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The Stoic Salon's inaugural Stoicon-x* event
Journaling with the Stoics
or
How To Journal Like Marcus Aurelius
will take place on Sunday, 1 November between 4:00 and 8:00 pm UTC.
4 pm Glasgow | 11 am Toronto | 8 am LA | 3 am Melbourne | 6 pm Athens
The event will feature keynote speakers Donald Robertson and John Sellars on Marcus Aurelius's writing technique; a panel on journaling practice, breakout groups, a writing activity, shared reading and examination of a few extracts from Meditations.
*Stoicon-x events are independent events, organized in co-operation with Modern Stoicism Ltd.
The name ’Stoicon-x’ is a registered trademark of Modern Stoicism Ltd.
You are welcome to register even if you can't make it live.
We'll send out a follow-up and recording, some further journaling prompts, and an invitation to a 28-day journaling challenge in November.
Keynote speakers
Donald Robertson
Donald Robertson is the author of "How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius," "Stoicism and the Art of Happiness" and other books. He is also a CBT Psychotherapist and trainer. His article on "How Marcus Aurelius wrote The Meditations" is good prep reading for this event.
John Sellars
John Sellars is a Reader in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and a member of Wolfson College, Oxford. He has authored numerous books on Stoicism and his latest book is on Marcus Aurelius.
David Fideler
David Fideler holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and the history of science and cosmology, is a recognized authority on the Pythagorean school, and is currently writing a book for W. W. Norton, which is an introductory guide on the Stoic philosophy of Seneca, that will be published in 2021. As part of this project he is editing a website called Stoic Insights.
Host
Kathryn Koromilas
I lead the Stoic Salon, which is a Facebook group dedicated to reading and writing with the Stoics. I talked about Stoic journaling at Stoicon-X Athens last year. Here's a link to the video recording of the presentation (register for free to access) and a link to the transcript of the paper.
This 4-hour event will include:
- Short talks on Marcus Aurelius's writing technique.
- Q&A with Donald Robertson and John Sellars.
- Panel on personal journaling practices.
- Breakout groups to share our current journaling practices.
- Shared reading and examination of extracts from "Meditations."
- A private writing activity.
- Breakout groups to read and share writing activity.
- Opportunity to sign up for a 28-day journaling challenge - Meditations on Meditations - in The Stoic Salon in November.
What to expect on the day.
(Subject to change.)
4:00 pm GMT
How do we journal?
A panel of Stoic scholars will answer the following questions:
- Do you have a journaling practice?
- What does it look like?
- What or who has inspired the way you journal today?
- What, if any, obstacles do you face when journaling?
- How has journaling transformed you?
- If there were an ideal Stoic journaling practice, what would it be/look like?
Panelists include
- Christopher Gill,
- Donald Robertson,
- John Sellars,
- David Fideler,
- Tim LeBon,
- Piotr Stankiewicz,
- Chuck Chakrapani,
- Sharon Lebell,
- Matt Sharpe,
- Jonas Salzgeber,
- Pete Fagella
- Peter Limberg
- Stoic Dan
- Alkistis Agio
5:00 pm GMT
How did Marcus Aurelius & Seneca journal?
Donald Robertson and John Sellars will talk about the unique and intentional writing technique Marcus Aurelius employed in his notes to himself, his Meditations.
Q&A
How did Seneca used letters to teach Stoicism?
David Fideler explores Seneca's letter-writing as a way of making progress each day, in terms of improving one’s character.
Q&A
6:00 pm GMT
How might we journal like Marcus Aurelius?
Writing activities.
We'll set a journaling task.
We'll write quietly for 20 minutes.
7:00 pm GMT
Takeaways & Next Up
We'll break out into groups and share our work, or talk about it. We'll meet as a larger group again to debrief and takeaways.
Opportunity to sign up for an email-based 28-day journaling challenge. Meditations on Meditations in The Stoic Salon in November.
What to bring
Bring
A journal
Bring your notebooks or journals to show and share. Bring a notebook to write in. Bring your favourite pen.
Bring
Coffee
Four hours on Zoom needs coffee, tea, water, and snacks.
We'll be taking a short break each hour to refresh.
Bring
Friends
Writing is a solitary activity but Stoicism is a very social philosophy. Bring your friends. Share. Commit to a practice of ongoing philosophical training.
Share with friends.
What Stoic Salon members have said about journaling with Marcus Aurelius.
"Meditations on 'Meditations'" journaling Bootcamps 2019
Stoicon-X, Stoic Salon | Stoic journaling
Register to attend.
