You Are Here On The Mountaintop

The point of memento mori is not to make you sad. It’s not to make you anxious about how few days you may have left. On the contrary, it’s supposed to free you. It’s supposed to inspire you. It’s supposed to give you that empowered, grateful, selfless, bonus-round attitude best captured by Martin Luther King Jr., who said these words on April 3rd, 1968, just hours before he would suddenly and fatally meet an assassin's bullet in Memphis outside his room at the Lorraine Motel:“Well, I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land.”Obviously a strong faith in a higher power was part of what allowed King to feel so secure in his purpose and confident about an afterlife. But that’s not the only way to get there. A person who is simply grateful for every day they have experienced, who is measured and disciplined in their actions—never cutting corners or wasting time—and who has done their best with what they’ve been given, has been to their own kind of mountaintop. Dr. King’s selfless, tireless servant leadership was also what allowed him to be confident and content, deservedly so, even if there was no reward in heaven for it. “When a man has said, ‘I have lived!’,” Seneca wrote, then “every morning he arises is a bonus.” The same goes for the one who has striven to make the world a better place, who has worked to win the Civil War raging within themselves (the war, as Dr. King said, between good and evil), and the person who has helped their fellow human beings. It is an unmistakable tragedy that Martin Luther King was taken from us early (he’d be 90 years old this year, as would Anne Frank coincidentally). But it would have been even more of tragedy had he not lived every minute of the four decades he was given. Just as it would be a tragedy if you were to waste any more of your years. Get working. Make your way to the mountaintop while you still have the time and the energy. 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. You are here on the mountaintop. The point of memento mori is not to make you sad. It's not to make you anxious about how few days you have left. On the contrary, it's supposed to free you. It's supposed to inspire you. It's supposed to give you that empowered, grateful, selfless, bonus-round attitude, best captured by Martin Luther King Jr.,

• 0:51Ryan Holiday?

  who said these words on April 3, 1968, just hours before he would suddenly and fatally meet an assassin's bullet in Memphis, outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. He said, "Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop, and I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will, and He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over and I've seen the promised land." Obviously, a strong faith in a higher power was part of what allowed King to feel so

• 1:35Ryan Holiday?

  secure in his purpose, confident about an afterlife. But that's not the only way to get there. A person who is simply grateful for every day they have experienced, and who is measured and disciplined in their actions, never cutting corners or wasting time, and who has done their best with what they've been given, has been to their own kind of mountaintop. Dr. King's selfless, tireless servant leadership was also what allowed him to be confident and content, deservedly so, even if there was no reward in heaven for it. "When a man has said, 'I have lived,'" Seneca wrote, "then every morning he arises is a bonus." The same goes for the man who has striven to make the world a better place,

• 2:18Ryan Holiday?

  who has worked to win the civil war raging within themselves, the war, as Dr. King said, between good and evil, and the person who has helped their fellow human beings. It is an unmistakable tragedy that Martin Luther King was taken from us early. He'd be 90 years old this year, as would Anne Frank, coincidentally. But it would have been even more of a tragedy had he not lived every minute of the four decades he was given, just as it would be a tragedy if you were to waste any more of your years. Get working. Make your way to the mountaintop while you still have the time and the energy. If you like the podcast that we do here, and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com/email.