Stoicism’s Popular Return: Tech Bro Optimization, Therapeutic Philosophy, and Religious Decline

PART I

(Part II will come out tomorrow)…

Stoicism has been what all the “cool kids” have been into lately. For the last decade or so, Stoic philosophy has been quoted, referenced, and even peddled by thought leaders associated with business and the tech industry.

The first time I noticed this was during a walk around my neighborhood. I was surveying podcasts, looking for something to queue up that would prove life-giving. I occasionally listened to Tim Ferriss of The Four-Hour Work Week fame. His show has a clever hook—talk with top performers and ask them about their habits, hacks, tricks, etc. I associated Ferriss with a certain “tech-bro” aesthetic. He was a professional investor, was associated with Silicon Valley types, and has developed his brand of being an expert at reverse engineering, so learning can take place faster, not to mention his penchant for biohacking. Personally, he lauded the impact of meditation on his life and often quoted Stoicism and other “tech-bro” influencers who wrote blogs on Stoic philosophy for life and business.

Through Ferriss, I learned of Ryan Holiday, marketer and author.

Not only is he an author writing about marketing secrets, but he also developed a following offering a popular version of Stoicism. His most prominent offering is The Daily Stoic, a series of meditations stylized like a Christian daily devotional.

Not many years after this encounter, and through Ferriss-Holiday related circles I learned about Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. Manson’s offering was a clever-titled blog post that went viral. A book deal followed. The Subtle Art shares a common trait with The Daily Stoic in that the authors trade in self-aggrandizing rhetoric either through their romantic prowess or celebrity name-dropping. All that was a bit much to read, if I am honest. Another similarity is that The Subtle Art also introduces Stoic practical philosophy to mass audiences. Where it is different is the approach—Holliday’s offers more reflective of Stoic texts and thinkers, while Manson’s Stoic ideas are blended with all sorts of pragmatic philosophies, psychological teachings, data, and wisdom literature.

Again, there is an aesthetic that surrounds much of the recent interest in Stoicism; it is something I have at least observed. It is not uncommon to see a successful businessperson quoting from the Daily Stoic email. In addition, you might find them trying out Keto or Paleo diets—maybe they are simply interested in their “macros” for optimal gym performance. They might be attracted to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. They found their way into it by reading to their kid Jocko Willink’s self-help/self-reliance children’s books about “Uncle Jake,” the super cool and tough Navy SEAL who toughens up Marc in Way of the Warrior Kid. They sign up to help coach their kids’ travel sports team, and they grace the field in Vuori shorts, Lululemon pants, and On Cloud shoes. They drink out of tumblers and Stanleys, and they probably have a few podcasts queued up for their afternoon ruck. I am describing an upwardly mobile, educated person of relative comfort and an “instagrammable” life worthy of envy.

Some years after I discovered the likes of Ferriss, Holiday, and Manson, I offered a book club on wisdom. The club was open to all but was generally populated by Baby Boomer men and women, that is, until the day I offered Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. After I promoted that book, the group doubled almost immediately. Who joined? Mostly Millennials and Gen Z—not the donors of expensive athleisure wear I described a moment ago. And most of them were young men. What is going on?

It is not enough to find out what this growing cohort finds helpful in Stoicism; we must also ask why they are seeking a new philosophy from the ancient world in the 21^st century. Why is Stoicism making such an impact on culture today? Stoicism, it seems, is what remains in a world of declining religious sensibility for those who wish to maintain a pseudo-religious or spiritual sensibility. Furthermore, Stoicism is a helpful tool for mitigating the suffering of modern existence. These are indicators of the spiritual need and hunger present in today’s culture that need to be considered in sacred speech.

For Tillich Tells Me So

Paul Tillich wrote the book The Courage to Be in 1952, and even though it was an “ontology of courage,” the book broke through to draw wide appeal. He touched on anxieties so basic and so universal that people flocked to its pages even if they were not accustomed to religious and philosophical discourse.

