About: Van Bryan

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Classical Wisdom for Modern Minds You remember our mandate. Here we believe classical wisdom can ring true for modern minds. The great minds of classical antiquity still have much to teach us. You need only show up to class. And if you’d like to know how this

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Sometimes, late at night when we can hear the ocean outside our window, we wonder what the ancients would think of us… Would they be proud? Amused? Perplexed? Surely, we imagine, we won’t repeat ALL the mistakes of our classical forebearers. Somebody must have read Aristotle, Cicero,

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom “For contemplation is both the highest form of activity (since the intellect is the highest thing in us, and the objects that it apprehends are the highest things that can be known), and also it is the most continuous because we are more capable of continuous contemplation

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom “That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason; there is nothing more excellent than the universe, therefore the universe exercises reason.” ~ Zeno of Citium Stoicism departs rather dramatically from the previous schools of thought we’ve been covering. With an emphasis

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom “It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.” ~ Epicurus, The Principal Doctrines The philosophy of the hedonists, as discussed last week, seems appealing,