What The Simple Life Is

Seneca wasn’t fond of philosophers you could recognize. Not by their fame, but by their uniform. In his time, just as it is in ours, there was a type of person who, in reading about the Diogenes types or the tough Stoic types, thought that philosophy required that they give up their worldly possessions or start dressing like a bum. Today, these types try to signal their virtue by driving a beat up old car or by showing you how little they own. See, they say, I am practicing detachment. See, I don’t want like you want. But these appearances can be deceiving. As Seneca reminds us, “We should not believe the lack of silver and gold to be proof of the simple life.” The simple life is not a matter of externals, it’s about what’s going on inside. Someone can be a billionaire, flying on a private jet, totally at peace, and indifferent to money, just as someone else, much less well-off, might be grinding their teeth in envy and resentment. You can swear off materialism, but if you trade it for public recognition of your superiority and purity, is that really an improvement? Or if you live frugally but obsess over every dollar, miserly extracting as much savings from every situation and interaction, what kind of peace is that? The simple life is defined by its simplicity. By its gratitude. By the ability to enjoy whatever is front of you, whether that’s millions of dollars or a nice chicken sandwich. It’s not a lack of money that we should we be pursuing, but a lack of angst, a lack of need, a lack of resentment, and a lack of insecurity. That’s the simple truth of what wealth is. 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. What the simple life is. Seneca wasn't fond of philosophers you could recognize, not by their fame or by their uniform. In his time, just as it is in ours, there was a type of person who, in reading about the Diogenes types, or the tough Stoic type, thinks that philosophy required that they give up their worldly possessions, or start dressing like a bum. These types try

• 0:51Ryan Holiday?

  to signal their virtue by driving a beat-up old car, or showing you how little they own. "See, they say, I am practicing detachment. See, I don't want life you want." But, these appearances can be deceiving. As Seneca reminds us, we should not believe the lack of silver and gold to be proof of the simple life. The simple life is not a matter of externals, it's about what's going on inside. Someone can be a billionaire, flying on a private jet, totally at peace and indifferent to money, just as someone else, much less well-off, might be grinding their teeth in envy and resentment. You can swear off materialism, but if you trade it for demanding to be recognized for your superiority and purity, is that

• 1:35Ryan Holiday?

  really an improvement? Or if you live frugally but obsess over every dollar, miserly extracting as much savings from every situation and interaction, what kind of peace is that? The simple life is defined by its simplicity, by its gratitude, by the ability to enjoy whatever is in front of you, whether that's millions of dollars, or a nice chicken sandwich. It's not the lack of money that we should be pursuing, but a lack of angst, a lack of resentment, a lack of insecurity. That's what wealth is.

• 2:09Ryan Holiday?

  In exciting news, we now have an obstacle is the way pendant. If you want to carry this idea with you everywhere you go, it's a necklace you can wear, says the obstacle is the way in the front. It has a mountain, a path carved through the steep mountain up to the top. And on the back, it has that quote from Marcus Aurelius, "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." You can check it out at dailystoic.com/store.