The Daily Stoic - This is the Key To The Stoics | Ask Daily Stoic

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

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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 Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. But on Fridays, we not only read this daily meditation, but I try to answer some questions from listeners and fellow stoics who are trying to apply this philosophy, whatever it is they happen to do. Sometimes these are from talks. Sometimes these are people who come up to talk to me on the street. Sometimes these are written in or emailed from listeners. But I hope in answering their questions, I can answer your questions, give a little more

guidance on this philosophy we're all trying to follow. 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.

This is the key to the Stoics. One of the most interesting things about the Stoic tradition is that it really is that, a tradition. From Xeno to Marcus Aurelius, nobody bothered to write down the ten commandments of Stoicism. Compared to other philosophies or religion, Stoicism is more like the UK than the US. There's not some expansive, written constitution that lays out exactly what you're supposed to do, or not do. Still, students of the philosophy have long struggled with this, even in ancient times. Epictetus tells a story of a student who is constantly asking him what to do. That was the wrong question, Epictetus said, instead it was better to ask

how to be adaptable to circumstances. In his new classic, The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel, recent podcast guest also writes about Benjamin Graham's famous book, The Intelligent Investor. He says, The Intelligent Investor is one of the greatest invest in books of all time, but I don't know of a single investor who has done well implementing Graham's published formula. The book is full of wisdom, perhaps more than any other investment book ever published, but as a how-to guide, it's questionable at best. And so, at those with stoicism, it's not that we ought to do exactly what Marcus Aurelius did or parse Chris Cipis' words for precise instructions.

That would be silly. Instead, we want to tie ourselves into the tradition. Try to get ourselves to the intention, to the underlying wisdom that the stoics were themselves following. They can't tell us what to do in every situation, but they can show us how to be adaptable to circumstances. They can give us a framework, a set of precedents to follow. The Stilx were not writing how-to guides, but how-to-think guides was about a mindset and approach a philosophy. Pick that up, not pedantic rules.

First question is from his Zeus, or it's from Jesus himself, I'm not sure. But he says, who are some well-known figures from history who are influenced by stoicism? All right, so there's obviously a ton. And we have an article on Daily Stoke, which you can check out. But like, there's something sort of since I, I remember when I was first read Marcus Reales, I was in college and then I had to read John Steinbeck's book East of Eden shortly thereafter. And it was like, whoa, Stoicism is in this book. The Chinese servant of the main family is like a fan of Marcus Realis and he's quoting from the book.

So I've kind of always been on the lookout for little ones, but some of my favorite examples. Theodore Roosevelt took a copy of Epic Titus with him on his famous River of Doubt Journey, which you can actually see the copy of Meditations. It's at the Theodore Roosevelt House in New York City. Thomas Jefferson died with a copy of Seneca on his nightstand, which I always thought was cool. George Washington was introduced to Stoke Philosophy by a neighbor when he was about 16 years old.

And then one of his favorite quotes is from the play Cato about the stoic which he put on at Valley Forge. But he says I like to look at things in the calm and mild light of philosophy. So George Washington is a great example. General Mattis, our most recent secretary defense here in America,

and then four star general in the Marines, he actually takes Marcus Aurelius with him on the campaign trail wherever he goes. James Stockdale for prevent Vice Presidential candidate, as he was parachuting in to Vietnam where he knew he was going to be taken prisoner. He said, I am leaving the world of technology and I am entering the world of epictetus, which I always thought was cool. Arnold Schwarzenegger, I know, is interested in stoicism and I know that because I've talked to him about it. The doingland patriots of red stoicism. So the Seattle Seahawks, I've spoken to the Cleveland Browns

and Los Angeles Rams, Les Sneed, who's the GM of the Rams, is a huge dohes, and fan. Nick Sabin talks about Marcus Arrelius. There's actually an ESPN article about Sabin and Marcus Arrelius helping him prepare for games. I'm just looking at some more of the names here. Michelle Tafoya, sending at football, a big fan of stoicism. And then a bunch of rappers have talked about stoicism. Lupe Fiasco wraps about Marcus Releasing One Song, which I always thought was cool. Somebody sent me that tea pain, has a mix tape called Stoicville. So he's got to be vaguely familiar with it.

