Better To Have Than Not To Have

"It’s easy to think—given their spurning of so many of the pleasures that other people chase—that the Stoics didn’t want or like anything. When you see the lengths that Seneca and Marcus go to criticize luxury, you might assume they lived like paupers. Or when you hear about how blasé Epictetus was about his crippled leg, that maybe he had gotten so philosophical that like one of those monks, he had somehow transcended his physical form altogether. While this might all be inspiring if it were true, the reality is that the Stoics were regular people just like you. They had wants and desires, and they generally didn’t like feeling pain. So what did they mean by all that writing then?"Find out their meaning in today's Daily Stoic Podcast episode.****If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  Better to have than not to have. It's easy to think, given their spurning of so many of the pleasures that other people chased, that the Stoics didn't want or like anything. When you see the lengths that Seneca and Marcus go to criticize luxury, you might assume that they lived like paupers. Or when you hear about how blasé Epictetus was about his crippled leg, that maybe he had gotten so philosophical that, like one of those monks, he had somehow transcended his physical form altogether. While this might be inspiring, if it were true, the reality is that the Stoics were regular people just like you. They had wants and desires, and they generally didn't like feeling pain. So what did they

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  mean by all that writing, then? It's simple. The Stoics were cultivating what they called indifference, meaning they wanted to be able to live in any condition or any situation. They wanted to develop the ability to not need a big fancy mansion or a gourmet feast for dinner every night. They wanted to be strong enough to endure injury and strange looks from passersby. And that required not overvaluing how they looked or what they could do. But here's the thing about indifference. It cuts both ways. Just as you want to be able to endure what is lacking, you should also be able to accept gracefully what is abundant and what comes your way. As Seneca writes, "If a Stoic lost an eye, or a leg,

• 1:56Ryan Holiday?

  or a hand in battle, they would be satisfied and grateful for what remained." But that didn't mean they'd want to lose any of those things. It doesn't mean they'd take for granted their perfect health while they had it. In this sense, he Says, "The wise man is self-sufficient, that he can do without friends, not that he desires to do without them." We should think about this today while we have what we have and while we think about what the future might bring. The best outlook is to enjoy the present without needing it to remain the way that it is. It is better to have than not to have, but of course, as a stoic, we can be prepared to endure whatever may come.

• 2:38Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. If you're trying to stay safe, trying to continue social distancing, remember our sponsor this week is Thrive Market. They've got 6,000 home food and beauty products that you can get sent direct to consumer. The average Thrive Market member saves almost 400 bucks a year. If you want to check that out, you can go to ThriveMarket.com/stoic.