The Daily Stoic - We All Need Monuments to Guide Us

Episode Date: December 2, 2019

Nobody cared more about statues than the Greeks and the Romans. In fact, the only reason we know what many of the Stoics looked like is because they were preserved in marble by sculptors many thousands of years ago. It wasn’t just philosophers who knew the value of statues. Leaders put up statues in nearly every important place within the realms that they ruled so that we might look upon and be inspired by the deeds and the principles of the great men and women they honored.In 175 AD, Marcus Aurelius was honored with the creation of a bronze statue depicting him atop a horse addressing his troops, perhaps following some great victory on the battlefield. It was placed in the heart of Rome on the Capitoline Hill. Bronze equestrian statues like this one were commonly created to laud the most notable Romans, yet this is the only statue of a pre-Christian emperor to survive to the modern era. While dozens of other statues were being melted down to make coins or destroyed by revolutionaries, this statue remained on display, through the centuries. In fact, it was Michelangelo who, at the height of his powers as an artist, designed a new base for it in the Piazza del Campidoglio, where it stands to this day. And we are all the better for it. Because each generation needs guidance. We need to be called to honor the greatness of our past, or in the case of some monuments, reminded of the failures and mistakes that humanity has made. We need to see—in tangible form—the principles that we as a people hold dear, that we aspire to mirror in our own livesIn 1863, the English writer Matthew Arnold wrote about why the endurance of the symbols of Marcus Aurelius are so important, and what a grand tradition it remains.Long after his death, his bust was to be seen in the houses of private men through the wide Roman empire. It may be the vulgar part of human nature which busies itself with the semblance and doings of living sovereigns, it is its nobler part which busies itself with those of the dead; these busts of Marcus Aurelius, in the homes of Gaul, Britain and Italy, bear witness, not to the intimates' frivolous curiosity about princes and palaces, but to their reverential memory of the passage of a great man upon the earth.A nation—an era—is judged by the monuments it erects just as a home is judged by the mementos and family artifacts hung on its walls and displayed on its shelves. So that’s the question for the world and for you as an individual today: What statues are you putting up? Who are you honoring? Whose presence is inspiring you to follow in their example? What is calling you to be the person you know you can be? ———We’ve just released our newest Daily Stoic creation to help you keep in mind the example of Marcus Aurelius: a limited edition bust, modeled after the that inspired The Obstacle is the Way. This hand-sculpted bust is individually hand-numbered with a beautiful verdigris finish. It’s mounted on a black marble base and comes wrapped in a green velour pouch along with a signed certificate of authenticity. We’ve only had the sculptor produce a limited quantity from his original clay model, so if you’re interested, the time is now to check it out at DailyStoic.com/Statue, where we’ve included a great video showing how the bust was made. We also conducted an interview with the bust’s sculptor, E. S. Schubert. Not only is Schubert an amazing sculptor who has crafted statues for cities and stadiums, he is also a passionate student of Stoicism. You canSee 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 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. We all need monuments to guide us. Nobody cared about statues more than the Greeks and the Romans. In fact, the only reason we know what many of the

Stoics look like is because they were preserved in marble by sculptors many thousands of years ago. It wasn't just philosophers who knew the value of statues. Leaders put up statues in nearly every important place within the realms they ruled so that we might look upon and be inspired by the deeds and principles of the great men and women that they honored. In 175 AD, Marcus Aurelius was honored with the creation of a bronze statue depicting him on top of a horse addressing his troops, perhaps following some great victory on the battlefield. It was placed in the heart of Rome on Capitoline Hill. Bronze equestrian statues like this one were commonly created to laud the most notable Romans.

Yet this is the only statue of a pre-Christian emperor to survive to the modern era. While dozens of other statues were being melted down to make coins or destroyed by revolutionaries, this statue remained on display through the centuries. In fact, it was Michelangelo in the Renaissance at the height of his powers as an artist who designed a new base for it, where it stands to this day. And we are all the better for this. Because each generation needs guidance, we need to be called to honor the greatness of our past, or in the case of some monuments reminded of the failures

and mistakes that humanity has made. We need to see intangible form, the principles that we hold dear as people, that we aspire to mirror in our own lives. In 1863, the English writer Matthew Arnold wrote about why the endurance of the symbols of Marcus Aurelius are so important and what a grand tradition it remains. He said, long after his death,

this bust was to be seen in the houses of private men through the wide Roman Empire. It may be the vulgar part of human nature which bizzies itself with the semblance and doings of living sovereigns. It is its nobler part which busses itself with those of the dead. These busts of Marcus Aurelius in the homes of Gaul,

Britain, and Italy bear witness not to the intimate frivolous curiosity about princes and palaces, but to their reverential memory of the passage of a great man upon the earth. A nation and era is judged by the monuments it erects just as a home is judged by the mementos and family artifacts hung on its walls and displayed on its shelves. So that's the question for the world and for you as an individual today. What statues are you putting up? Who are you honoring? Whose presence is inspiring you to follow in their example. What is calling

you to be the person you know that you can be? We've just released our newest Daily Stoic creation to help you keep in mind the example of Marcus Aurelius. It's a limited edition bust modeled after one that I actually keep in my own library on my desk. This hand sculpted bust is individually hand numbered with a beautiful vert-agreased finish. It's mounted on a black marble base and it comes wrapped in a green valour pouch along with a signed certificate of authenticity. We've only had the sculptor produce a limited quantity from his original clay model, so if you're interested, check it out now at dailystoic.com slash statue. And you

can also check out a really cool video showing how it's made. If you're looking for a statue to put up to inspire you, I think this is a pretty good one. 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. Hey there listeners! While we take a little break here, I want to tell you about another podcast that I think you'll like.

It's called How I Built This, where host Guy Razz talks to founders behind some of the world's biggest and most innovative companies, to learn how they built them from the ground up. Guy has sat down with hundreds of founders behind well-known companies like Headspace, Manduke Yoga Mats, Soul Cycle, and Codopaxi, as well as entrepreneurs working to solve some of the biggest problems of our time, like developing technology that pulls energy from the ground to heat in cool homes, or even figuring out how to make drinking water from air and sunlight.

Together, they discuss their entire journey from day one, and all the skills they had to learn along the way, like confronting big challenges, and how to lead through uncertainty. So if you want to get inspired and learn how to think like an entrepreneur, check out how I built this, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon or Wondery. Raising kids can be one of the greatest rewards of a parent's life. But come on, someday's parenting is unbearable. I love my kid, but is a new parenting podcast from Wondry that shares a refreshingly honest

and insightful take on parenting. Hosted by myself, Megan Galey, Chris Garcia, and Kurt Brown Aller, we will be your resident not so expert experts. Each week we'll share a parenting story that'll have you laughing, nodding, and thinking, oh yeah, I have absolutely been there. We'll talk about what went right and wrong. What would we do differently? And the next time you step on yet another stray Lego in the middle of the night, you'll feel less alone. So if you like to laugh with us as we talk about the hardest job in the world, listen to, I love my kid, but wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app.