Ryan Holiday’s formal presentation at the Brisbane Town Hall lasted less than an hour, with the remainder of the evening devoted to questions and answers from the audience. Although the talk was relatively brief, it offered plenty to reflect upon, particularly in relation to the enduring relevance of Stoic philosophy in navigating the complexities of modern life.
1. Stepping back to see the bigger picture
At the outset, Holiday encouraged us to look at the world from a different perspective: to step back from our immediate surroundings and consider the bigger picture. From this bird’s-eye view, similarities between cultures and communities become more apparent. Although our customs, celebrations, milestones and communal activities may differ in form, they often serve remarkably similar purposes.
This is a useful reminder that, beneath the surface differences that can divide us, there is much that connects us as human beings. Justice may be the best virtue to enable this change of perspective.
2. The four Stoic virtues: a practical framework for living
The four cardinal virtues of Stoicism — temperance, courage, justice and wisdom — provide a framework for making decisions and conducting ourselves in everyday life. Holiday framed them as “a North Star for disorienting times”.
Temperance: moderation and self-discipline
Temperance is about moderation, self-control and the disciplined use of our time and energy. It calls upon us to do what needs to be done and to remain steadfast in our endeavours.
Holiday’s own sense of purpose was to write. His message was straightforward: get up in the morning and get on with the work you are here to do. Avoid allowing time to slip away through habitual distractions, such as endlessly scrolling through the news, when that attention could be directed towards something more worthwhile.
The challenge is not simply to work hard, but to work purposefully and with discipline.
Temperance, however, should not be confused with relentless self-denial or excessive control. Taken too far, even a seemingly positive quality can become harmful. Excessive exercise, for example, may undermine rather than promote good health. As with all the virtues, moderation requires judgement.
Courage: facing fear and doing what is necessary
Courage may be physical or moral. It involves facing our fears and doing what needs to be done, even when we anticipate difficulties, discomfort or danger.
Importantly, courage is not the absence of fear, nor does it require us to act recklessly. It occupies a middle ground between cowardice and rashness: the willingness to confront a challenge without being paralysed by fear or blinded by bravado.
This balance applies to the other virtues, too. The aim is not to pursue a quality without limit, but to exercise it wisely and appropriately in the circumstances.
Justice: our responsibilities to others
Justice extends our attention beyond ourselves to the people with whom we share our lives. It encompasses fairness, integrity, consideration and a sense of responsibility towards others.
Holiday’s emphasis on community-mindedness suggests that we need not begin by attempting to solve every problem in the wider world. We can begin with the people closest to us: our families, friends, neighbours and local communities. Although events in distant places may deeply concern us, our ability to influence them is often limited. We can, however, make a meaningful difference in the lives of those around us.
When asked why Love was not discussed by the Stoics, Holiday said that they mostly wrote about their struggles. He believes that love sits within the Stoic virtue of justice and shows in action — through care, fairness, loyalty and a willingness to contribute to the well-being of others. It also highlights that love should come from a place of caring, rather than control or possession.
Wisdom: knowing how to respond
Of the four virtues, wisdom may be the most difficult to define precisely. Holiday suggested that it is something we recognise when we encounter it in a person or witness it in an action.
One source of guidance is the philosophical writing of those who came before us. The reflections of Marcus Aurelius, for example, have survived across the centuries because they continue to speak to the enduring challenges of being human.
Wisdom is not simply the accumulation of knowledge. It is the ability to interpret our circumstances, discern what matters and choose an appropriate course of action.
3. Bringing the virtues together in everyday life
My reflections
I find it helpful to think of wisdom as something we can cultivate by taking a moment to consult ourselves — to listen to that inner spark before reacting to a situation.
When confronted with a difficult task or conversation, the four virtues can serve as complementary guides.
- Temperance and self-discipline remind us to be patient, regulate our emotions and resist the temptation to react impulsively or arc up.
- Courage encourages us to break through the cycle of procrastination that so often arises from a fear of failure, imperfection or an uncomfortable outcome. Epicurus warns us that “Life is ruined by procrastination” (John Sellars’ The Fourfold Remedy, 2022, p.55)
- Justice requires us to remain honourable and fair-minded in our dealings with others, even when emotions run high or our interests conflict.
- Wisdom helps us bring these qualities together, judge the circumstances as clearly as possible and choose a response that is both appropriate and constructive.
The virtues are not separate boxes to be ticked. They work together, each helping to guide and moderate the others. The result, ideally, is a considered response rather than an impulsive reaction.
4. Accepting imperfection: we are all works in progress
Holiday acknowledged that the right response to a situation may not always come immediately. His example of Ernest Hemingway and lost manuscripts illustrated the difficulties that even accomplished people encounter, and the importance of accepting setbacks rather than allowing them to defeat us.
In December 1922, Hemingway’s wife, Hadley, was assigned the task of taking all his manuscripts by train from Paris to Switzerland where, as a journalist, he was covering the Lausanne Peace conference. An editor he met there had expressed interest in his writing. Unfortunately, when she left her seat for a bottle of water, someone stole the suitcase with his vast collection. Later in a letter to Ezra Pound he said, don’t say it was good that I had lost all my ‘Juvenalia’; “I ain’t yet reached that mood”.
