The Daily Stoic - Do You Practice For Rejection? | A Little Knowledge Is Dangerous

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

Part of the reason we’re afraid of things is that we’re unfamiliar. We don’t know what it’s like to bomb on stage in front of people, but it seems bad–so we avoid any scenario where something like that might happen. We’ve been turned down or blown off once or twice, asking someone out, asking for help, and it was unpleasant enough that we decided we did not want to explore those feelings any further. We don’t know, or don’t remember what it’s like to be living paycheck-to-paycheck anymore…so we make our financial decisions accordingly.The result is that this uncertainty, this unfamiliar looms large in our lives. It makes us conservative. It makes us keep to ourselves. It makes us struggle alone by ourselves. It turns us away from potential opportunities–to meet someone new, to do something cool, to start our own thing.---And in today's excerpt from The Daily Stoic, Ryan discusses how the Stoic's advocated holding a sense of responsibility when choosing what information to consume, and why this is increasingly vital in today's media-saturated world.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Friday, we do double-duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the Daily Stoic. My book, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Heart of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful collaborator, translator, and literary agent, Stephen Hanselman. So today, we'll give you a quick meditation from the Stokes with some analysis from me, and then we'll send you out into the world to turn these words into works. In Richard III and In Othello, Shakespeare has two different characters utter the same line. Both Iago and a nameless orphan say, I cannot think it.

In both cases, the news they are faced with, the conclusion they are being asked to accept is simply too much. The Shakespearean scholar Richard Greenblatt calls this phrase a kind of motto for those who can't wrap their mind around perfidy. He's not being condescending for its very common experience. Our naivete are willingness to assume the best about others, often leaves us open to betrayal and disillusionment, which is why the Stokes spent so much time on this very topic. Marcus, for his part, opens meditations with some using on the reality of the types of people

he's going to meet in the days to come. But later, in meditations, he speaks about the kind of behavior you see in the days to come. But later, in meditation, she speaks about the kind of behavior you see in the boxing ring, gouging, headbutting, and low blows. We see this all the time in the sports world as a matter of fact. And a feloneman who grease up their jerseys so they can't be grabbed, in NASCAR, they'll have to say, Rubin is racing,

and there's the old saying, if you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough. You have to anticipate this kind of behavior, Marcus says. You can't take it personally. He talks about the inevitability of bumping up against shameless people and how to handle it. He spends time putting himself in the minds of tyrants, robbers, and perverts, again, because these types exist

and we must not be surprised or abused by them. When Senaiko was sentenced to death by Nero, his family and friends began wailing in shock and horror. But Senaiko was calm. Who knew not Nero's cruelty, he told them. We can't be surprised by this. Indeed, it was a brave and rational response. The only shame is that Seneca couldn't have seen this coming earlier. If he had, perhaps he would have stopped the tyrant before he hurt so many people. The point being, this is not a philosophy for the weak or the cowardly. Stoicism is about facing the truth, about facing the unthinkable, not just as it's happening, but long before. Pre-Meditatio Moulorm, which we've talked about a lot here, and make it in coin form as a constant reminder,

is the embodiment of that idea. Keep all the possibilities before you, including, and especially the bad ones. Keep your eyes open. Be aware. Think it because you might be able to prevent it, and if you can't, at least you'll be able to handle the reality of its existence and then respond to it accordingly. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's podcast Business Wars. And in our new season, two of the world's leading hotel brands, Hilton and Marriott,

stare down family drama and financial disasters. Listen to business wars on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts. A little knowledge is dangerous. Every great power is dangerous for the beginner. Epictetus says in Discourses 3-13, you must therefore wield them as you are able, but in harmony with nature. Great teachers are usually hardest on their most promising students. When teachers see potential, they want it to be fully realized. But great teachers are also aware that natural ability and quick comprehension can be quite dangerous to the student if left alone.

Early promise can lead to overconfidence and create bad habits. Those who pick things up quickly are notorious for skipping the basic lessons and ignoring the fundamentals. Don't get carried away, take it slowly, train with humility. In Lies of the Stoics, I talk about Musoneus Rufus, quite a bit, Musoneus Rufus being an epic teetus' teacher. He was called the Roman Socrates for what a great writer and thinker he was. But he was also a very difficult teacher, I take it, from the anecdotes we have from Epic Titus. I'm just pulling up this little page. Let's see. We were told for instance that when Musone's Rufus spoke, We were told, for instance, that when Musone's Rufus spoke, he expected wrapped attention from his students. If they were reacting or clapping or cheering for the audience, he's like, you're not

getting it. I'm not blowing your mind enough. He was just a strict teacher and then we're told this story about Epic Titus making a mistake. He tries to blow it off to Misonius. He says, hey, it's not like I burned down the Capitol. And Misonius Rufus says, who says you didn't? Right? The point being, I think Misonius realized, as Zeno said, that conceit is the impediment to knowledge.

Epicetus would say it's impossible to learn that, which you think you already know. I think what they were taking from Musoneus is a kind of key intellectual humility that when you start to get arrogant, when you start to think you've graduated that you've arrived, this is precisely when you cease to learn

and stop improving. When I sign, you go as the enemy, I often sort of riffing on epictetus, I say always stay a student. Because when we stay a student of philosophy, of a great master, it humbles us, keeps us quiet. Whenever I'm around Robert Green, I get this same sense. Robert's very kind and patient and would never sort of humiliate or rebuke, but he has a way of catching you if you're lazy or in precise in your language or the assumptions that you're making. And it is always good experience because it keeps me in the right headspace. And I think that's important as you learn.

Maybe you're familiar with the Dunning Kruger effect. The problem with being stupid is that you're often not aware of just how stupid you are. Maybe the converse of that is the problem with being smart is that people, smart people often are aware of how smart they are. Or they think they're smarter than they are, and this is a problem. So, I don't know. I guess today's message is to leave you with a little intellectual humility.

Don't think that you've arrived. Understand that knowledge is power, and it's a power that has to be taken responsibly, has to be taken humbly, has to be part of a lifelong and ongoing pursuit. You do not arrive, you do not graduate, you never do. This is the famous story about Marx really sleeping the palace, so man asked him where he's going. He says, I'm off to see sexist the philosopher to learn that, which I do not yet know. Focus on that. Focus on what you do not yet know.

That's how I think you keep, it's like in the way that, again, you always act like a gun is loaded, that keeps you safe and honest with it. You never pointed at something that you don't intend to kill and or destroy. The same thing goes with knowledge, right? Treat it as something that is always insufficient. It's always a little bit dangerous. Point it towards what you have yet to learn and focus on that and it keeps you on, it keeps you safe, keeps you smart, and that's today's message. 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 add free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. When we think of sports stories, we tend to think of tales of epic on the field glory, but the new podcast Sports Explains the World brings you some of the wildest and most surprising sports stories you've never heard, like the teenager who wrote a fake Wikipedia page for a young athlete and then watched as a real team fell for his prank. Diving into his Wikipedia page will be turned three career goals into eleven, added twenty new assists for good measure. Figures that nobody would, should, have believed.

And the mysterious secret of a US Olympic superstar killed at the peak of his career. Was it an accident? Did the police screw up the investigation? It was also nebulous. Each week, Sports Explains the World goes beyond leagues and stats to share stories that will redefine your understanding of sports

and their impact on the world. Listen to sports explains the world, on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to sports explains the world early and ad-free on Wondery Plus.