Tillich’s examination of courage includes reflections upon historic Stoicism:

The larger concept of courage which includes an ethical and ontological element becomes immensely effective at the end of the ancient and the beginning of the modern world, in Stoicism and Neo-Stoicism. Both are philosophical schools alongside others, but both are at the same time more than philosophical schools. They are the way in which some of the noblest figures in later antiquity and their followers in modern times have answered the problem of existence and conquered the anxieties of fate and death. Stoicism in this sense is a basic religious attitude, whether it appears in theistic, atheistic, or transtheistic forms.

Therefore it is the only real alternative to Christianity in the Western World.

Tillich knows that this was a controversial claim to make. There are other religio-philosophical forms that were present in our world, some even sharing a portion of the syncretic whole that makes up Christianity, such as Neo-Platonism. Tillich famously argues that Christianity was able to outflank what it shared with schools such as Neo-Platonism, and while it shares much in common with Stoicism (such as Logos, or reason, undergirding the world), it cannot genuinely escape Stoicism as an alternative altogether. This is because, as he says, Christianity “could not assimilate the genuine Stoic attitude.” This is because Christianity’s ultimate outcome was eternal salvation and hope beyond death. Stoicism, however, is “the acceptance of cosmic resignation,” and thus offers a genuine alternative to Christianity’s more optimistic outlook.

According to Tillich, Christianity’s historic victory led Stoicism to the sidelines, but it was there waiting to emerge as a real alternative to Christian belief:

It emerged only in the beginning of the modern period. Neither was the Roman Empire an alternative to Christianity. Here again it is remarkable that among the emperors it was not the willful tyrant of the Nero type or the fanatical reactionaries of the Julian type that were a serious danger to Christianity but the righteous Stoics of the type of Marcus Aurelius. The reason for this is that the Stoic has a social and personal courage which is a real alternative to Christian courage.¹⁵⁵

This Stoic form of courage, Tillich argues, is a genuine alternative to Christian courage. Yet it is a courage powered by resignation, and as Tillich observed, it still carries a fundamentally religious sensibility. In our time—marked by increasing secular attitudes and a decline in traditional religious observance—Tillich’s claim that Stoicism is the only real alternative to Christianity may help explain the renewed interest in its modern expressions.

This makes enormous sense to me, given that we are living in a sort of “meaning vacuum” in much of modern culture. In this era that we all inhabit, many have commented on the loss of meaning. Some suggest that it hails from the decline of religious or spiritual belief due to commitments to modernism. Others call attention to capitalism and its side effects—material gain and excess have not solved the basic suffering of human living. Whatever the case, it is hard to argue that at this point in Western history, individuals are more untethered to prior meaning-making systems and institutions than ever before. Of course, I am referring to things like religion, cultural tradition, family and tribe, and even the nation-state. Meaning has been handed over to the individual’s attempt to define it for herself and seek it without interference from anyone else—this is freedom as many understand it.

I Don’t Want Much, I Just Want it All

Many in our culture hold to an unstated script for their lives that is supposed to produce happiness or the good life. That script is really more of a checklist. Ambition varies among individuals, but the goal seems to be some version of success. The plan to follow is some version of 1) get into a good college, 2) make your best and lifelong friends, 3) get a job/career, 4) couple off, 5) have kids, should you want them, 6) amass large amounts of wealth, climb the ladder of success, etc. This is a modest version of the script. Dare I say this is the version of it that has some values baked in, but you could just as well have a version of this where you end up a trillionaire playboy who has so much real estate that you feel you must colonize Mars next.

Yet, no matter how much we follow the script, or how much you exceed its stated goal, meaning, purpose, or whatever you want to call it, it may still elude you. We all know that too—we write books and movies about that. So, the encouragement is for us to find things to give our lives meaning. This is where religion, an engrossing hobby, or social service fits in. There is no cookie-cutter fix; the point is that an individual seeks this out for themselves and makes a choice and action to follow it. But here is the thing: one can do all of these things; one can find success by the script's standards. They can discover meaning in this “something more,” but life is still what it is, challenges will persist. Life is full of suffering.

To live is to suffer. One response is to detach from desire. But isn’t that Buddhism? Yes—but not only Buddhism. It is also profoundly Jewish, Christian, and even Stoic.

