We’re Part of This Beautiful Tradition

Do you remember the first time you heard about the Stoics? Maybe you read about them in another book. Maybe someone you know recommended them to you. Remember that feeling though? When those words first started going through your brain and you felt them in your soul for the first time? It was an incredible experience right? One of the most important and transformative moments in your life. Here’s the crazy thing though. Before the Vietnam war, James Stockdale had almost that exact experience when he was given a copy of Epictetus at Stanford. You could roll back the tape of history almost 200 years and find the exact moment that George Washington had his experience when, at 16, a neighbor passed along a copy of the works of the Stoics. Nearly 2,000 years ago almost the exact same thing happened, only instead of America it was in Rome, and a man named Junius Rusticus was loaning Marcus Aurelius a copy of Epictetus. A generation before that, someone was introducing Epictetus himself, then no more than a slave, to the works of Musonius Rufus. You could go back further still and sit in a book store and watch Zeno, washed up from a shipwreck, being introduced to philosophy by way of a reading of the works of Socrates. It shouldn’t take away from the beauty of your experience to learn that it wasn’t singular. In fact, it enhances it. It ties directly into the most moving passages of Marcus Aurelius, where he points out how long human beings have been doing the same thing, how we’ve been falling in love and fighting over money, improving ourselves and falling short, and yes, having our minds blown by great books, since as long as there have been books. We are part of a long tradition and it’s a long tradition that will continue after we’re gone. We’re not special. We’re a strong, but ordinary link in a timeless chain… that includes some of the greatest men and women to ever walk the earth. We don’t own these ideas. We are, as they say about Patek Philippe watches, just guarding them for the next generation. We are caretakers. And that’s important. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  We are part of this beautiful tradition. Do you remember the first time you heard about the Stoics? Maybe you read about them in another book, maybe someone you know recommended them to you. Do you remember that feeling, though, when those words first started going through your brain and you felt them in your soul for the first time? It was an incredible experience, right? One of the most important and transformative moments in your life. But here's the crazy thing. Before the Vietnam War, James Stockdale had almost that exact experience when he was given a copy of Epictetus at Stanford. You could roll back the tape of history almost 200 years and find the exact moment that George Washington had this experience, when, at 16, a neighbor passed along a copy

• 1:10Ryan Holiday?

  of the works of the Stoics. Nearly 2,000 years ago, almost the exact same thing happened again, only instead of in America, it was in Rome, and a man named Junius Rusticus was loaning Marcus Aurelius a copy of Epictetus. A generation before that, someone was introducing Epictetus himself, then no more than a slave, to the works of Musonius Rufus. You could go back further still and sit in a bookstore and watch Zeno washed up from a shipwreck being introduced to philosophy by way of a reading of the works of Socrates. It shouldn't take away from the beauty of your experience to learn that it wasn't singular. In fact, it enhances it. It ties directly into the most moving passages from Marcus Aurelius,

• 1:53Ryan Holiday?

  when he points out how long human beings have been doing the same things, how we've been falling in love and fighting over money, improving ourselves and falling short, and yes, having our minds blown by great books, since as long as there have been books. We are part of a long tradition, and it's a long tradition that will continue after we're gone. We're not special. We're a strong but ordinary link in a timeless chain that includes some of the greatest men and women to ever walk the earth. We don't own these ideas. We are, as they say about a certain kind of watch, just guarding them for the next generation. We are caretakers, and that's important. Hey there. If you're wondering how to get the most out of this time you have stuck

• 2:37Ryan Holiday?

  at home, maybe you're working only part-time, or you're working from home, you've got a childcare situation. None of this is what we would choose, but the Stoics say we don't choose what happens, we choose how we respond. And so that's why we've been scrambling here at Daily Stoic to put together what we're calling the Daily Stoic Alive Time Challenge. It's 14 days of inspired Stoic wisdom that will help you get the most out of this moment, that will help you seize this moment, rise to the occasion. We're going to challenge you. It's not going to be easy, but I think you will emerge from it better, and that will be some small good that's come out of this experience. So you can check that out right now at dailystoic.com/alive time.