The Daily Stoic - We Can’t Let Anything Rattle Us/Accepting What Is

Episode Date: November 2, 2020

Ryan tells the story of Athenodorus versus the ghost, and reads today's weekly meditation about accepting whatever comes your way, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.This episode is brought to you by Warby Parker, the online vision care boutique that delivers glasses right to your front door. Warby Parker has an amazing selection of the most stylish frames for your glasses. And with their free Home Try-On program, you can try out five of your favorite frames for five days before you make a purchase, with no obligation. Whether you’re looking for stylish sunglasses or blue-blocker glasses for your computer, Warby Parker is the place to shop for your next pair of glasses. Try five pairs of glasses for free by visiting warbyparker.com/stoic.***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 Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: 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 Stoke 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. on music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast. Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, illustrated with stories from history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do. And at the beginning of the week we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of Stoic

intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about whatever it is you're happened to be doing. So let's get into it. We can't let anything rattle us. Yesterday was Halloween, and you may have heard your share of ghost stories, but it's unlikely that you heard the one about Athena Doris the Stoic, advisor to the Emperor Augustus. After all, aren't the Stoic supposed to be above such silly superstitions? Yes, they are. And that's sort of the message of the story.

Some time around the turn of the millennium, Athena Doris rented a large mansion in Athens that was purported to be haunted. Undaunted by the stories, Athena Doris set about putting his house in order. Then, on his very first night in the house, Athena Doris was visited by a ghost clapped in irons and dragging heavy chains. There it was, the exact apparition he had been warned about. What did he do? Flea fall to his knees and pray? Not this stoic. Instead, Athena Doris in the middle of a writing session motioned for the ghost to wait and returned to his work.

Only when he was finished, did he get up and follow the apparition into the courtyard where it suddenly vanished. Sensing, this was a message. Athena Doris marked the spot where the ghost had disappeared and then returned to tidy up his desk and go to bed. In the morning, he had workers return to the spot and ordered them to dig. Beneath the dirt, they found ancient bones in chains

which Athena Doris had re-barried with honors in a public funeral. The ghost was never seen again by him or any other resident of the house. Did this really happen? Who knows? But there was a reason Athena Doris told this story to the young king who was reportedly easily scared and a big believer in the supernatural. He was trying to teach Augustus a lesson. Stoics must always keep their head. Even the scariest situations can be resolved with reason and courage. And even if you

believe in silly things like ghosts or superstitions, you can't let your life be ruled by them. You must be in charge. No excuses. We can't let anything rattle us today, tomorrow, whenever. And if you want to read more about Athena Doris, he's a fascinating character. I mean, some of the Stoics fought against kings and Athena Doris was the Stoic advisor to the very first emperor of Rome. You can read about him and many other less known but equally fascinating Stoics in my new book, Lives of the Stoics, the art of living from Xenota Marcus Relis to debut number one best seller. I think you'll like it. And we even have signed copies in the Daily Stoke store. Just go to store.dailystoke.com. Of course, get the book at any retailer online offline

that you like. Think you'll love the book. Check it out. Reinhold Nibers Serenity Prayer is a mantra for many. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. The Stoics, though, wanted to push past simply accepting what is. They wanted to be grateful and happy with what it is. Epic teetus taught that we get a well-flowing life when we wish for what is going to happen, not

what we want to happen. And Marcus Aurelius said, we should meet anything that comes our way with gratitude. Not I wish this was different and I'll tolerate it. Instead, I'm glad that this happened. It is for the best. So try that on for size this week. Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather that everything happens as it actually will.

And then your life will flow well. That's epictetus in the in Caribbean. To be truly educated means this, epictetus said, learning to wish that each thing happens exactly as it does. That's epictetus again this time from the discourses. All you need are these, certainty of judgment in the present moment, action for the common good in the present moment, and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.

That's Marcus Aurelius 9.8. What I love about that serenity prayer, the Ryanhold Niber thing, is like, if you told me that that prayer was a thousand years old, that that was aligned in the Bible, I mean, I'd be like, of course, it feels like it's always been with us. But it's incredible to think that Reinhold Niber lived, like, until I think the 60s. I mean, he was the one of the most prominent theologians of that time. But just the idea that like he was a regular person living relatively recently, it's just an incredible idea. I mean, look, I'm sure that taps into some sort of ancient idea, but I was reading the story about it once.

He just like, he said that at a talk and then he scribbled it down on a piece of paper and then it sort of the rest was history. And I think the reason it was so powerful is it does express that that dichotomy of control of the stoic so perfectly, it captures perfectly what we're all struggling with. We know there's things that are up to us and we know there's things that are not up to us

and we need to have courage to face the ones that are up to us this week and the wisdom to not beat ourselves bloody on the things that are not up to us. That's the challenge. But I think the stoics would say that's like beginner level stuff. Intermediate stuff would be, you know, tolerating and accepting it being, you know, somewhat philosophical

about it. And then the the expert level that Amor Fati is the decision to love it, to just greet everything with a smile, to say thank you for all of it. Pete Holmes, the comedian, he told me he tries to practice this idea of saying, yes, please, to everything. So that it's the thing that's already happening, so it doesn't really matter, but he's saying, yes, please, he's just embracing it, leaning into it. And we can see how this is a recipe for a happy life, a happy existence.

And if we don't, I think we're setting ourselves up for a rough tough week, you know what I mean? So as you think about everything that's gonna happen over the next few days, try to say, look, some of it's gonna be up to me, some of it's gonna be up my choice, some of it's not gonna be, some of the breaks are gonna go my way,

some of the breaks are not. But what I'm gonna do is greet all of it with a smile. I'm going to say that a more faulty to me. I'm going to practice what the still is called the discipline of ascent. I'm not going to fight against what's not up to me. I'm not going to wish things were otherwise. I'm going to greet them as they are to be truly educated means this. That's epictetus again, as we said, learning to wish that each thing happens exactly as it does. Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will.

And then your life will flow well. Wishing you a well-flowing week this week, just no, it's got to come from a more faulty and it's got to come from a place of ascent. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystog.com slash email. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily Stog early and ad free on Amazon music.

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