Late Capitalism Stoicism (somewhat)

 

I read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations in college, and have continued to return to the work for thirty years now.  Recently I was excited to see Stoicism experiencing something of a revival.  This brings me to The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday. Written in the radically pragmatic spirit of the “late” Roman era Stoics, Holiday does some interesting work in this book.  

But for me, Stoicism is not useful for “turning trials into triumphs” but rather accepting the trials of life with equanimity.  The beginning of Holiday’s book reads like an advertisement for entrepreneurial capitalism.  I am not interested in this at all, and too much of an emphasis on "success" distorts Stoicism. 

Toward the end the author turns to more serious Stoic topics – including the fine art of disengaging from a reality... being less connected with things that enslave us.  It seems the author wrote the first half purposefully optimistic, so as not to turn off readers.  So if this author’s voice bothers you in the first half, hang on, he will turn things around and develop a more rounded vision.