The Daily Stoic - 5 More of the Most Stoic Moments in History

Episode Date: December 20, 2020

On today’s episode, Ryan discusses 5 of the most Stoic moments in history with examples from Agrippinus, Steve Scott, Kerri Strugg, Frederick Douglass, and Epictetus.Today’s episode is also brought to you by Thuma. Thuma has spent thousands of hours making the perfect platform bed frame, called The Bed. The Bed by Thuma is super supportive of your mattress, breathes well, and is built to naturally minimize noise. Thuma ships your bed frame right to your door, and it takes five minutes to assemble, no tools required. Visit Thuma.co/stoic to get free shipping on your order of The Bed today. ***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic. Each weekday we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoic, something that can help you live up to those four stoic virtues of courage, justice, wisdom, and temperance. And here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview stoic philosophers, we reflect, we prepare. We think deeply about the challenging issues of our time. And we work through this philosophy in a way that's more

possible here when we're not rushing to worker to get the kids to school. When we have the time to think to go for a walk to sit with our journals and to prepare for what the future will bring. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wunderree's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. the new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Ryan.

Welcome to another weekend episode of The Daily Stoic. A couple of months back, we did an episode on sort of 10 awesome Stoic moments from history. It was really popular. People loved it. There is just so much we can learn, not just from the philosophers themselves as fascinating as Epicetus and Marcus and Seneca R,

but from people who maybe didn't even know what stoicism was, but were happened to be embodying it. And maybe not even across their whole lives, but just one moment. Look, that's a choice I've made in my books. And sometimes people get upset about this for, you know, God knows what reason. But people get upset because, you know, in obstacles the way, let's say I'm talking about John D. Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller is not stoic. I'm not saying he is a stoic philosopher.

I'm not even saying he's a good person, but I'm saying in this moment, in this part of his life, he embodied an important idea in stoicism. For the same way that you see Alexander the great come up positively in Santa Cah in some cases, but then negatively in Marcus Aurelius. And maybe Epictetus had a third opinion, right? The Stoics knew that stories were powerful,

they knew that examples in anecdotes were powerful. That's what I try to do in my writing, that's what I try to do here on this show. So today we've got five more amazing, inspiring, in some cases almost superhuman examples of stoicism, of overcoming adversity, of acting with goodness and decency and self-control. I think each one of these stories embodies those four virtues in one way or another, courage, justice, temperance, wisdom. Some of the examples you're going to hear from are literally stoics, again, sometimes they're just athletes who are being stoic in a moment, but I think you'll like this episode. And if you want some more examples like this that are outside my books, listen to our other

episode, 10 of the most inspiring Stoic moments in history, you can also check out today's episode and the other one I'm talking about on youtube at youtube.com slash daily stoic. Epic Titus once calmly warned him about taking his abuses too far. He was bending Epic Titus' leg back, back, and when the leg snapped, Epic Titus made no sound. He cried no tears. He only smiled and looked his master in the eye and said, didn't I warn you? Philosophy isn't something you explain.

The first century stoic epictetus once said, it's something you embody. So when we ask this question, what is stoicism? Perhaps the best way to answer is by illustration. We don't care what someone wrote about stoicism, we don't necessarily even care if they identified as stoic. What matters is whether they lived by the ideas. People who exercise the virtues of stoicism courage, justice, wisdom, and self-discipline in their actions. That's what Epochetus was

talking about because there's nothing more inspiring or motivating than seeing greatness embodied. So let's look at five of the greatest most inspiring moments of stoicism in the real world in history. Some ancient, some modern, some minor, some major, but these are real philosophical actions. Even if we don't see the person as a philosopher, they are, as Marcus Aurelius said, not someone talking about what a good man is like, but actually being one. Steve Scott. Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club North Planes, Oregon, 1996. The golf world's anointed one.

