Become less foolish?

Become less foolish with the writings and experiments of Peter Limberg and friends. Paid subscribers will have access to private journals, philosophical reports, and live online and IRL experiments.

“The writer and podcaster Peter Limberg, a devotee of Stoic thought.” - The New York Times

A newspaper of record called me a devotee of Stoic thought. That is cool. I am not really that devoted, though. If you insist on me explaining “my philosophy,” hyper-minimal Stoicism might be accurate, as I agree with Stoic virtue ethics. Ultimately, I am more interested in doing philosophy rather than having a philosophy.

The famous Stoic philosopher-emperor, Marcus Aurelius, journaled to himself to keep himself close to the truth. These were his Meditations or Ta eis heauton ("things to one's self"). I started journaling to myself publicly in front of you in March 2020, at the start of a pandemic, so that the truth could stay close. This practice has been alchemic, transforming me in surprising ways and attracting beautiful people into my life.

Wisdom, defined by wisdom researcher Igor Grossman as “the meta-value that adjudicates all other values,” is a value of mine. However, my approach to being wiser is to become less foolish. I find philosophical inquiry, especially through journaling, chips away at my foolishness. Writing in this Substack has been a journey in becoming less foolish. 

If you are new to my work, I have written “philosophical reports,” made practice recommendations, and told tales of my slice-of-life adventures. Here are some samples:

Philosophical reports 

• Memetic Tribes and Culture War 2.0. A report on the shift from a bipolar culture war (Culture War 1.0) to a multipolar culture war (Culture War 2.0) and the rise of “memetic tribes.”

• Meme to Vibe. A report on the cultural movement from “meme consciousness” to “vibe consciousness.” 

Practices recommendations

• Based Definitions. A practice that encourages us to “own” the words we use by sensing their origins and creating our own definitions until they resonate deeply.

• Monasticization of Daily Life. A meta-practice that considers your “ecology of practices,” starting with a “generator practice,” the one practice that ripples out consciousness. 

Slice-of-life adventures

• Integrity, Risk, and Tiddlywinks. A tale of me losing a bet and then winning lessons on living with (and without) integrity and taking a risk.

• Healed People Heal People. A retelling of a road trip that deepens my sense of what being a “spiritual brother” means.

Thank you for reading. 😀

In philia,

Peter