The Most Important Thing: Realizing That We Are All One

Let’s take a second to meditate on this observation from John Cage, the experimental musician and student of Zen philosophy:“That one sees that the human race is one person (all of its members parts of the same body, brothers—not in competition any more than hand is in competition with eye) enables him to see that originality is necessary, for there is no need for eye to do what hand so well does.”It is a particularly beautiful and necessary insight for two reasons. The first half reminds us of something the Stoics believed very deeply as well—that we were made for our fellow humans and are part of the same collective being. “What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee,” Marcus wrote to himself. He wrote like this constantly. “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.” “All things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other.” “Revere the gods and look after each other.” In fact, we made our Sympatheia medallion precisely because this theme was so important to Marcus. We wanted our own physical reminder of it. But it’s the latter part of Cage’s observation that is so timely, as it disputes and refutes a lot of present day’s knee jerk resistance to community and altruism. No, caring about other people doesn’t hold you back. No, the warm fuzzy feeling is not the only benefit. See, when you start to respect your fellow humans and see that each one has intrinsic value and purpose on this planet, it helps you understand those very things about yourself. When you encourage someone else to be their best self—to be hand or eye or arm or strong legs—you are encouraging yourself to be your own best self (and to understand your own unique role). We are all one...and yet we are each also singular and special. These concepts are not at all in tension with each other, in fact, they only make sense together. A body is made up of many parts, and each part makes a contribution that matters (some parts more than others, at different times than others). We need to remember today to take care of our other members, in addition to taking care of ourselves. The body can never reach its full potential if we don’t. P. S. We think that every leader and citizen should think deeply about this idea of sympatheia. We were made for each other and to serve a common good, as Marcus put it. That’s why we made our Sympatheia challenge coin, which can serve as a practical, tangible reminder of the causes and the larger whole we are all members of. You can check it out in the Daily Stoic store. 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. The most important thing, realizing that we are all one. Let us take a second to meditate on this observation from John Cage, the experimental musician and student of Zen philosophy. "That one sees the human race as one person, all of its members part of

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  the same body, brothers, not in competition, any more than hand is in competition with I," enables him to see that originality is necessary, "for there is no need for I to do what hand does so well." It is a particularly beautiful and necessary insight for two reasons. The first half reminds us of something the Stoics believed very deeply as well, that we were made for our fellow humans and are part of the same collective being. "What's bad for the hive is bad for the bee," Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself. He wrote like this constantly. "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. All things

• 1:31Ryan Holiday?

  are mutually woven together," he said, "and therefore have an affinity for each other. Revere the gods and look after each other." In fact, we made our sympathy a medallion, a coin you can carry everywhere you go, because this theme was so important to Marcus, and we wanted our own physical reminder of it. But it's the latter part of Cage's observation that is so timely, as it disputes and refutes a lot of the present day's knee-jerk resistance to community and altruism. No, caring about other people doesn't hold you back. No, the warm, fuzzy feeling is not the only benefit.

• 2:10Ryan Holiday?

  When you start to respect your fellow humans and see that each one has intrinsic value and purpose on this planet, it helps you understand those very things about yourself. When you encourage someone else to be their best self, to be hand, or eye, or arm, or strong legs, you are encouraging yourself to be your own best self and to understand your own unique role. We are all one, and yet, we are also each singular and special. These concepts are not at all in tension with each other. In fact, they only make sense together. A body is made up of many parts, and each part makes a contribution that matters, some parts more than others, at different times than others.

• 2:51Ryan Holiday?

  We need to remember today to take care of our other members, in addition to taking care of ourselves. The body can never reach its full potential if we don't. And I hope you'll check out our Sympathia medallion. You can get it at dailystoic.com/store. It's made of brass, it's printed at Wendell's, which is actually the place that invented the AA chips. Ours is modeled after that. It's got a picture of the Earth from space, it says Sympathia on the front. In the back, it has a quote from Marcus Aurelius that says that we must be good to each other and take care of each other, and that that's why we were put on this planet. It's a coin I now carry with me everywhere I go. It's been wonderful to hear from all the people that have bought it and have loved

• 3:36Ryan Holiday?

  it. You can get that at dailystoic.com/store.