You've Chosen Your Own Hell

In Marcus Aurelius’s time, Roman religion was a hodgepodge of different rituals and ideas, which were evident in Marcus’s own behavior. For instance, he deified his wife and his stepfather Antoninius, but at the same time spoke repeatedly about how this life we are living is all there is. It goes without saying that he also rejected the teachings of the Christians, who he thought of—as a product of his time—as threats to the authority of the empire, but it also turns out that the Stoics and the Christians held beliefs that were much closer than Marcus understood. Particularly as it related to hell. As far as we know, the Stoics didn’t believe in hell. Their writings make only a few vague allusions to the idea of an afterlife. Similarly, the idea of “hell” is not as clear in Christianity as conventional wisdom might dictate. Nowhere in the Bible is there anything close to the hell that believers talk about today—a place where bad people and nonbelievers go after they die to be tortured and punished for their sins for all eternity. Even the word “hell,” which varies from translation to translation, appears only a few times, with different contextual meanings in each case. One of the most frequent occurrences is as the word “Gehenna,” which was an actual, literal place—though admittedly not a good one (there is some thought that it was Jerusalem’s trash dump). What might Jesus and the Christians have been speaking of when they spoke of hell? Perhaps it was the same thing the Stoics spoke of—not a place that we go after we die, but a place far too many people are in right now, based on how they’ve chosen to live. Marcus Aurelius didn’t warn against indulging and cheating and lying and stealing because he thought you’d be punished for it later. He knew these “pleasures” would produce tortures in the here and now. As Rob Bell, the pastor and author, writes in his beautiful book Love Wins:“People choose to live in their own hells all the time. We do it every time we isolate ourselves, give the cold shoulder to someone who has slighted us, every time we hide knives in our words, every time we harden our hearts in defiance of what we know to be the loving, good, and right thing to do.” Whatever you believe—whether you’re closer to Marcus Aurelius or a follower of Jesus—there is something to learn from where these two schools converge. It’s a matter of faith whether hell exists after death. It is a fact that it exists here on earth—in Gehenna and in our souls. If there is hell in the after life, whether or not you go there will be God’s decision. The hell that exists for certain right here and now, you can choose to take up residence in or move as far away from as you possibly can. So what’s it going to be? 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  You've chosen your own hell. In Marcus Aurelius's time, Roman religion was a hodgepodge of different rituals and ideas, which were evident in Marcus's own behavior. For instance, he deified his wife and his stepfather Antoninus, but at the same time, he spoke repeatedly about how this life we are living is all there is. It goes without saying that he also rejected the teachings of the Christians, who he thought of as a product of his time, as threats to the authority of the empire. But it also turns out that the Stoics and the Christians held beliefs that were much closer than Marcus understood, particularly as it related to hell. As far as we know, the Stoics didn't believe in hell. Their writings

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  make only a few vague allusions to the idea of an afterlife, but similarly, the idea of hell is not as clear in Christianity as conventional wisdom might dictate either. Nowhere in the Bible is there anything close to the hell that believers talk about today, a place where bad people and nonbelievers go after they die to be tortured and punished for their sins for all of eternity. Even the word "hell," which varies from translation to translation, appears only a few times, with different contextual meanings in each case. One of the most frequent occurrences is the word "ghenna," which was an actual literal place, though admittedly, not a good one, though there is some thought that it was Jerusalem's trash dump. What might Jesus and the Christians have been speaking about

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  when they spoke about hell then? Perhaps it was the same thing that the Stoics spoke of: not a place we go after we die, but a place far too many people are in right now, based on how they've chosen to live. Marcus Aurelius didn't warn against indulging in cheating and lying and stealing because he thought you'd be punished for it later. He knew these pleasures would produce tortures in the here and now. As Rob Bell, the pastor and author, writes in his beautiful book, Love Wins, "People choose to live in their own hells all the time. We do it every time we isolate ourselves, give the cold shoulder to someone who has slighted us, every time we hide knives in our words, every time we harden our hearts in defiance of what we know to be the good, loving, and right thing to do."

• 2:39Ryan Holiday?

  Whatever you believe, whether you're closer to Marcus Aurelius or a follower of Jesus, there is something to learn from where these two schools converge. It's a matter of faith whether hell exists after death. It is a fact that it exists here on earth, in our souls. If there is hell in the afterlife, whether or not you go there will be God's decision. The hell that exists for certain right here and now, well, you can choose to take up residence in it, or you can move as far away from it as you possibly can. So, what is it going to be? 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.