The Daily Stoic - This Is How They Treat You After You’re Gone

Episode Date: December 7, 2018

Da Vinci painted his brilliant fresco, The Last Supper, and how did they respond? They nagged at him for taking too long. Then, after he finished, they cut a giant hole in the bottom for a door. Marcus slaved away on his private Meditations, a work of incredible vulnerability and emotional exposure, that he almost certainly would not have wanted anyone to see. And what did we do? We not only published it, but we had the nerve to move the writing around in an indecipherable order. Seneca and Epictetus? They were the unconsenting victims of fake dialogs--with St Paul and Hadrian, respectively--that sought to capitalize on their names to make political or religious points. That’s just what we do to genius. We disrespect it. We manipulate it. We mistreat it. And that’s the preferential treatment that genius gets. The vast majority of ordinary people from ancient times? We promptly forgot about them after they died...except the occasions where we dug them up and displayed their bones for educational purposes...and profit.The point is: The dead don’t get no respect. Which is why anyone overly concerned with their legacy is wasting their time. Same goes for anyone who values posthumous fame. It ain’t coming. In fact, the opposite is probably more likely. Focus on the here and now. Focus on living well, on doing good, and not giving two cares for what happens later. Because you’ll be gone...and soon enough, so will everyone else. 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. This is how they treat you after you're gone. Da Vinci painted his brilliant fresco the last supper and how did they respond? They nagged at him for taking too long.

Then after he finished, they cut a giant hole in the bottom for a door. Marcus Aurelius slaved away on his private meditations, a work of incredible vulnerability and emotional exposure that he almost certainly would not have wanted anyone else to see. And what do we do? We not only published it, but we had been nerfed to move the writing around in an indecisurable order. Seneca and Epictetus, they were the unconcenting victims of fake dialogues with St. Paul

and Hadrian, respectively, that sought to capitalize on their names and to make political or religious points. That's just what we do to genius. We disrespect it, we manipulate it, we mistreat it. And that's the preferential treatment that genius gets. The vast majority of ordinary people, from ancient times, we promptly forgot about them after they died, except the occasions where we dug them up and displayed their bones for educational purposes and profit.

The point is that the dead don't get no respect, which is why anyone overly concerned with their legacy is wasting their time. Sam goes for anyone who values posthumous fame. It ain't common. In fact, the opposite is probably more likely. Focus on the here and now. Focus on living well, on doing good, and not giving two cares for what happens later

because you'll be gone soon enough. So, we'll everyone else. If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps and tell a friend. 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.