Geeky Stoics

Unmasking Toxic Empathy

In this week’s live stream and podcast, Geeky Stoics is exploring the concept of toxic empathy, its implications, and how it influences society, politics, and relationships. Riley and Stephen delve into the nature of empathy, moral virtue, and the importance of balancing compassion with discernment. Chapters: * 01:08 What Is Toxic Empathy? * 04:33 Empathy in Literature and Media: Star Wars and Narnia * 08:04 Moral and Cultural Relativism in Empathy * 15:13 Empathy in Justice and Punishment * 20:23 Evil and Moral Clarity * 27:27 The Limits and Risks of Empathy * 30:15 Advice for Self-Discovery * 37:17 Balancing Career, Family, and Personal Purpose * 43:30 Watchtower Intel * 48:02 Community and Future Retreats * 54:18 The Power of Storytelling and Shared Values Resources: * Gad Saad’s book ‘Suicidal Empathy’ [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Suicidal+Empathy] * Paul Bloom’s book ‘Against Empathy’ [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Against+Empathy] * C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Four Loves’ [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Four+Loves] * Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Orthodoxy+GK+Chesterton] * Watchtower Intel on Substack [http://watchtowerintel.substack.com/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe [https://www.geekystoics.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Stoicism in The Screwtape Letters

Today’s reading of The Screwtape Letters focuses on Chapter 3, a letter about personal/family relations and the importance of managing your impressions regarding facial expressions, tone of voice and other mannerisms. Things can break down rapidly when a relationship drifts toward enmity and assumed bad faith, and Lewis’s warning here is to reflect on how you let yourself off the hook for grating mannerisms—while scrutinizing those of everyone else. When two humans have lived together for many years it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other. Work on that. Bring fully into the consciousness of your patient that particular lift of his mother's eyebrows which he learned to dislike in the nursery, and let him think how much he dislikes it. Let him assume that she knows how annoying it is and does it to annoy — if you know your job he will not notice the immense improbability of the assumption. And, of course, never let him suspect that he has tones and looks which similarly annoy her. As he cannot see or hear himself, this is easily managed. It’s a distinctly Stoic letter, almost like Lewis drew directly from Epictetus. It is not the only time Screwtape Letters offers blocks of wisdom that parallel the Stoics. In this video, I also draw on a book called Jesus & Stoicism [https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Stoicism-Parallel-Brittany-Polat/dp/1646048806] by Brittany Polat, which compares Bible verses with lines from the Stoic philosophers, to show where these “virtuous pagans” were on the right track when it came to ethics that Christianity made mainstream in the West. I highly recommend it for your bookshelf. You can buy it at the link above. This video is free for everyone to enjoy as a thank-you for being on the newsletter. We’re glad you’re here, and every subscription helps us keep Geeky Stoics going. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe [https://www.geekystoics.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Mind Your Own Business

Good morning! At our recent retreat, I came across a wardrobe with a semi-magical tea room inside… so naturally, I decided to crawl in and record a video podcast (typical). This was filmed by Jon of First Time Readers [https://www.youtube.com/@firsttimereaders/posts], a truly great channel for Tolkien analysis, and it focuses on a passage from C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books that I enjoy and return to often. By the way, we are now signing people up for the waitlist to pre-order our new book: GREAT ESCAPE: 30 Reflections on Stoicism, Faith and the Wisdom of Great Stories. Coming December 1st from Post Hill Press. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe [https://www.geekystoics.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

All Men Have Something To Teach

Behind the scenes of the first Geeky Stoics retreat This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe [https://www.geekystoics.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Maybe Escapism is Good, Actually

I don’t like to turn my brain off when enjoying a movie, show, or book. For me, the point has never been to “escape” the real world or be off in La-La Land; it’s to think more deeply. If a story isn’t engaging me on the level of morality, ethics, political thought….I get kind of bored. So, I’ve always criticized fellow fans of, say, Star Wars, who argue in the comments that they expect a story to offer “escapism.” It’s possible that, according to Tolkien, I’m wrong about this. Today I sat down to read a few pages of On Fairy-stories, an essay by JRR Tolkien about the question of “escape” and how good stories are anything but….. This is early exclusive for subscribers on Substack and the Discord community, and then it will be posted on YouTube next week. Thanks for being part of our mythically minded community. Riley and I are hard at work on our new book, which should be wrapped up by March. Then we’ll be penning more regular posts again here for all of you. Happy New Year, y’all! 2025 was incredible. You played a part in that for us at Geeky Stoics. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe [https://www.geekystoics.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]