Sometimes the most appropriate response to disappointment is simply to acknowledge that it will take a little time to process: “I’m not there yet.”
There is no need to pretend that we have mastered every challenge or always behaved as we should. We can review our actions, consider what might have been done differently and use the experience to improve our response next time.
Seneca in his Letters from a Stoic (Epistle VI) had this to say:
“There are many things that still call for reformation; some affections to be checked and lowered, others to be encouraged and raised. And indeed I think this is a sign of the mind’s being improved, when it can see those faults of which it was ignorant before”. P.10
We are all works in progress. The objective is not perfection, but continual improvement — learning to respond with greater wisdom, courage, moderation and fairness as life unfolds.
Back to Hemingway. In his haste to resurrect the vanished words, his prose style became leaner and more vigorous. This was the style for which he became famous.
5. Why Stoicism resonates: finding our way through life
My impressions
The Brisbane City Hall was well attended by men and women, although there appeared to be more men in the audience. The turnout suggested that philosophical ideas continue to resonate with a considerable number of people.
I suspect part of Stoicism’s appeal lies in the practical guidance it offers for navigating a complex and often perplexing journey through life. It provides a kind of road map: a way of making decisions, responding to adversity and living with the hope that our presence will have made a positive difference.
Most of us want to feel that our lives have mattered — that we have contributed something worthwhile and that the legacy we leave behind will continue to benefit those who come after us.
Stoicism offers a way to pursue that aspiration without requiring us to control every circumstance or achieve every ambition. It asks us to concentrate on the quality of our own conduct, the responsibilities we fulfil and the contribution we make to the lives of others.
The philosophy also offers a means of coming to terms with the cards we are dealt as mortal beings. During the question-and-answer session, a young man spoke about how Stoicism had helped him come to terms with his cancer diagnosis and treatment. His experience brought home the deeply personal significance that such teachings can have when life confronts us with circumstances we cannot change.
In the face of uncertainty, illness and mortality, Stoicism does not promise that suffering can be avoided. Rather, it offers tools for meeting adversity with dignity, making the best of the circumstances in which we find ourselves and preserving a measure of inner calm.
When life deals an unexpected challenge, changing perspective can be a wise first step in finding your way forward.
6. Stoicism, mortality and the search for contentment
My reflections
I see Stoic philosophy as an approach to living a contented and meaningful life here on Earth, grounded in our capacity to reason, reflect and act wisely.
When our bodies die, our lives as embodied human beings come to an end. This understanding differs from the beliefs of many religions, which offer comfort through the prospect of a spiritual existence after death and the hope of reunion with loved ones.
Rather than relying on the promise of an afterlife, Stoicism invites us to find contentment and tranquility within the life we have, by learning to distinguish what lies within our control from what does not.
If our time is finite, the way we live now matters. Our relationships, our conduct and the care we show others become central to the meaning we make of our lives.
We may not be able to determine how long we live or what ultimately becomes of us, but we can exercise some influence over how we use our time and how we treat the people with whom we share it.
In this sense, Stoicism encourages us to make peace with our mortality without surrendering the possibility of living well.
In her book of poems, “Finding Joy”, Dearbhla Mescal offers a beautiful mantra for living well:
Let us walk
with gentle intent
Speak
with impeccable honour
and act
in glorious grace
7. Finding our purpose: following what calls to us
Holiday first encountered Stoic philosophy at the age of 19. In discussing purpose, he drew upon his own career journey as a writer and his attraction to Stoic teachings.
His advice was to pay attention to what draws us in — what calls to us. Once we have identified an area of genuine interest or purpose, we can begin to build the knowledge and skills needed to pursue it.
That means surrounding ourselves with people who have relevant experience, seeking mentors, observing how others work and learning from those who have travelled further along the path.
Finding a direction is only the beginning; sustained effort, openness to learning and the willingness to persevere are what help turn an interest into meaningful work.
Holiday’s own career illustrates the relationship between discovering a calling and committing oneself to it.
My reflections
Ryan was lucky that Stoicism resonated with him in his teens and that he met a great mentor like Robert Greene. His purpose in life remained steadfast. But for many their purpose may evolve more slowly and the path may not be linear, nor clear. But it’s wise to tune into what you are good at and keep improving yourself with life-long learning. You never know who you might meet in the next half hour. Be ready for unexpected opportunities.
8. The restorative power of nature
When asked how to approach difficult choices, perplexing problems or challenging decisions, Holiday’s response was refreshingly simple: “Go for a walk!”. He confesses he takes a lot of walks because he “was made to think on the move”.
I was disappointed that he did not use this opportunity to explore the deeper connection between clear thinking and living in harmony with nature. It was left to the audience, in a sense, to join the dots.
My reflections
A walk in nature need not involve a hike through a rainforest or an expedition into the wilderness. It might be as simple as looking through a bedroom window at the sky and noticing its ever-changing colours, patterns and magnificent variations.
