So Much Thumos
Hey friends,
Upcoming events for the next three days:
The Stoic Hustle w/ Peter Limberg. Every Tuesday @ 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM ET. RSVP here.*
Social Design Club w/ Freyja and Joe Edelman. Every Wednesday @ 1:30 PM ET. RSVP here. Join the club here. 90 mins.
Relational Exegesis w/ Freyja. Every Wednesday @ 4:30 PM ET. RSVP here.** 90 mins.
*Watch a presentation on the practice here. You can come and leave as you please throughout the 5 hours.
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August 10, 2020
I was in a funk for a few days last week, but yesterday I was comfortably in my saddle, riding with so much thumos. What happened?
I am not sure, but my sense is doing things. When I think too much, and ponder my personal meaning crisis, and focus on the multitude of ways I am damaged, then life is a drag, and I indulge in a pathetic hedonism when it feels like I am being dragged.
I was organizing and posting events for The Stoa yesterday. I like doing that and I am filled with thumos when doing that. I think that is the secret for me. Do more and think less. When I do that I am one with the thumos, and when I am one with the thumos the daemon comes.
I cannot think of a time where my careful thinking inspired the daemon to visit. This is not to say that careful thinking is not good; it is to say I was never particularly good at it. I am glad I have friends who are careful thinkers though, they keep me in check. Careful thinking is not my thing. Just give me that thumos—which seems to attract the daemon—and watch things happen.
I know I am using terms like thumos and daemon in a way that is not completely considerate of their historical meanings, but whatever man, this is a part of the charm of not being a careful thinker. You get to have fun with dead words, and take ownership of them, and breathe life into them. Besides, this whole project has a spiritual feel to it for me. It started in an unthinking mad rush, and my sense is it's best to continue as such.
Yesterday, when The Stoa’s BHAG came to mind, these words wrote themselves: a philosophical coffee shop whose mission is to resolve the meta-crisis. That is certainly big enough, and hairy enough, and it is definitely audacious. I confess I get a total meta-boner when I am being audacious. There is no jumping out of bed without audaciousness.
I will be at the cottage this week with Camille. I’ll be enjoying the sun and water and all that stuff, but I will be doing. There is a lot to do. I will continue booking amazing speakers, the months of September and October will be amazing at The Stoa. All the cool kids will be like: what the fuck is going on with The Stoa? Must be some of that thumos inspired daemonic possession shit happening.
I also want to publish my book, Being a Stoic During the Meta-Crisis, which will be the first 101 entries of these journals, and I want to write that white paper for Dale Carnegie on something I am calling pandemic incivility for an October release.
What else? The Stoa website, and overall branding really, needs a revamp. The website sorely needs to be updated. Right now it is just a wall of text. The events need to be better articulated. I know I was going for an anti-normie strategy, but now it is time to scale, in a wise way. Too much value is being offered now not to get more people aware of this thing.
I am also going to move away from any Stoic vibes, hence I will eventually remove the handsome face of Marcus Aurelius. As the regulars know to The Stoa, this is not a place to chat about Stoicism, and the “Stoa” word is broad enough for it to stand on its own.
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