The Daily Stoic - There Is Nothing Special About Money

Episode Date: May 22, 2020

"For all the poverty he practiced and Stoic philosophy he wrote, clearly there was some part of Seneca that was dazzled by money. Even though he was born into a wealthy family, he wanted more and more of it. That’s what drew him into Nero’s service, where he accumulated a net worth of millions and millions of dollars. So too with Cicero, who was born to a less prestigious family, but still strove for fame and fortune. Although Cicero refused to take bribes as a politician, he had no problem marrying rich or accepting large gifts from benefactors. What’s striking, though, about these two men’s lives is that while they eventually achieved their grand ambitions—accumulating much fame and fortune—they, with time, came to be disillusioned by it all."Find out the true importance of money, and what trumps it, in today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***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/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: 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 Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery'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. music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic. For each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, 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 dailystowach.com. There's nothing special about money. For all the poverty he practiced in the Stowach philosophy, he wrote clearly there was some part of Senaqa that was dazzled by money. Even though he was born into a wealthy family, he wanted more and more of it. That's what drew him into Nero's service where he accumulated a net worth of millions

and millions of dollars. So too was Cicero who was born to a less prestigious family, but still strove for fame and fortune. Although Cicero refused to take bribes as a politician, he had no problems marrying rich or accepting large gifts from benefactors. What's striking though about these two men's lives is that while they eventually achieved their grand ambitions, accumulating much fame and fortune, they, with time, came

to be disillusioned by it all. Both Cicero and Seneca died in exile. Both of them had much of their wealth confiscated. Both of them came to despise the corruption in evil and excesses of their time. They had played the game for a long time wanting to be part of the in crowd, wanting to be like doing what they needed to fight for their spot, and then only slowly realized that the game had been playing them the whole time, and in fact that the people they wanted to be accepted by were actually awful and possibly evil. In a way, their story mirrors a realization that Hemingway captured in one of his stories

about his friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The rich were dull and they drank too much, he said, or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious. He remembered poor Scott Fitzgerald and his romantic awe of them and how he had started a story once that began The very rich are different from you and me and how someone had said to Scott yes They have more money, but that was not humorous to Scott He thought they were a special glamorous race and when he found out they weren't it wrecked him as much as any other thing

That wrecked him so it went for Cicero and Seneca, and so what will go for you, you should not need to learn that money is worthless and does not make you more worthwhile as a person by experience. You can see that right now from history. You should not tie your fantasies up in fancy things or exotic trips, you should not trade too much of your most precious asset in the world, your time,

for an incredibly common and infinite thing, dollars. There's nothing special about money. We're being rich. We're being important. Realize that now before it's too late. Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. I've been raving about today's sponsor for a while now, Magic Spoon Serial.

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So check it out, magicspoonserial.com. Code Daily Stoic. 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. Wonder RePlus in Apple Podcasts. Ah, the Bahamas. What if you could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean working during the day and partying at night with your best friends and have it be 100% paid for? FTX Founder Sam Bankman Freed lived that dream life, but it was all funded with other people's money, but he allegedly stole.

Many thought Sam Bankman Freed was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes and Banity Fair. Some involved in crypto saw him as a breath of fresh air, from the usual Wall Street buffs with his casual dress and ability to play League of Legends during boardroom meetings. But in less than a year, his exchange would collapse. An SPF would find himself in a jail cell, with tens of thousands of investors blaming him for their crypto losses. From Bloomberg and Wondering, comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric

rise and spectacular fall of FTX, and its founder, Sam Beckman-Freed. Follow Spellcaster wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to episodes Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. in episodes Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.