The Daily Stoic - What is Required of You

Episode Date: September 2, 2019

Marcus Aurelius was an incredibly lucky man. He was born a Roman and he was born a man in a time where to be anything other than a man or a Roman citizen was a position of extreme powerlessness. He was also born to a wealthy family who provided him the best tutors, tutors who loved him and taught him the philosophy that changed his life. He was then adopted into Antoninus’s family (at the request of Hadrian) to set in motion his ascension to the throne, a gift of enormous power, wealth, and responsibility. It says in the Bible that to whom much is given, much is required. Marcus took this idea quite seriously. Not only was he not one of those dilettante emperors, he also saw the gifts he had been given as an obligation to do good, to be of service—that it wasn’t about him, but about what he was called to do. So when Rome’s finances were shaky, he sold off imperial treasures to pay down the empire’s debts. When estates were left to him, he could have easily accepted them and increased his family’s wealth while in office, like so many politicians before and since have done. Instead, he found the deceased’s distant relatives and gifted it to them (when his own father died, Marcus passed his rightful inheritance to his sister). We can see in Meditations just how difficult and stressful all this responsibility was on Marcus...yet there was no complaining, no ethical lapses, no regrettable mistakes. Much was given to him at birth and in life, and he rose to the occasion. He did what was required of him and more. So today, think about your own good fortune and the gifts you have received—by nature of where you’ve been born (and when), because of who your family is or the success you’ve had. There is no such thing as a free lunch. There are always strings. In this case, you are now obligated. Much is required of you. You are required to be good. To give back. To help others, to sprinkle some of your stardust on other people. Starting now.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 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. What is required of you? Marcus Aurelius was an incredibly lucky man.

He was born a Roman and he was born a man in a time where to be anything other than a man or a Roman citizen was a position of extreme powerlessness. He was also born to a wealthy family who provided him the best tutors, tutors who loved him and taught him the philosophy that changed his life. He was then adopted into Antoninus' family, the request of Hadrian, to set in motion his ascension to the throne, a gift of enormous power, wealth, and responsibility. It says in the Bible that to whom much is given much is required. Marcus took this idea quite seriously, even if he never heard of it from the Christians. Not only was he not one of those dilatant emperors, he also saw the gifts he had been given as an obligation to do good,

to be of service, that it wasn't about him but what he was called to do. So when Rome's finances were shaky, he sold off imperial treasures to pay down the empire's debts. When estates were left to him, he could have easily accepted them and increased his family's wealth while in office, like so many politicians before and since have done. Instead he found the deceased's distant relatives and gifted the estates to them. When his own father died, Marcus passed his rightful inheritance to his sister. We can see in meditations just how difficult and stressful all this responsibility was on Marcus.

Yet, there was no complaining, no ethical lapses, no regrettable mistakes. Much was given to him at birth and in life and he rose to the occasion. He did what was required of him and more. So today think about your own good fortune and the gifts you have received by nature of where you were born and when, because of who your family is or the success you've had. There is no such thing as a free lunch. There are always strings. In this case, you are now obligated. Much is required of you. You are required to be good, to do good, to give back, to help others, to sprinkle some of your star dust on other people. Starting now, starting today.

I have really exciting news. Daily Stoke now makes our Memento Mori design in a Signet Ring. It's awesome. I wear it on my right ring finger. I just absolutely love it. The Signet Ring is a piece of jewelry that dates back something like 6,000 years.

It was a practical component of Roman life. We can imagine Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Cato, Cicero, and Epictetus all wearing Signet rings. There was even a later Christian emperor who wore a Signet ring with Marcus Aurelius his face on it. This Signet ring comes in gold or silver and it's got the skull on it, the flower, and the hourglass, it says, Memento Mori, which means remember death, and on the inside, it has that famous quote from Marcus Aurelius, you could leave life right now,

and then it comes to us to remember that we must let this affect and influence everything we do and say and think. I hope you'll check out the ring. It's in the Daily Stoic store. It's my favorite piece of jewelry now besides my wedding ring. And I think you'll really like it. We worked very hard on it. I'm going to love it. Check it out. DailyStoicStore.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.