Tiger Woods headed into the US Amateur Championships, having won 30 straight matches. With a win at Pumpkin, Tiger would become the first golfer to ever win three straight US Amateur titles. The first five rounds of match play were uneventful. Woods advanced to the finals where his opponent was a relatively unknown 19 year old named Steve Scott. After the first 18 of a 36 hole final no one could believe it Scott led by five holes. The final 18 holes were a battle. Tiger cut Scott's lead to one in the back nine. On the par three 10th

hole Scott drained a flop shot from the deep rough to one in the back nine. On the par three, 10th hole, Scott drained a flop shot from the deep rough to stretch his lead back to two. Then Tiger sank a legendary 35 foot putt for eagle to move within one. On 16, down two with three holes to play, Tiger hit his wedge shot within six feet of the pin. He placed a quarter to mark his ball before picking it up. And the marker was in Scott's putting line so he asked Tiger to slide it over what he did. Scott made his

putt to par. For getting that he moved his marker, Tiger put his ball down and was about to putt from the wrong spot. If he did, he'd automatically lose the hole and the tournament. And just before Tiger could make this fatal mistake, Scott intervened. Hey Tiger, did you move that back? Tiger paused. Returned his marker than his ball to the correct spot and made the putt. He birdied 17 to force a sudden death playoff. On the second playoff hole, Scott's putt flipped out and Tiger tapped his in for the victory and a place in history. It would be Scott's one and only moment in the spotlight. He hoped to have a career on the PGA tour, but it didn't quite pan out. Had he destroyed his own career, had he committed professional golf suicide? In 1990, he married his girlfriend, his caddy during that epic battle against woods.

In an interview for a piece commemorating the 20-year anniversary of that famous match, Scott would say, we've gone on to have a great life. And he said, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. epic battle against woods. In an interview for a piece commemorating the 20-year anniversary of that famous match, Scott would say, we've gone on to have a great life. I think I'm walking proof that you can win in life without winning. The Stoics would say that to cheat was not to win. The Stoics would say to let someone do harm to themselves when you could prevent it was no glorious act. Runners in a race ought to compete and strive to win as they can. The stoic chrycipa said, but by no means should they trip their

competitors or give them a shove. So too in life it is wrong to seek after the things useful in life, but to do so while depriving someone else is not just. And this was the truly impressive thing about Scott's victory. He wanted to win only under the right terms and he was willing to lose and would never violate his conscience. Agrippinus. The little-known stoic philosopher Agrippinus had a penchant for brilliant one-liners. There was the time he'd been informed and responded very well. We shall take our lunch on the road. There was another time we are told by

epic Titus that a grippinus was asked by a fellow philosopher whether or not he should attend a banquet put on by the abominable Nero. A grippinus told the man that yes he should go but why the man asked and that's when a grippinus got him with another one of his brilliant barbs. Because you were even thinking about it. For me, Agrippinus said it's not even a question, and that's why I'm not going. To Agrippinus, it was inexcusable to Ham and Ha about the right thing. There was no weighing of options like with Steve Scott. There was only one option. He who once sets himself about such consideration, Epictetus said about Agrippinus, and goes to calculating the worth of external things, approaches very near to

those who forget their own character. Character is fate, is how Heracles it is one of the Stoic's favorite influences put it. And that was what Agrippinus lived by. He believed that only character decided difficult matters and it did so clearly and easily. No calculating, no consideration was necessary, the right thing was obvious even when it cost him his life. Carrie Strug Before the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Carrie Strug was known as the gymnast who had

all the talent in the world but crumbled when it mattered most. I wasn't mentally tough, she said, that's how I was portrayed, and the media was right, I would always falter when all eyes were on me. As a member of the US women's team, nicknamed the Magnificent 7, Strugg had the eyes of an entire nation on her and her teammates. This was America's shot to win gold. The fourth and final event was the vault. The US had a slight lead over the Russians, but they were starting to fall apart.

The first four Americans had sloppy landings. One of her teammates fell and put even more pressure on Strug. She was the last US gymnast. She had to land one of her two vaults on her feet to clinch gold. On her first attempt, she under-rotated fell and tore two ligaments in her ankle. Was it happening again? Was this another moment too big? Carrie, we need you to go one more time. Her coach told her, we need you one more time for the gold. You can do it. You have to do it. She set up her second attempt, sprinted down the runway,

flew through the air and stuck the landing on one foot. She saluted the grudges and then she collapsed. Grimacing in pain, she crawled off the map before two coaches picked her up and carried her off the floor. She was in their arms when her score was announced. 9.712. She clinched the US's first ever team gold medal on one foot. You can break my leg, Epictita said, but not even God can conquer my will. That's what determination allows us to do. Frederick Douglass. It was the 1840s.

