The Daily Stoic - Why Do It Alone? | Marcus Aurelius Advice For Becoming Unstoppable

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

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Hello, I'm Emily, one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. Some of them hit the big time overnight, some had to plug away for years, but in our latest series we're talking about a man who was world famous before he was even born. A life of extreme privilege that was mapped out from the start, but left him struggling to find his true purpose. A man who, compared to his big brother, felt a bit, you know, spare. Yes, it's Prince Harry. You might think you know everything about him, but trust me, there's even more.

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Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy. Why do it alone? You could do it on your own, you could wing it,

you could hope to stumble through and come out the other side with a comprehensive understanding of a book that, while pretty short and to the point is still, as we said earlier this week, pretty difficult. Marcus Relius, the author of that book we're talking about, Meditations, would steer you in a different direction though. Mastery of reading and writing requires a master, he said, and he knew this from experience. Sometime around the year 140 AD, Marcus was introduced to the philosophy that would change his life by his teacher, Rusticus. The remembrances of Epictetus, as Marcus would refer most

gratefully to that book that Rusticus gave him, he said, which he supplied to me out of his own library. We can imagine the underlinings in Roustikis' copy that would have called Marcus' attention to particularly important passages. We can imagine the marginalia that would have provided valuable context and insights. We can imagine the discussions the two might have had as Marcus was familiarizing himself with this wisdom. In fact, Marcus would write in meditations about going straight to the seat of intelligence. By that, he meant asking questions, hearing from the experts,

really wrestling with ancient wisdom as it was meant to be wrestled with. So if we're going to sit down and read Marcus Sprele's meditations today, why wouldn't we do the same? For the past decade here at Daily Still, we've been engaging with meditations day in and day out, wanting to understand its wisdom so we can apply it to our own lives. We spent hundreds and thousands of hours with the book itself, and spent just as many hours hunting down papers and analysis by scholars and historians and translators,

many of whom we've gotten to talk to in interview. It's been the work of a lifetime exploring the depths of meditations, making sense of what Marcus wrote and what those writings can do for us. And as Marcus said, it requires the help of a master. Well, our new guide, How to Read Mark Cerullius's Meditations, is designed to be just that. It's like a book club in a box for a great book. It's intended to be what those scholars and historians and translators have been for the Daily Stoke team and for me personally.

It's something we've worked really hard on. I'm really proud of it. I think it's going to be great. Just as Rusticus provided Marcus with a well-worn copy of Epictetus' teachings, complete with some his notes and insights. That's what we're doing here. It's all my best thinking on meditations in one place. It's videos, it's podcasts, it's stuff for me.

I think you're really going to like it. It's for sale right now in the Daily Stoic Store. I'll link to that in today's show notes. And I hope you check it out. If you haven't gotten a copy of Meditations, well, why not do that also? I love the Gregory Hayes translations, which we sell too. And you can get the course and the book together in a package as well. I'll link to that in today's show notes. I think this is awesome and I hope you like it. In the year 170, Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of the Roman Empire, sat down to write.

Not to an audience or for publication, but to himself, for himself. And what he wrote is undoubtedly one of history's most effective formulas for overcoming every negative situation we may encounter in life. As Marcus wrote, our actions may be impeded, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions, because we can accommodate and adapt. And then he concluded with powerful words destined for maxim. The impediment to action advances action.

What stands in the way becomes the way. In Marcus's words are the secrets to an art known as turning obstacles upside down, to act with a reverse clause, so there's always a way out or another route to get where you need to go, so that setbacks or problems are always expected and never permanent, making certain that what impedes us can empower us.

Coming from this particular man, these were not idle words. In his own reign of some 19 years, he would experience nearly constant war, a horrific plague, and attempted the throne by one of his closest allies. Repeated and arduous travel across the Empire, a rapidly depleting treasury, and on and on and on. We are the rightful heirs to this tradition. It's our birthright. We are the rightful heirs to this tradition. It's our birthright.

Whatever we face we have a choice. Will we be blocked by obstacles or will we advance through and over them? We might not be emperors, but the world is still constantly testing us. It asks, are you worthy? Can you get past the things that will inevitably fall in your way? Will you stand up and show us what you're made of? 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.

You know, if I would have applied myself, I could have gone to the NBA. You think so? Yeah, I think so. But it's just like, it's been done. You know, I didn't want to, I was like, I don't want to be a follower. Hi, I'm Jason Concepcion.

And I'm Shea Serrano, and we are back. We have a new podcast from Wondery. It's called Six Trophies. Woo! And it's the best. Each week, Shea Serrano and we are back. We have a new podcast from Wondering. It's called Six Trophies. And this is the fucking best. Each week, Che Serrano and I are combing through all the NBA storylines, finding the best, most interesting, most compelling stories, and then handing out six pop culture themed trophies

for six basketball related activities. Trophies like the Dominic Toretto, I live my life a quarter mile at a time trophy, which is given to someone who made a short term decision with no regard for future consequence. Or the Christopher Nolan Tenet trophy, which is given to someone who made a short-term decision with no regard for future consequence. Or the Christopher Nolan Tenet trophy, which is given to someone who did something that we didn't understand.

Catalina wine mixer trophy. Ooh, the Lauryn Hill, you might win some, but you just lost one trophy. And what's more, the NBA playoffs are here, so you wanna make Six Trophies your go-to companion podcast through all the craziness. Follow Six Trophies on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts,

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