JK Rowling talks about Marcus Releasing Fairmount on Twitter. Bre Larson has as well. The seem to lab, you know, sort of interesting Stoke fellow traveler. Neil Strauss, I know. Jonathan Newhouse, who's the head of Crony Nast. Tim Ferris, Jack Dorsey. I go on, really article.

I think the point is, Stoicism has always been a philosophy not only that influential people have been interested in, but has influence influential people in shape the choices and decisions that they made. And so, you know, that endorsement is worth what it's worth. I don't think Stoicism is more or less worth following because famous rich people or powerful people have used it. But I think we should look at the effect that it's had on them in their lives, and if we think that that's a positive effect,

then it's something we should emulate. Nathan Eath, an interesting name and a river of that, said, how do you let go and change beliefs that aren't serving you anymore? I mean, I guess I would turn that around. Why would you be holding on to beliefs that aren't serving you anymore. I mean, I guess I would turn that around. Like, why would you be holding on to beliefs that aren't serving you anymore? I mean, there's always sort of some vestiges of like sort of old habits and assumptions

that are there even if we want to move on. But I do think like you should always be asking yourself, do I still believe this is this true? Is it helping me? And one of the things I most admire about Marx's realises how he talks about is like, when somebody shows you that you're wrong, they're not hurting you, they're doing you a favor,

they're helping you. And so I think this idea that we cling to things that we believe because we used to believe them or because someone once told us that that's something we always want to be questioning. We always want to be forming our beliefs anew. We want to be evaluating them as if we were discovering them for the first time. Seneca, I think we can take from his constant quoting and and meditations on someone like

Epicurus, who's theoretically a rival or holds radically different views, is him constantly questioning what he believes, comparing it against what other people believe, seeing if it holds true in experience, and then moving on or adapting or changing those ideas as he incorporates them into his life. I think the other thing I would think about is like, when we ask ourselves, like why we believe a certain thing or why we're doing a certain way, doing it a certain way, it's usually because it's serving us some need, even if it's not a positive, it's doing something for us.

Like, I heard this great line once they said, traditions are solutions to problems that we've forgotten about. So the idea that like, the way we've always done things or the habits we have or the beliefs that we've picked up, at some point that was true or at some point that helped us get ahead, it was adaptive, that might not be true now, but as we've moved, but we're holding on to that. So I would think about this belief system that you're holding on to that. So I would think about like this belief system that you're holding on to this idea This this bad habit or whatever it is. It's probably you know, it's keeping you comfortable in some way

It's keeping you know you in a relationship that you shouldn't be anymore or it's maintaining a connection that you're You know reluctant to let go of it's keeping you rooted rooted in the past, or it's keeping you preoccupied. There's something that it's doing for you, like drinking, let's say you believe, you know you shouldn't be drinking, but you can't stop drinking. Well, why are you drinking? Probably because it makes you not have to feel

something that you do feel when you're sober. So if you want to change the drinking habit, you have to address that feeling, and then the need will lessen. And I think that's something to think about as you evaluate and you question these belief systems and move on. But really a great question. And I hope people sort of work on that.

All right. Last question for today. O.B. asks, how do you not take things personally, which he puts in all caps, which I take personally that feels like a bit like an attack. He says, is there any stoke approach to looking at things or events objectively with helping personal? The truth is like almost nothing is personal. When you think about the things that you do to other people, how often are you intentionally

inflicting distress or problems on them? It's not. You're always thinking about yourself. You're not thinking about the other person. So it's like, we give ourselves a pass, then we won't give other people a pass. Like, when we know when we mess up, it's because we were tired or hungry

or confused or overwhelmed. But then when someone else messes us up, when someone else messes up, it's because they're an awful person. We know, like, oh, sorry, I didn't see that car. That's why I drifted into their lane or I accidentally cut them off. But of course, they cut me off

because they're an asshole. So it's realizing that most people are not, Socrates says like, nobody does wrong on purpose. I was saying that's the simplification Like there are such things sociopaths and psychopaths and there are evil people in the world But for the most part people are doing what they think is right in fact They're trying to help more than they're trying to hurt so it's it's realizing where people are coming from Which is a place eerily similar to your own place to me that helps I place eerily similar to your own place to me, that helps.

