Around midnight, on December 16, chaos erupted in Toulon, France. It was 1793. Napoleon Bonaparte led an untrained and undisciplined force to try to end the Siege of Toulon. For over three months the British Royal Navy controlled the harbor with not only their warships but also their occupation of several forts that overlooked the …
Life is about living. It can be easy to feel distracted and disconnected in today’s world. We can become stuck in our own head. We become fixated on narrow ideas or narrow perspectives. Seneca reminds us in his letter, “On groundless fears,” “There are more things … likely to frighten us than there are to …
In ancient Japan, men who became the armed guards of the aristocracy were known as samurai, or “attendants.” Later when the samurai seized power from the aristocracy, they needed to distinguish themselves from the “attendant” label. They began to call themselves bushi, or “warriors” or “knights.” Hundreds of years of war hardened these knights and …
“A man cannot do everything; but this cannot be an excuse for doing bad things.” -Henry David Thoreau At the age of 17, Benjamin Franklin decided he no longer wanted to live in Boston. He needed to escape the prospects of taking over his brother’s debts at his print shop in town. The life of …
“As a military man, I think you’ll have a special interest in this. Frederick the Great never went on a campaign without a copy of this handbook in his kit.” -Phil Rhinelander A Stanford philosophy professor and WWII Navy veteran, Phil Rhinelander, introduced James Stockdale to the world of philosophy, and most importantly to Epictetus. …
Pericles was a great statesman of his time and reportedly a friend of Socrates. He believed that Athenians were able to do anything better than anyone else. Ancient Athens, a self-disciplined society, balanced their discipline with the pursuit of intellectual freedom. Socrates himself pursued intellectual freedom by being an “examiner” of men. He exhibited incredible …
“Do not despair. Do not be disappointed if you see that you cannot accomplish all the good which you would like to accomplish. If you fall, try to stand up; try to overcome the obstacle before you. Get to the heart of the matter, to the essence of things.” – Marcus Aurelius Baron Friedrich Wilhelm …
The Overmountain Men were from settlements west of, or “over” the Appalachian Mountains. In the 1700’s, these mountains were the boundary dividing the thirteen American colonies and the western frontier. The Overmountain area included parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. At the start of the revolutionary war, the Overmountain Men were reluctant to fight …
In 216 BC, Hannibal invaded Italy during the Second Punic War as part of Carthage’s strategy to challenge the growing power of Rome. In the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), Carthage had suffered a humiliating defeat, which resulted in the loss of its territories in Sicily and Sardinia to Rome. Hannibal wanted to avenge this …
“Speed in the martial arts is not the True Way.” – Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings Too often in our modern world, we rush from one activity to the next. But Musahsi, like many warriors, understood that there was a rhythm of things. He understood that as the seasons change so should we. …