To Find Pleasure, Look for Purpose

It might seem like the Stoics didn’t have fun, didn’t experience pleasure. They did write, after all, quite a bit about the emptiness of chasing sex or money or fine wines. But just because they scorned excess luxury and comfort doesn’t mean their lives were empty and joyless. Quite the contrary. In his book The Expanding Circle, the philosopher Peter Singer (who was on a great episode of the Daily Stoic podcast recently if you haven’t listened) explains that what they were actually doing was trying to avoid the paradox of hedonism.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee 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.

• 0:03Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday 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, dailystoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  To find pleasure, look for purpose. It might seem like the Stoics didn't have any fun. They didn't experience pleasure. They did write, after all, quite a bit about the emptiness of chasing sex, or money, or fine wines. But just because they scorned luxury and comfort doesn't mean their lives were empty and joyless. Quite the contrary. In his book, The Expanding Circle, the philosopher Peter Singer, who was a great recent guest on the Daily Stoic Podcast, if you haven't listened, he explained that what they were actually trying to do was avoid the paradox of hedonism. "It's interesting," he writes, "that those who seek their own pleasure do not find it, and those who do not seek it find it anyway. The pleasures of a self-centered life eventually pale, and the drive for still higher levels

• 1:14Ryan Holiday?

  of luxury and delight brings not-lasting satisfaction. Real fulfillment is more likely to be found in working for some other end. Hence, these philosophers claim," he writes, "if we want to lead a happy life, we should not seek happiness directly, but should find a larger purpose in life outside of ourselves." It's perfectly said. It's not that the Stoics didn't experience pleasure, it's that they found pleasure by seeking purpose. Most of the Stoics had huge fortunes or came from powerful political dynasties. They could have coasted, soaked up, all that was given to them. But instead of being lazy or entitled playboys, they were of service to others. They worked on their art. They made scientific breakthroughs. They dedicated themselves to their children. They did their duty.

• 1:59Ryan Holiday?

  And from all this hard work came pleasure and pride and satisfaction. Was it the same pleasure that would have come from some famous Roman party? No, it was better because they earned it, because it was sustainable, because it wasn't something that slipped from their grasp or disappeared every time they got close to it. Because they weren't pursuing the pleasure they were pleasantly surprised when it ensued. As we've talked about recently, the best things in life are byproducts of doing the right things. And so it goes for pleasure and happiness and joy. You don't get them by seeking things for yourself, but by the very opposite, by searching for purpose outside yourself.