The Scriptures are filled with reminders that suffering is part of life. “The rain falls on the just and the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). Paul writes that “all creation groans” (Rom. 8:22). Famine, exile, and despots are not treated as strange intrusions into an otherwise perfect world. And, of course, there is Job: “A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). Scripture does not flatter us with illusions of ease; it prepares us for the inevitability of pain.

Then there is Jesus himself. He tells his disciples that if you want a life worth having, you must first lose it (Mark 8:35). This is a call to detachment—not from love, but from the illusion of control, from clinging to possessions, status, or even life itself. In that sense, Jesus’ words resonate with both Stoic endurance and Buddhist non-attachment, though uniquely framed in the hope of resurrection.

Even in our modern world, with its comforts and technologies, suffering persists. The most “successful” among us still battle depression, anxiety, and profound loss. Stoicism, with its frank realism and disciplined detachment, has found renewed relevance in this meaning-hungry age.

Let’s paint a picture. Suppose you had the good fortune – straight up luck – of being born into a family with very wealthy and successful parents. You did well in school, and with your connections you were able to matriculate into an Ivy League institution. There, you made the contacts you needed to get the resources you could only have dreamed of to bring your big idea to fruition. Your big idea is funded, and you are capable of employing the best young minds in your cohort to help it “change the world.” No it is not good enough to produce a great product that people want to buy. No, you sense that there is a meaning vacuum, or that the world is incomplete in some way that what you are making might make an existential impact. So, you become one of the many who will produce something that will change the world—the vision is just as exciting as it is ludicrous to onlookers. But there is enough buy in, because your big idea is possible with all the resources at your disposal. Besides, it might just be a good idea too.

Your big idea is now a big company. It is off to the races; people are excited about it; you are printing money. Your company goes public, and you are on the cover of every magazine, and are on every talk show. People want to know the secret to your success. You have everything money could buy. You have high value in the world of mating and coupling, and presidents want to know what you think. But no matter how good things look, the anxiety disorder you have been working through since you were thirteen still persists. In fact, it is sometimes harder to manage now than it used to be, when life was simpler. Eventually, your company will be called before congress for one or another reason. Perhaps you are being accused of being a monopoly, or maybe your big idea is proving harmful to society. You/your company fades in and out of fashion over the decades. You will still be wealthier than small countries, and you will be able to pivot any time you wish. Eventually too, you will begin to lose loved ones to disease and death—we all do, and you are still a mortal, so no matter how hard you try, your body will decline. Maybe even you will visit the doctor and find out there is something you are facing that has no medical answer. Maybe not. But you are still a human animal, thus you will still die. Death stands at the end of your road too. You need to do what everyone needs to do in life. You must ask, am I happy with how I spent my finitude.¹⁵⁶

Clearly, I am describing a number of scenarios around the lives of several big tech leaders. It is for such lives that Stoicism is becoming so very popular. This is rather ironic, because in antiquity, Stoicism was a religio-philosophical attitude mostly associated with slaves. Frankly, its teachings helped people navigate life's suffering and pain. The wealthy might have been able to enjoy the spirit of Epicureanism, but it was those on the bottom who needed Stoicism. So why is Stoicism so popular amongst the very privileged in our very wealthy and powerful society? Because when you have it all and think you've met and exceeded every dream you might have, you learn that life is ultimately something you’ll never master. Life is filled with suffering, it is not something we perfect. Life is much more like a pilgrimage one is on. And as my football coach aways told us, “wherever YOU go, there YOU are.”

When you have it all, and an eat, drink, and be merry philosophy does not seem to get you through the natural and psychological torments of the living what will you do? Many have reached out to religion for help in coping. This is what Freud, quite famously, found suspicious about religious belief. But in our increasingly secular milieu, it makes tremendous sense that Stoicism would gain traction, for, as Tillich has reminded us, it is one of the few alternatives to Christianity that offer something unique in the realm of religio-philosophical attitudes.

IN PART II We Will EXPLORE: Happiness and Coping with Challenges