What Do You Gain By Worrying?

When did Jesus deliver his famous Sermon on the Mount? We don’t know. But we know that Seneca and Jesus were born at roughly the same time and were part of the same massive empire. As far distant as the Mount of Beatitudes was from Rome, the men were thinking and speaking about very similar things. Certainly Seneca, who wrote so much about the futility of anxiety and fear and the inevitability of death, would have agreed with that famous line from the sermon:“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? So if you cannot do such a small thing, why do you worry about the rest?”Jesus believed that what happened to human beings was more or less up to God. Seneca that it was more or less up to fate. Both agreed—and even used the same word—the logos. The Way. To worry, to think that biting your nails accomplished anything? This was to doubt the logos. This was to break faith, and to abandon the considerable power that God (or the Gods) had already given us: to focus on what was in our control, to take advantage of the free will and the life we do have in this very moment. This is a two-thousand-year-old, cross-cultural, philosophical, and religious insight. And yet what are most of us wasting our time with today? With worry! 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.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  What do you gain by worrying? When did Jesus deliver his famous Sermon on the Mount? We don't know, but we know that Seneca and Jesus were born at roughly the same time and were part of the same massive empire. As far distant as the Mount of beatitudes was from Rome, the men were thinking and speaking about very similar things. Certainly, Seneca, who wrote so much about the futility of anxiety and fear and the inevitability of death, would have agreed with that famous line from Jesus's sermon: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? So if you cannot do such a small thing, why do you worry about the rest?"

• 1:12Ryan Holiday?

  Jesus believed that what happened to human beings was more or less up to God; Seneca, that it was more or less up to fate. Both agreed and even used the same word: the logos, the way. To worry, to think that biting your nails accomplished anything, that was to doubt the logos. This was to break faith and to abandon the considerable power that God, or the Gods, had already given us, to focus on what was in our control, to take advantage of the free will and the life we do have in this very moment. This is a 2,000-year-old, cross-cultural, philosophical, and religious insight. And yet, what are most of us going to waste time with today? It's worry.

• 1:57Ryan Holiday?

  Just a heads up, there's now "An Obstacle is the Way" pendant in the Daily Stoic store. It's awesome. We have it made here in the US. We designed it ourselves. It's got Marcus Aurelius's enduring words on it. "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." If you want something you can carry with you always, you can wear around your neck that reminds you that you can treat every obstacle as fuel, you can be better for everything that happens, that the way around is the way through, that the way through is the way. I suggest you check it out. I think you'll like it. Just go to dailystoic.com/store.