You Don’t Get To Not Care

There are a lot of tensions in Stoicism, as we have talked about before. How do you balance acquiescing to fate and embracing your own agency? How do you balance being aware of the dangers of the future without worrying about or fearing it? How do you think regularly of your own death without losing your taste for life? But perhaps the most relevant tension today is the one about balancing a philosophical detachment from external events and our obligations to contribute to society and democracy. As the statesman Pericles said, “One person’s disengagement is untenable unless bolstered by someone else’s commitment.” If you decide not to vote because voting seems so statistically insignificant, or you ignore the injustice happening in the world because it doesn’t affect you, it make might your life a little more peaceful, but the result is an incremental increase in the suffering of others—whether that is the additional burden placed on others to carry your part of the load or an elongation of the injustice they are trying to ameliorate. Every famine, every plague, every genocide, every repressive regime that has terrorized a part of the globe since the end of World War II and the reorganization of the world order, one could argue owes the length of its reign to just the kind of disengagement Pericles was talking about. Five years, ten years, thirty years—those numbers could have been halved, if they weren’t happening so far away that it didn’t affect us. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. Clearly, the Stoics believed that turning off noise and chatter was not in conflict with actively participating in civic life. How could Marcus have been emperor or Cato and Seneca senators if it were otherwise? In fact, what they would argue is that by choosing to ignore the trivial we free up energy to engage with and care about the essential. Yes, there is a lot going on in the world. Yes, a lot of it is outside of our control—or in the big scheme of things is very inconsequential. But this is not an excuse for apathy or for retreating exclusively into your private affairs. We are all in this thing together. We are obligated to contribute to the common good. Because if we don’t...the whole thing falls apart. Not caring is privilege. Complete detachment is criminal self-indulgence. It is a rejection of our duty and our potential. Speaking of which, there is a profound humanitarian crisis happening in the United States that,. no matter your views on immigration reform, we can all agree needs to be addressed—innocent children do not deserve to suffer. Currently, we have thousands of children being housed on American soil in abhorrent conditions — they have little access to adequate food, hygienic products, medical care, and safe places to sleep. Children are sick, traumatized, even dying. Click here to donate to any one of a number of charities and organizations that are doing work on the border to help those in need. It’s our duty to help. 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 don't get not to care. There are a lot of tensions in Stoicism, as we have talked about before. How do you balance acquiescing to fate and embracing your own agency? How do you balance being aware of the dangers of the future without worrying about or fearing it? How do you think regularly of your own death without losing your taste for life?

• 0:51Ryan Holiday?

  But perhaps the most relevant and difficult tension today is the one about balancing a philosophical detachment from external events and our obligations to contribute to society and democracy. As the statesman Pericles said, "One person's disengagement is untenable unless bolstered by someone else's commitment." If you decide not to vote because voting seems statistically insignificant, or you ignore the injustice happening in the world because it doesn't affect you, this might make your own life a little more peaceful. But the result is that other people are suffering, or someone else has to carry your load. Clearly, the Stoics believed that turning off noise and chatter was not in conflict

• 1:34Ryan Holiday?

  with actively participating in civic life. How could Marcus have been emperor, and Cato and Seneca senators if it were otherwise? In fact, what they would argue is that by choosing to ignore the trivial, we free up energy to engage with and care about what is essential. Yes, there is a lot going on in the world, too much for any one person to care about at all. Yes, a lot of it is outside of our control, or in the big scheme of things, is very inconsequential. But that is not an excuse for apathy or for retreating exclusively into your private affairs. We are in this together. We are obligated to contribute to the public good, because if we don't, the whole thing falls apart. Not

• 2:17Ryan Holiday?

  caring is privilege. Complete detachment is criminal self-indulgence. It is a rejection of our duty and our potential. And look, speaking of this, there is a profound humanitarian crisis happening in the United States that no matter your views on immigration reform, I think we can all agree that innocent children do not deserve to suffer. And there are thousands of children being housed on American soil in abhorrent conditions with very little access to adequate food, hygienic products, medical care, or even safe places to sleep. People are traumatized, even dying. And so there are a number of organizations you can contribute to. You can take action. You can take time to actually inform yourself about the issue.

• 3:01Ryan Holiday?

  You can consider trying to help. Let's go out there and do something.