The Daily Stoic - What’s Bad For The Hive Is Bad For The Bee

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

Although the ancient world was filled with injustices and cruelty, we moderns flatter ourselves when we give ourselves (too much) credit for our enlightened notions of fairness and empathy, because the speeches and the arguments of the ancient Greeks and Romans sound strikingly familiar when quoted back to us now. Take this line: “I am convinced that people are much better off when their whole city is flourishing than when certain citizens prosper but the community has gone off course. When a man is doing well for himself but his country is falling to pieces he goes to pieces along with it, but a struggling individual has much better hopes if his country is thriving.”Is that Bernie Sanders giving another speech about income inequality? No, it’s Pericles in Athens in 431 BC. Marcus Aurelius’s line that “what’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee,” could just as easily be a quip in an upcoming political debate as it could be a New York Times headline. And most impressively, it’s still true and has never stopped being true in the two thousand years since it was first uttered. Yes, the Greeks and Romans tolerated some truly abominable ideas. Slavery. Rape. Pillaging. Pederasty. Conquest and colonialism. Things that we have vowed to never allow again. But they also nourished a strong sense of community and connection that we struggle to hold onto today. The Stoics believed we were put on this planet for each other. That we each had a role to play in the larger whole, that we must constantly meditate on our sympatheia—on our mutual interdependence. What good is our success if it comes at the expense of others? What good are we if we can’t help others? We are all bound up in this thing called life together. If we forget that, we’re not only not as advanced or evolved as we think we are, but we are turning our backs on an ancient truth as well.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's bad for the hive is bad for the bee. Although the ancient world was filled with injustices and cruelty, we moderns flatter ourselves

when we give ourselves too much credit for our enlightened notions of fairness and empathy. Because the speeches and the arguments of the ancient Greeks and Romans sound strikingly familiar when quoted back to us. Now, take this line. I am convinced that people are much better off when their whole city is flourishing than when certain citizens prosper but the community has gone off course. When a man is doing well for himself

but his country is falling to pieces, he goes to pieces along with it. But a struggling individual has much better hopes if his country is thriving. Is that Bernie Sanders giving another speech about income inequality or Tucker Carlson speaking about the middle Americans who have been left behind by the elites?

No, it's paracles in Athens in 400 BC. Marcus Aurelius is lying that what's bad for the hive is bad for the bee could just as easily be equipped in an upcoming political debate as it could be a New York Times headline. And most impressively, it's still true and has never stopped being true in the 2000 years since it was first uttered. Yes, the Greeks and Romans tolerated some truly abominable ideas, slavery, rape, pillaging, pedoracity, conquest, and colonialism, things that we have vowed to never allow again.

But they also nourished a strong sense of community and connection that we struggle to hold on to today. The Stoics believed we were put on this planet for each other, that we each had a role to play in the larger whole, that we must constantly meditate on our sympathy, our mutual interdependence with and for each other. What good is our success if it comes at the expense of others? What good are we if we can't help others? We are all bound up in this together. If we forget that, we're not only not as advanced and evolved as we think we are, but we are turning our back on an ancient truth as well. Marcus Aurelius said that the nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.

To have a calm mind, you have to conquer your anger. That's why we created our new course, Tame in your temper, the 10-day still-at-guide controlling your anger. The still-ex-recognized that anger was a weakness, something we had to master. They knew that anger left unchecked, consumed you, and take over your life. So I urge you to check out our new course, Tame in your temper, the 10-day still-at-guide controlling your anger. It's 10 days of awesome, still-conspirired exercise that will make you better, make you calmer, and as Mark has really said, make you stronger. You can check it out at dailystoic.com slash anger. Hey, prime members.

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