The act of directing our attention towards the natural world can be transformative. It draws us away from the constant demands of our immediate concerns and allows us to consult our reasoned mind. In the quietness that follows, we may find ourselves better able to see a problem clearly and recognise possibilities that had previously eluded us.
For me, this experience is connected to what I think of as the Spark within — the inner source of reflection, intuition and moral awareness. One might describe it in spiritual language as the god or goddess within, or as a fragment of cosmic fire that constitutes the human soul.
Whatever language we choose, the experience points towards a capacity within us to pause, reflect and reconnect with what matters.
In that quieter space, we may draw upon our own reserves of wisdom and courage, guided by a sense of justice and tempered by self-discipline, to arrive at a considered response. We may not find a perfect solution, but we may find a just and constructive course of action within our control.
John Sellars, in Lessons in Stoicism (2019), offers a conception of the soul as mind, thoughts and beliefs, rather than an immortal or supernatural entity. He also presents the good life as one lived in harmony with nature.
9. Artificial intelligence: progress, uncertainty and the human future
Holiday’s comments on artificial intelligence struck me as relatively light, and perhaps somewhat self-serving in their emphasis. He highlighted the capacity of AI to undertake remarkable deep dives into the history of philosophy, an application that clearly holds interest for a writer and student of Stoicism.
He appeared confident that society would navigate the current technological revolution, as humanity has emerged from major challenges in the past. He did not express particular concern that AI might bring about the demise of human civilisation.
I was left wondering whether this confidence gave sufficient weight to the scale and uncertainty of the changes now under way.
AI may offer extraordinary opportunities for learning, research and the dissemination of philosophical ideas. Yet its growing capabilities also raise questions about human judgement, responsibility, the distribution of power and our ability to manage technologies whose consequences may be difficult to anticipate.
Perhaps Stoicism itself offers a useful starting point for considering these questions. It encourages us to distinguish between what we can influence and what we cannot, to exercise sound judgement rather than react from fear, and to remain attentive to the consequences of our actions for the wider community.
However, accepting uncertainty is not the same as dismissing risk. A balanced response requires both openness to possibility and the courage to examine difficult questions honestly.
10. Concluding reflections: the art of living well
What I took away from the evening was not simply a collection of Stoic teachings, but a reminder that philosophy can offer practical guidance for living our best life.
The four virtues provide a framework for navigating our responsibilities, confronting our fears, exercising restraint and making sound decisions. They remind us that we will not always get things right, that setbacks are inevitable and that wisdom often emerges through experience and reflection.
For me, the connection between Stoicism, nature and our inner life is particularly compelling. Taking time to step back from the noise of the world, to observe the natural environment and to consult our own reasoned mind may help us recover a sense of proportion. From there, we can respond to life’s challenges with greater clarity and composure.
Ultimately, perhaps the appeal of Stoicism lies in its insistence that a good life is not necessarily a life free from difficulty, nor one measured by worldly success alone. It is a life in which we endeavour to act well, care for others, use our time meaningfully and accept those aspects of existence that lie beyond our control.
We may not be able to choose every card we are dealt. But we can work towards playing those cards with wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.
And perhaps that is enough: to live as thoughtfully as we can, to leave something worthwhile behind, and to find a measure of tranquility in the knowledge that we have tried to live well.
11. Changing perspective revisited
My insights from the Metaverse
Have you ever played Roblox or Minecraft with your children or grandchildren? In the virtual world of games played in the metaverse, perspective is the lens through which your avatar views a specific scenario. My grandchildren have invited me into this realm and I see that it offers useful insights on the value of a changed perspective in solving problems and finding new strategies.
Roblox has four Core Perspectives:
- First-Person (POV): The camera sits directly inside your avatar’s head giving players a visual identity. They see what their avatar sees.
- Third-Person (Over-the-Shoulder / Follow): The camera floats behind your avatar. This is the classic Roblox default. It gives a wide view of your surroundings and lets players show off their purchased avatar outfits.
- Top-Down (Isometric): The camera looks straight down or at a high angle from the sky. This shifts the game from an action experience to a tactical one.
- 2D Side-Scroller: The camera is locked to a profile view, turning the 3D Roblox world into a retro platformer.
In our universe, complex problems (like climate change, economic outlooks, seismic technology changes, or deep relationship conflicts) cannot be solved from one angle. You must deliberately cycle through the first-person, third-person, top-down, and historical perspectives to understand the true shape of the matter.
Avatars can do amazing things – fly, teleport, or see through walls – but still they are bound by the code that runs the game, just as humans are constrained by events beyond their control. Changing perspective allows avatars and humans to find optimal strategies. A human’s mind can do amazing things – its intellectual flexibility allows it to break free from its default setting and discover solutions that were invisible from its original point of view.
In the metaverse kids treat obstacles as puzzles. When they fail, they laugh, hit ‘respawn’, and try a new strategy. We can all learn from this playful detachment. When an external plan fails, our minds can hit ‘respawn’, make a perspective adjustment and find a new way forward.
