You Are A God

The Stoic writings alternate between reminding us of our humility and our power. For humility, we have the concept of amor fati, for example—we should learn to love our fate, “good or bad” because we’re powerless to do anything about it. And with equal sincerity, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself that if something is humanly possible, he should believe he is capable of doing it. Humility and power. Power and humility. It’s not a contradiction. It’s a balance. On some days we need a reminder of the former, and on other days, the latter. Today, let’s do the latter. How’s this: The Stoics believed each of us was a god. As Cicero writes in his dialog, Scipio’s Dream: “The true self of each person is the mind. Know therefore that you are a god. For a god is someone who moves, who feels, who remembers, who looks to the future, who rules over and guides and directs the body he is master of, just as that Supreme God directs the universe. And just as this eternal God controls the universe, which is partly mortal, so too your eternal spirit directs your fragile body.” It’s a pump-me-up that should have you ready to run through walls this morning. Sure, we are powerless over so much. We can be tossed around by the oceans, we can be struck down by disease, we’re not even as strong as a small chimpanzee. But over our own mind? There we have god-like powers. There, we are supreme masters. There we can direct and control the world like those mythical beings from Mt. Olympus. You’re a god. Know that. Now use that power wisely. Go do something that matters with it. 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.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  You are a God. The Stoic writings alternate between reminding us of our humility and our power. For humility, we have the concept of a morfati, for example. We should learn to love our fate, good or bad, because we're powerless to do anything about it. And with equal sincerity, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself that if something is humanly possible, he should believe himself capable of doing it. Humility and power, power and humility. It's not a contradiction, it's a balance. On some days, we need a reminder of the former, and on other days, the latter. Today, let's do the latter. How's this? The Stoics believed that each one of us was a God. As Cicero writes in his dialogue, CPO's Dream, "The

• 1:09Speaker 01

  true self of each person is the mind. Know, therefore, that you are a God. For a God is someone who moves, who feels, who remembers, who looks to the future, who rules over and guides and directs the body he is a master of, just as that supreme God directs the universe, and just as this eternal God controls the universe, which is partly mortal, so too, your eternal spirit directs your fragile body." It's a pump-me-up that should have you ready to run through walls this morning. Sure, we are powerless over so much. We can be tossed around by the oceans. We can be struck down by disease. We're not even as strong as a small chimpanzee. But over our own mind, there we have God-like powers. There, we are supreme masters. There, we can control and direct the world like those

• 1:53Speaker 01

  mythical beings from Mount Olympus. You are a God. Know that. Now use this power wisely. Go do something that matters with it.

• 2:04Ryan Holiday?

  Amor fati means a love of fate. It's the mindset of making the most out of everything that happens. Marcus Aurelius, he said that a blazing fire takes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. Nietzsche said that amor fati was his formula for greatness, that we not only bear what is necessary, but love it. And that was the inspiration for our amor fati challenge coin. So creation, I was lucky enough to collaborate on with my mentor, Robert Greene, and it's something I carry around with me always. This coin helps me reframe every obstacle and difficulty I face in my life, as well as all the great things that have happened in my life as well. So you can check it out. Go to dailystoic.com/AF and I promise you, you will love it.