Only a couple years after Frederick Douglass had escaped the slave state he was born into and bade for well to that slavery which had been my childhood. The young man still in his early 20s was on a mission. He had toured all over the United States. He attended abolitionist meetings. He told the story of his escape from bondage. He lectured at churches and chapels and universities in small town centers and anywhere there was a chance people might congregate Traveling somewhere in Pennsylvania Douglas was forced to move and ride in a baggage car because of his race a white Supporter rushed to apologize for this horrible offense. I'm sorry mr. Douglas They said that you have been degraded in this manner, but Douglas wouldn't accept this no

He wasn't angry. He wasn't hurt, he replied with great firmness. They cannot degrade Frederick Douglass. The soul that is within me, no man can degrade. I am not the one that is being degraded on account of this treatment, but those who are afflicting it upon me. The ancient Stokes, because of their independent thinking, their positions of leadership, their willingness to stand on principle, were often the subjects of verbal and physical mistreatment, but it was Epictetus, that slave turned Stoke teacher that said that a person can only degrade you with your consent. It is not enough to be insulted or harmed, he said, you must believe that you are being harmed if someone succeeds in provoking you,

realize that your mind is complicit in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. And that's what Douglas did. He was stronger. He was better. He transcended the prejudices and ignorance of his time, and he became a truly great man because of it. Epic Titus, we've been talking about him now over and over again, and there's a reason

why. There were philosophers who talked about how to be resilient, and then there was Epic Titus, the acquired one. That's how his name translates. He was born the son of a slave woman and spent the first 30 years of his life in chains. As a young boy, he was purchased by an officer in Nero's Imperial Guard who was violent and depraved. Epic Titus once calmly warned him about taking his abuses too far. He was bending Epic Titus' leg back, back, and when the legs snapped,

Epic Titus made no sound. He cried no tears. He only smiled and looked his master in the eye and said, didn't I warn you? All his life, epictetus walked with a limp from this injury. He was hobbled by slavery and yet somehow unbroken all the same. Lamedness is an impediment to the leg, he would later say, but not to the will. And nothing indeed stopped epictetus's will soon enough. He was free and he would go on to become one of the greatest philosophers.

An advisor to emperors and princes, a man whose philosophy stands true and widely read today. The Stoics believe that we decide how we react to what happens to us. Epic Titus said we have the power to choose to see our disabilities, our disadvantages disadvantages as only physical never mental no human is the full author of what happens to us in life You would say instead it is as if we are in a play and the playwright has some power over us Whatever role we end up getting we have to decide to use to make the most of this is your business He said to act well the character assigned to you and it cannot be said that Epic Titus didn't play his role gloriously and that is why we are talking about him today and why he may well be the greatest Stoic who ever lived

Unlike the pen and in philosophers as the type was derisively known even two thousand years ago the Stoics were concerned rice-ivly known even two thousand years ago, the Stoics were concerned not with what you said, not with what you wrote, not with what you believed, but with how you lived. The choices you made, the causes you served, the principles you adhered to in the face of adversity. They cared about what you did, not what you said. They cared about who you were as a person, not anything else. So go and do as the stillocks have done throughout history. Do the right thing.

Be strong in the face of adversity. Prove your ideals. Turn your words into deeds. Show the actions of a philosopher today, tomorrow, always. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and add free on Amazon music.

Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. Celebrity feuds are high stakes. You never know if you're just going to end up on Page Six or Du Moir or in court. I'm Matt Bellesai. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wondery's new podcast, Dis and Tell, where each episode we unpack a different iconic celebrity feud. From the buildup, why it happened, and the repercussions.

What does our obsession with these feud say about us? The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama, but none is drawn out in personal as Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears. When Britney's fans form the free Britney movement dedicated to fraying her from the infamous conservatorship, Jamie Lynn's lack of public support, it angered some fans, a lot of them. It's a story of two young women who had their choices taken away from them by their controlling parents, but took their anger out on each other.

And it's about a movement to save a superstar, which set its sights upon anyone who failed to fight for Britney. Follow Dissenthal wherever you get your podcast. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or the Wonder App.