This Is How To Go Out

Epicurus’s final letter begins with a rather remarkable sentence: “On this happy day, which is the last day of my life, I write the following words to you.” While the letter briefly touches on the painful symptoms of the disease that would soon kill him, Epicurus doesn’t dwell on that. Instead, he speaks of the joy in his heart—not caused by his impending death, obviously, but by the memories he has accumulated of the friend he is writing to. Then, before concluding the letter and his life, Epicurus gives final instructions on how to care for one of his young pupils that has shown promise. What a way to go out! What strength, courage, and poise emanating from a man whose life was supposedly all about pleasure! Remember, the point of philosophy is to prepare us for exactly this moment (To philosophize is to learn how to die). That’s why we do this reading, that’s why we carry these memento mori medallions, that’s why we think about this scary subject in advance. So that when it happens—today or in a hundred years—we are able to capture just a fraction of the dignity and selflessness that Epicurus was able to marshall, even as his body quit on him. So that we can live with joy in our hearts to their final beats and call our last day a happy one, and mean it. So that we can continue to take care of the people we’ve found ourselves responsible for, even in death. That’s what it means to be a philosopher. Now go live it, all the way to the end. 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. This is how to go out. Epicurus's final letter begins with a rather remarkable sentence: "On this happy day, which is the last day of my life, I write the following words to you." And while the letter briefly touches on the painful symptoms of the disease that

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  would soon kill him, Epicurus doesn't dwell on that. Instead, he speaks of the joy in his heart, not caused by his impending death, obviously, but by the memories he has accumulated of the friend he is writing to. Then, before concluding the letter and his life, Epicurus gives final instructions on how to care for one of his young pupils that has shown great promise. What a way to go out! What strength, courage, and poise emanating from a man whose life was supposedly all about pleasure. Remember, the point of philosophy is to prepare us for exactly this moment. As Cicero said, "To philosophize is to learn

• 1:30Ryan Holiday?

  how to die." That's why we do this reading. That's why we carry these memento mori medallions. That's why we think about this scary subject in advance, so that when it happens today or in 100 years, we are able to capture just a fraction of the dignity and selflessness that Epicurus was able to marshal, even as his body quit on him, so that we can live with joy in our hearts to their final beats, and call our last day a happy one, and mean it, so that we can continue to take care of the people we found ourselves responsible for, even in death. That is what it means to be a philosopher. Now go and live it, all

• 2:15Ryan Holiday?

  the way to the end. If you want to wear this idea of memento mori around you on your neck, you can check out the memento mori necklace that we have. We also have a coin. It's a coin I carry with me everywhere that I go. It says memento mori, and on the back it has this beautiful quote from Marcus Aurelius. You can check both those out at dailystoic.com/store.