Everything Is Breaking Down

Nearly two thousand years before Rudolph Clausius and Lord Kelvin first expressed the second law of thermodynamics (although there is debate on whether or not the French physicist Sadi Carnot discovered it earlier), Marcus Aurelius was musing on it. “Bear in mind,” he wrote, “that everything that exists is already fraying at the edges and in transition, subject to fragmentation and to rot. Or that everything was born to die.”That is to say: We are all subject to entropy. Science has since confirmed it into immutable law. We cannot eliminate disorder from the system, no matter how much we try. Everything we build, including ourselves, is constantly breaking down. What does this mean for us? First, it should bake in humility. We are building sand castles. Even our real castles eventually fall into the sea or crumble into dust. Second, it demands presence. This moment is all we have. So enjoy it. Drink it in. Appreciate it. But also be prepared to let it all go. Because it’s going, whether we like it or not. That’s the law. 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. Everything is breaking down. Nearly 2,000 years before Rudolph Clausius and Lord Kelvin first expressed the second law of thermodynamics, although there is some debate about whether a French physicist discovered it earlier, Marcus Aurelius was musing on the same idea. "Bear in mind," he wrote, "that everything that exists is already fraying at the edges

• 0:50Ryan Holiday?

  and in transition, subject to fragmentation and to rot, or that everything was born to die." That is to say, we are all subject to entropy. Science has since confirmed it to immutable law. We cannot eliminate disorder from the system, no matter how much we try. Everything we build, including ourselves, is constantly breaking down. What does this mean for us? First, it should bake in humility. We are building sandcastles. Even our real castles eventually fall into the sea or crumble into dust. Second, it demands presence. This

• 1:30Ryan Holiday?

  moment is all we have, so enjoy it, drink it in, appreciate it, but also be prepared to let it all go, because it's going, whether we like it or not. That's the law. Epictetus's line was, "How much longer are you going to wait until you demand the best for yourself?" I think he was really saying, "How long are you going to wait until you demand the best of yourself?" And for that reason, we've created this new 14-day Stoic Challenge, which is going to kick off on January 1st. I hope you'll check it out. It's 14 days of awesome Stoic-based challenges that'll make you a better person, a better learner, a better thinker, whatever. It is. I think you'll like it. I'm going to be doing it. It's an awesome

• 2:13Ryan Holiday?

  community that goes along with it. If you want to check it out, you can go to dailystoic.com/challenge. But remember, this closes on at 11:59 PM on December 31. If you want to kick the year off right, I hope you join us. dailystoic.com/challenge.