Be Good To Each Other

“Man’s inhumanity to manMakes countless thousands mourn.”It is a verse from the poet Robert Burns. It was a favorite of Ulysses S. Grant as well as Winston Churchill, two men who witnessed the absolute worst of what people can do to each other. The line itself may have been borrowed from a similar observation by a 17th century German philosopher, who remarked that “more inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other of nature’s causes.” It also echoes some of the darker observations from Marcus Aurelius, who wrote most of his Meditations while at the front with the Roman army, where he regularly saw decapitated and desiccated bodies. Our ability and tendency to forget that we are all brothers and sisters is partly what allows this inhumanity to happen. Marcus said he was a citizen of the world...yet he saw huge swaths of the population of that world as barbarians simply because they were different than him. He saw the Christians, with their very different beliefs, as something dangerous and unnatural. In a way, he forgot his own teachings, even as he was writing them down on a nightly basis as reminders and cautions to himself.“The universe made rational creatures for the sake of each other, with an eye toward mutual benefit based on true value and never for harm,” he wrote. In another spot, “Human beings have been made for the sake of one another. Teach them or endure them.”And another still, “Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe. For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other—for one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance.”The Stoic concept of sympatheia, that we are all connected and unified and made for one another, should never be far from our minds (in fact, you can carry a reminder of it in your pocket if you like). We should be humane to each other because we are all human, all part of the same larger body. We spring from the same soil and will each return to it alike one day. When we forget this, it not only hurts other people—makes countless millions mourn—but it hurts us as well. Be good to each other today! 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. Be good to each other. Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. It's a verse from the poet Robert Burns. It was a favorite of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as Winston Churchill, two men who witnessed the absolute worst of what people can do to each other. The line itself may have been borrowed from a similar observation by

• 0:50Ryan Holiday?

  a 17th-century German philosopher, who remarked that "more inhumanity has been done by man itself than any other of nature's causes." It also echoes some of the darker observations from Marcus Aurelius, who wrote most of his meditations while at the front with the Roman army, where he regularly saw decapitated and desiccated bodies. Our ability and tendency to forget that we are all brothers and sisters is partly what allows this inhumanity to happen. Marcus said he was a citizen of the world, yet he saw huge swaths of the population of that world as barbarians, simply because they were different than him. He saw the

• 1:32Ryan Holiday?

  Christians with their very different beliefs as something dangerous and unnatural. In a way, he forgot his own teachings, even as he was writing them down on a nightly basis as reminders and cautions to himself. "The universe made rational creatures for the sake of each other, with an eye toward mutual benefit based on true value, and never for harm," he wrote. In another spot, "Human beings have been made for the sake of one another, teach them or endure them." And another still, "Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe, for in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have affinity for each other. For one thing

• 2:14Ryan Holiday?

  follows after another according to their tension, movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance." The Stoic concept of simp a thea. That we are all connected and unified and made for one another should never be far from our minds. In fact, you can carry a reminder of this in your pocket. Just go to dailystoic.com/store. We should all be humane to each other because we are all human, all part of the same larger body. We spring from the same soil and will each return to it alike one day. When we forget this, it not only hurts other people, makes countless millions mourn, but it hurts us as well. So be good to each other today.

• 2:58Ryan Holiday?

  Be good to each other always. And again, if you want to check out our Sympathia Coin, you can do that. Just go to dailystoic.com/store. It's beautiful. It's got the blue marble photo of the earth from the distance of space. It's got that Stoic word on it. And then on the back, it's got a quote from Marcus Aurelius that I think best encapsulates this idea of Sympathia, that we're made for each other, that we should do works for the common good, that we should help each other, that good character is what matters in this sort of bigger picture and bigger system. I carry one with me everywhere I go. Be sure to check it out. Go to dailystoic.com/store.