The Daily Stoic - You Are A God

Episode Date: February 27, 2020

The Stoic writings alternate between reminding us of our humility and our power. For humility, we have the concept of amor fati, for example—we should learn to love our fate, “good or bad” because we’re powerless to do anything about it. And with equal sincerity, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself that if something is humanly possible, he should believe he is capable of doing it. Humility and power. Power and humility. It’s not a contradiction. It’s a balance. On some days we need a reminder of the former, and on other days, the latter. Today, let’s do the latter. How’s this: The Stoics believed each of us was a god. As Cicero writes in his dialog, Scipio’s Dream: “The true self of each person is the mind. Know therefore that you are a god. For a god is someone who moves, who feels, who remembers, who looks to the future, who rules over and guides and directs the body he is master of, just as that Supreme God directs the universe. And just as this eternal God controls the universe, which is partly mortal, so too your eternal spirit directs your fragile body.” It’s a pump-me-up that should have you ready to run through walls this morning. Sure, we are powerless over so much. We can be tossed around by the oceans, we can be struck down by disease, we’re not even as strong as a small chimpanzee. But over our own mind? There we have god-like powers. There, we are supreme masters. There we can direct and control the world like those mythical beings from Mt. Olympus. You’re a god. Know that. Now use that power wisely. Go do something that matters with it. 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. You are a God. The stoic writings alternate between reminding us of our humility and our power.

For humility, we have the concept of a more faulty, for example, we should learn to love our fate good or bad because we're powerless to do anything about it. And with equal sincerity, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself that if something is humanly possible, he should believe himself capable of doing it. Humility and power, power and humility, it's not a contradiction, it's a balance.

On some days, we need a reminder of the former and on other days, the latter. Today, let's do the latter. How's not a contradiction, it's a balance. On some days we need a reminder of the former and on other days the latter. Today, let's do the latter. How's this? The Stoics believed that each one of us was a God. As Cicero writes in his dialogue, CPO's dream, the true self of each person is the mind, know therefore that you are a God. For a God is someone who moves, who feels, who remembers, who looks to the future, who rules over in guides and directs the body, he is a master of. Just as that supreme God directs the universe. And just as this eternal God controls the universe, which is partly mortal, so too your eternal spirit directs your fragile body. It's a pump me up that should have you ready to run through walls this

morning. Sure, we are powerless over so much we can be tossed around by the oceans. We can be struck down by disease. We're not even as strong as a small chimpanzee. But over our own mind, there we have God-like powers. There we are supreme masters. There we can control and direct the world like those mythical beings from Mount Olympus. You are a God. Know that. Now use this power wisely. Go do something that matters with it. Amorphati means a love of fate. It's the mindset of making the most out of everything that happens. Marcus Relius, he said that a blazing fire takes flame and brightness out of everything that is

thrown into it. Nietzsche said that Amor Fati was his formula for greatness, that we not only bear what is necessary, but love it. And that was the inspiration for Amor Fati Challenge coin. So creation, I was lucky enough to collaborate on with my mentor, Robert Green, and it's something I carry around with me always. This coin helps me reframe every obstacle and difficulty I face in my life,

as well as all the great things that have happened in my life as well. So you can check it out, go to dailystoic.com slash AF. And I promise you, you will love it. 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.