I have started a practice of reading philosophy each morning in bed as I wake up for up to a half-hour.
This includes passages from Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius and a book by Luc Ferry, called A Brief History of Thought.
My interest in Stoicism has been mainly aroused by Stephen Batchelor. However other sources have also had a strong influence on me. In particular, Sam Harris's app, Waking Up has a stoicism section with lectures/sermons/talks by William B Irvine which I find very interesting and helpful.
I read two passages from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. I use two translations. I contrast and compare each of them, especially the footnotes, which are often quite different. As each footnote tends to refer to another passage or footnote, I occasionally link to other readings in the Meditations. The two books I'm using for the Meditaitons are
- The Penguim Classics version translated by Martin Hammon, with introduction by Diskin Clay
- The Basic Books version by Robin Waterfield
Luc Ferry's book is working its way through the history of ideas from early Stoicism onwards. I'm currently struggling through his description of Nietzche's philosophy.
This makes for a wonderful way to start most days.
