Obvious State

No One Was Ever Wise by Chance

Two thousand years ago, Seneca wrote twelve letters to a friend on time, fear, friendship, and how to actually live.

They still hold up.

Free Yourself From Distraction

Marcus Aurelius wrote that nearly two thousand years before the smartphone. Perhaps he saw it coming.

The Meditations, beautifully illustrated

Algorithm-free. No charger required.

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So We Beat On

The final line ofThe Great Gatsby, the Fitzgerald novel that defined the jazz age. It was the era that ushered in modernity, a time of material excess, liberation, and intoxication. But even in the midst of the party, Fitzgerald could sense the toll such decadence takes on the human soul.

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Journal

The ideas, art, and inspiration behind what we're making

On Consciousness
No one has ever accused Dostoevsky of pulling his punches. When it comes to life’s struggles, he goes right for the jugular. This makes him something of a bummer when life is going well, but truly invaluable when things get tough. ...
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We Suffer More Often in Imagination Than in Reality
I recently noticed something about bad days. If you check all of the items off your to-do list, it makes no difference whether you did so miserably or with equanimity. The report was written, the project was completed, the dishes...
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WWSD (What Would Seneca Do?)
In the face of an overwhelming, infuriating, almost-paralyzing array of unanswerable philosophical questions, stoicism starts with the most pragmatic one.What can we actually control? Our judgments, choices, intentions, virtues, efforts, and our focus. What can’t we control? Bad fortunes, when and...
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No One Was Ever Wise by Chance

Free Yourself From Distraction

So We Beat On

Journal

On Consciousness

We Suffer More Often in Imagination Than in Reality

WWSD (What Would Seneca Do?)