Zeno told his students that he had come to value wisdom more than wealth or reputation. He used to say, “My most profitable journey began on the day I was shipwrecked and lost my entire fortune.”6 Even today it’s not unusual for a client in therapy to arrive at the paradoxical revelation that losing their job may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. Zeno learned to embrace the Cynic teaching that wealth and other external things are completely indifferent and that virtue is the true goal of life. In plain English, what the Cynics meant was that our character is the only
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