New Stoicism meetup in Houston

July 2, 7:50 AMHouston Humanist ExaminerDT Strain

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Stoic Emblem. (CC) Daniel Strain.

Several times at Houston Humanist Examiner, the philosophy of Stoicism has been covered. A new meetup group in Houston has been created for the purposes of studying and practicing Stoicism further.

[Link to Houston Stoicism Meetup]

The popular website Meetup.com allows users to create, host, or simply attend various meetups in their city. The Houston Stoicism Meetup has just been created by myself. While there are plenty of ways to attend temples to study Buddhism, and plenty of Humanist activities going on in Houston each month, there don't seem to be any avenues for people to meet locally to learn about Stoicism.

The general aim will be to have at least one main meetup per month, where we come together to discuss Stoicism and our own personal explorations and practice of it, helping one another make progress. Over time, I hope to explore further the possible intersection of modern Humanism and Stoicism, which at the moment is a nearly non-existent concept among Humanists (although many of them have drawn parallels to Epicurianism). I would also like to try to get some interested professors and teachers in Houston involved.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of whether they are new to Stoicism, merely interested academically, or are seasoned experts. So if you're reading this and you're interested, you are invited to our first meetup, which will informally take place at one of the tables in the cafe area (upstairs) of the Borders Books & Music at 3025 Kirby Dr., Houston, TX 77098. We'll gather at 7:00pm on Wednesday July 8th.

Here is the introductory material from our Meetup.com site:

Stoicism is a philosophy about how to live life and live it well. Our philosophy was founded in Athens, Greece, about 2300 years ago by a man named Zeno, who started his school by standing on a porch (Stoa) in the market and talking to anyone who happened by. In time, he had a regular group standing and talking philosophy there with him.

Stoicism was the preeminent philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome and flourished for nearly 500 years. It reemerged as a popular philosophy in the Renaissance when people returned to reason rather than faith to find answers about how to live. Today our philosophy and those who live by it are alive and well all over the world.

Stoics have a particular and fascinating view of the world, which is aimed at overcoming the destructive passions and emotions, seeking virtue, living in accordance with Nature, and achieving a flourishing & happy life. Although a Western philosophy, it has often been compared and contrasted to Buddhism.

Let us gather again in the marketplaces, as Zeno and his students did - not merely to study and discuss this philosophy academically - but to improve our practice of it as a way of life...

[note: much of the wording in this description was used from NewStoa.com]

Thanks for reading. Articles to come soon here at Houston Humanist Examiner will broaden out to look at other kinds of topics - stay tuned :)

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