness, the process for preventing and subduing it, and how we can use our daily reflection journaling to bring this vice under our control.

Here's the video we'll be watching: [https://youtu.be/G1nM9UCJCIs?si=C_8QPw1yPWtsWcvu&t=7574](https://youtu.be/G1nM9UCJCIs?si=C_8QPw1yPWtsWcvu&t=7574)

And here's the text, along with the rest of the resources for the course: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-6r2KFyv7f-vChnX-9eKovdFsQ6DYoc_CV5RZtJb9XA/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-6r2KFyv7f-vChnX-9eKovdFsQ6DYoc_CV5RZtJb9XA/edit?usp=sharing)

Thanks so much for your interest, and please remember:

*"There is no such thing as good or bad fortune for the individual; we live in common. And no one can live happily who has regard to himself alone and transforms everything into a question of his own utility; you must live for your neighbor, if you would live for yourself."* \- Seneca\, Letters from a Stoic\, Letter 48

Nicoletta

Rene Bonilla

Kerensa L

Alejandra

Diane

Stoicism 101: Week 7 - Anger

In this session, we’ll listen to Plotinus’ tractate **On Dialectic (The Upward Way)** (*Ennead* I.3), where he asks a fundamental question: **How does the soul ascend to the highest realities?**

Plotinus presents dialectic not merely as a method of argument, but as the soul’s highest intellectual activity. More than logic or debate, dialectic is the art of discerning the structure of reality itself and ascending from the world of appearances to Intellect and ultimately to the Good.

Along the way, he considers the roles of the musician, the lover, and the philosopher, each representing a different path by which the soul may be awakened to higher things.

Key themes include:

* What dialectic is, and why it is more than reasoning or debate
* The ascent from sensible beauty to intelligible reality
* The paths of the lover, the musician, and the philosopher
* How the soul comes to contemplate Intellect and the Good

Here's the text if you’d like to check it out beforehand - [https://w.wiki/QAbD](https://w.wiki/QAbD)

After listening, we’ll open a shared discussion around questions such as:

* What does Plotinus mean by dialectic?
* How does dialectic differ from ordinary reasoning?
* Why does beauty play such an important role in the ascent of the soul?
* What are the stages of the soul’s journey toward the Good?

**Beginners are very welcome**, but this is advanced material.
You’ll get much more out of the discussion if you **check out this [Introduction to Neoplatonism](https://youtu.be/vZEUo_sHoBw?si=e7CgeEUBfMyyIP5E) beforehand.**

The Cambridge Platonists

Biri/she/her

Snapper Mack

Paul S 

William

Maksym Ponomarenko

On Dialectic (Plotinus, Ennead I. 3)

In this session, we’ll listen to Plotinus’ tractate **On True Happiness** (*Ennead* I.4), where he examines one of the oldest questions in philosophy: **What does it mean to live well?**

Rejecting the idea that happiness depends upon wealth, health, reputation, pleasure, or external circumstances, Plotinus argues that true happiness belongs to the soul that lives in accordance with its highest nature. The happy person is not made happy by fortune, but by participation in the intelligible life.

This tractate offers a profound challenge to ordinary assumptions about success, suffering, and human flourishing.

Key themes include:

* The difference between pleasure and happiness
* Whether external goods contribute to the good life
* The happiness of the wise person in adversity
* The relation between happiness, virtue, and contemplation

Here's the text if you’d like to check it out beforehand - [https://w.wiki/QAsR](https://w.wiki/QAsR)

After listening, we’ll open a shared discussion around questions such as:

* What is true happiness according to Plotinus?
* Can a person remain happy amid suffering or misfortune?
* What role do virtue and contemplation play in the good life?
* How does Plotinus' account compare with those of Plato, Aristotle, or the Stoics?

**Beginners are very welcome**, but this is advanced material.
You’ll get much more out of the discussion if you **check out this [Introduction to Neoplatonism](https://youtu.be/vZEUo_sHoBw?si=Y1YOJqEGMhIjLfMX) beforehand.**

On True Happiness (Plotinus, Ennead I. 4)

Join us for the next Boston Stoics meetup!

Come meet fellow members, catch up with familiar faces, and dive into good conversation, whether about philosophy, life, or whatever's on your mind.

No agenda, no pressure, just good company and good talk. Whether you've been practicing Stoicism for years or are just curious, you're welcome here.
New faces always welcome, come say hello!

Boston Stoics

Larry

Saturday Stoa

Panera Bread

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