I think the other thing you could say, it's like, even if it is personal, what does it matter? You decide whether it's good or bad. Like, we talked about this a daily stroke. Like, the ask is the ask. If someone says, hey, can you stay, you know, an extra hour after work, you decide, oh my god, why are they doing this? Like, you can just say, no, I'm sorry, I can't. Like, you decide to interpret a remark as rude.

You decide to take it personally. And so realizing that, like, you actually just have the power to tell yourself the story, whatever you want to tell it about the event, and that how often and regularly you do it, like, when your parents say one thing, you've read it this way, when your boss says that you read it this way, when your boss says that you read it this way, when your husband or wife says it this way, or when someone, your least favorite person in the world says that you decide all the time to decide the same actions in radically different ways. And so why don't you just choose not to take this one personally?

That would be one thing. And then what I would say, if I would leave you the marks, really, it's quote, I, he's like, you know, this doesn't have to upset you. He says you always have the ability to not have an opinion. And I think when you realize that you have strength,

you, you, you, you, you can choose not to be offended. As Epictetus said, remember, you are a complicit in the outrage. Like when someone says something and you decide to be offended. As Epictita said, remember, you are a complicit in the outrage. Like when someone says something and you decide to be mad, you are dancing with them. And so when you decide, even if the person was meaning it personally or they wasn't, or they weren't, you are dis, you, it only is personal

if you choose for it to be. So remembering you have that power is really important. Easy to say, of course, hard to do. So thanks. That's another episode of Ask Daily Stoke. Keep sending your questions info at DailyStoke.com. Thanks to our sponsors. Thank you for listening. You can check this out as the podcast. You can check it out on our YouTube channel. And, uh, you know, thanks sending your questions. You know, thanks, send it your questions. If at some point in your life, Marcus wrote, you should come across anything better than justice, prudence, self-control, courage, if you find anything better than that, embrace

it without reservations, must be an extraordinary thing indeed. And that was 20 centuries ago, and there's no question we've discovered a lot of things since then, automobiles, the internet careers for diseases that were previously a death sentence, but if we found anything better, no, we have not. And it's unlikely that we ever will. So memorize those four virtues, act on them, live on them, tell everyone you meet about them and keep them close to your heart always. And if you want to carry those four virtues around with you like a compass, well, that's what we've created the four virtues pendant.

I'm holding it in my hand right now. It's got the daily stoic four virtues seal, temperance, wisdom, courage, justice, right? Lion, that's courage. A man sprinkling water into a jug of wine, that's this ancient symbol for temperance, set of scales, justice, an owl, the symbol of wisdom. And on the back, it says, acta non-verba, which is Latin for actions, not words, or deeds, not words. I would love for you to check this out. We worked with this awesome jeweler in Brooklyn to make these new pendants. I'm always trying to improve what we do at Daily Stoke.

And I really re-imagined what the pendants we have at Daily Stoke look like here. There's a new chain, new pendant new sterling silver You can check it out at daily stoic.com slash virtues pendant or you can just go to store That daily stoic.com and check it out also link to it in today's show notes I hope you check this out. I'm I'm really proud of this one This is mine you can hear it there. I hope you check this out. I'm really proud of this one. This is mine. You can hear it there.

I'm holding it in my hands. It just got an awesome weight to it. And I love this. We had the four virtues coin in the store, but we added this act and nonverva deeds, not words thing, to the back of the pendant, which I just think is the perfect message to go along with the four virtues. You don't just talk about the ideas. You don't just read about them. You try to live by them. You carry them around as a compass that

guides you always. I hope you check it out daily stoke.com slash virtues pendant or even though store.dailystoke.com. 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 add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts. Is this thing all? Check one, two, one, two. Hey y'all, I'm Kiki Palmer.

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