The Daily Stoic - Speak The Truth, Let Them Howl

Episode Date: February 20, 2019

No matter what your profession is, there are things you can say that will cost you. Speaking up against somebody’s pet project can get an officer passed over for promotion. Voicing a certain political viewpoint can cost you fans or endorsements. Challenging the status quo can bring a hail of critics and haters.And in those situations, what should we do? The answer to the Stoic is pretty simple: Speak the truth. Yes, howls may follow. Recriminations can as well. And? And what?Nassim Taleb’s rule of thumb is worth remembering always: If you see fraud and do not say ‘fraud,’ you are a fraud. But that’s worth broadening a bit:If you know the truth and decline to speak the truth, you are not living truthfully.There are some exceptions to this rule, of course. Seneca speaks of a man whose son was executed by the emperor and then forced to dine with the tyrant after. The emperor was goading the obviously pained father to acknowledge who was the source of that pain (he wanted to see the pain he had caused, he wanted to feel his dominance over him) and yet the man never broke—because he had another son. OK, that’s a good excuse. But these other petty self-protections? Nope.If you know the truth, speak it. If you believe in a truth, live it. Even if it costs you. Even if it’s a pain in the ass. Because to do otherwise is to lie. To do otherwise is to be a coward. To do otherwise is to allow darkness to put out the light.The truth matters. Prove it. Be the light.See 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 Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. Speak the truth, let them howl. No matter what your profession is, there are things you can say that will cost you. Speaking up against somebody's pet project can get an officer passed over for promotion, voicing a certain political viewpoint can cost you fans or endorsements, challenging the status quo can bring a hail of critics and haters.

And in those situations, what should we do? The stoke answer is pretty simple. Speak the truth. Yes, howls may follow recriminations can as well. And what? Naceme Telebs' rule of thumb is worth remembering always. If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud. But that's worth expanding a bit. If you know the truth and decline to speak the truth, you are not living truly. There are some exceptions to this rule, of course. Senika speaks of a man whose son was executed by the emperor and then forced to die in with the tyrant after. The emperor was goading the obviously-pained father to acknowledge who was the source of

that pain. He wanted to see the pain he caused. He wanted to feel his dominance over him, and yet the man never broke. Why? Because he had another son. Okay, that's a good excuse. But these other petty self protections, no. If you know the truth, speak it. If you believe a truth, live it, even if it costs you, even if it's a pain in the ass because to do otherwise is a lie. To do otherwise is to be a coward. To do otherwise is to allow darkness to put out the light.

The truth matters, prove it, be the light. And I hope you'll check out this new medallion that we have based around Marcus Aurelius's dictum, which I think aligns pretty well with this idea. And he says, do the right thing, the rest doesn't matter, whatever the circumstances. And this is a stoic idea of virtue, the sum of bottom, the highest good, the only thing that matters is doing the right thing. It's speaking the truth, it's sticking to your principles. And I carry that coin with me in my pocket because, well, it's an important reminder and

it's easy to go astray. So I hope you'll check that out in the Daily Stoic store. Some of them bottom the highest good just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.