The Daily Stoic - We Have To Try Harder To Get There

Episode Date: June 16, 2020

"It’s not that our ancestors didn’t know what was right, it was that they had trouble fully getting there. In the opening pages of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius describes how the early Stoics like Thrasea, Helvidius, and Cato inspired him to believe in a 'society of equal laws, governed by equality of status and of speech, and of rules who respect the liberty of their subjects above all else.' Nothing is more important or just than that, Marcus believed. And yet he ruled a Rome that could not have been further from it in many ways."Find out more about how we need to work to live up to the promises of our forebears 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 dailystoic.com. We have to try harder to get there. It's not that our ancestors didn't know what was right. It was that they had trouble fully getting there. In the opening pages of Marcus Aurelius, for instance, he describes how the early Stoics like Thrasia, Helvides and Cato inspired him to believe in a society

of equal laws governed by inequality of status and of speech and of rulers who respect the liberty of their subjects above all else. Nothing is more important or just than that, and yet Rome could not have been further from it in many ways. Consider Thomas Jefferson's beautiful opening to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, beautiful, powerful,

even though the owner of dozens of slaves could not have been further from living it. In a sense, the arc of history and justice and progress is less about innovation and more about realization. What America did in the 18th century was bring the world closer to Marcus's vision than ever before. What Lincoln did in the 19th century was bring America closer to Jefferson's vision

than Jefferson ever had. And what Martin Luther King Jr. did in the 20th century was bring America closer still to the vision of Lincoln and Jefferson and Marcus. Each one of these great heroes was fulfilling the work of the heroes that came before them. Each one was trying to help us realize the justice we believed in,

but had not quite managed to achieve. Well, that is the work that must continue today. Here we are in the 21st century. We must get closer to those beautiful visions. We must move the ball forward, but also in a sense backward towards that timeless and true sense of what is right and fair. We don't need to talk about what a just society looks like. We have that on record.

You need help to become one. We need to, as EpicTidus said, embody our philosophy. We need to make it real now, now, now. Hey, thanks for listening to the Daily Stoke Podcast. You can sign up to get our daily email at dailystoke.com slash email. I'd also encourage if you want to take your practice of stoicism to the next level, to sign up for daily stoic life, which is our members only program. It's got all sorts of awesome benefits. You can check that out at dailystokelife.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 ad-free with Wondery Plus 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

Vanity 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 Wondery, comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docuseries 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.

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