Donald Robertson is a cognitive behavioral psychotherapist, author of over nine books, and one of the founding voices in the modern Stoicism movement. He has spent over 30 years studying how ancient Greek and Roman philosophy intersects with contemporary psychology, and in this conversation we start where it all begins: the maxim carved into the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Know thyself. We explore what it actually meant, who said it, and why it still matters more than most self-help advice written in the last century.
What We Dive Into:
1. The Stoics drew a sharp line between what actually happens and the value judgments we add on top of it. To say something "is awful" treats our emotional reaction as a fact about the world.
2. Of all the emotions that derail a life, anger gets the least attention in therapy, self-help, and honest self-reflection.
3. In the ancient world, wisdom was not something you consumed or memorized. It was something you practiced daily. Collecting insights without changing your behavior is closer to what the Sophists sold than to what Socrates taught.
Know Thyself, but not by yourself. A guided space to return home to yourself.
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00:00 Intro
01:53 Know Thyself: The Three Sayings at Delphi
07:44 What Philosophy Actually Means
11:17 Socrates vs. the Sophists: Wisdom vs. Appearance
18:05 The Stoic U-Turn: Reorienting What We Value
23:59 Self-Knowledge as a Mirror for the Soul
26:59 Values Clarification and the Eulogy Exercise
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36:03 Eudaimonia: Flourishing, Not Just Happiness
39:40 Hardship as Opportunity for Character
45:31 A Brief History of Stoicism
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54:33 The Stoics Were Way Ahead of Their Time
59:30 Stoicism, India, and Alexander the Great
1:06:31 Early Christianity and Greek Philosophy
1:14:03 Marcus Aurelius: The Man Behind the Meditations
1:19:17 Philosophy Born from Injury: Marcus and Donald
1:32:52 Uppercase vs. Lowercase Stoicism
1:38:28 The Two Phases of Emotion
1:45:47 Prosoché: The Practice of Paying Attention
1:50:40 Appearance vs. Reality: The Stoic Core
1:56:34 Turning the Chinese Proverb into a Practice
2:02:44 The View from Above and the Acropolis
2:11:28 Premeditatio Malorum: Rehearsing Adversity
2:17:27 Anger as Temporary Madness
2:23:26 De-Romanticizing Desire
2:36:58 Sophists, Rhetoric, and Modern Influencers
2:44:47 Why Self-Help Isn't More Helpful
2:56:17 The Socratic Method as Cure for Conceit
3:13:19 The King Who Rules Himself
3:17:50 The Oracle of Delphi and Socrates' Mission
3:33:44 Injustice Harms the Perpetrator More
3:36:51 Donald's Own Life: Philosophy as a Path
3:38:46 The Eleusinian Mysteries and Marcus's Initiation
3:48:21 Learning to Die as Liberation
3:55:29 Marcus's Naked Soul: Transparency as Practice
3:58:07 What the Stoics Taught About Love
4:02:05 Rapid Fire: The Great Philosophers
4:16:00 Closing Message: You Underestimate Your Resilience
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