This Is Universal

Traveling—that itch to get away, to hit the road, to see the world—feels like a distinctly modern craze. Yet it was common in Ancient Rome for people to escape the heat and the frenzy of the bustling city to get away for some time in the countryside. It is likely that those excursions influenced Marcus Aurelius’s belief in sympatheia—the belief in mutual interdependence among everything in the universe, that we are all one. Marcus Aurelius liked to say that he wasn’t a citizen of Rome, but of the world. Matt Kepnes, or better known as “Nomadic Matt,” quite literally is a citizen of the world. Matt spent a decade living out of a backpack, traveling the world. He captures the journey and everything it taught him in Ten Years A Nomad, which released this week. In our interview with Matt for DailyStoic.com, we were curious to find out if—given all the different cultures he’s lived in and the people he’s met—it’s been his experience that we really aren’t all that different from each other. Matt said:People really are the same everywhere. Interacting with people, watching them commute, pick up laundry, go grocery shopping, and do all the other everyday things you did back home—you really internalize the idea that, fundamentally, we all just want the same things: to be happy, to be safe and secure, to have friends and family who love us. The how of what we do is different but the why of what we do is universal. This is true not only right now, but it’s true for the past and the future. Humans are humans are humans—for good and for bad. How much better a place would the world be if we could all remember this? If the Stoic concept of sympatheia was never far from our minds (it’s why we created a reminder of it to carry in your pocket)? Certainly we'd get along better, collaborate better, and be more understanding of each other. If you’ve done any bit of traveling, Matt’s answer likely reminds you of your own experiences of being far from home but finding comfort in realizing that the people are just like you. Doing their best. Just wanting to feel happy, safe and secure, loved—and around the people who put them there the most. That is universal. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  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. This is universal. Traveling, that itch to get away, to hit the road, to see the world, it feels like a distinctly modern craze. Yet, it was common in ancient Rome for people to escape the heat and the frenzy of the bustling city, to get away for some time in the countryside. And in fact, it's likely that those excursions influenced Marcus

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  Aurelius's belief in Sympathia, the belief in mutual interdependence among everything in the universe, that we are all one. Marcus Aurelius used to say that he wasn't a citizen of Rome, but of the world. And Matt Kepnes, better known as Nomadic Matt, quite literally is a citizen of the world. He spent the last decade living out of a backpack, traveling the world. He captures the journey and everything it taught him in 10 Years a Nomad, a new book, which is just out this week. And in our interview with Matt for Daily Stoic, we were curious to find out if, given all the different cultures he's lived in and the people he's met, whether it's been his experience too, that we aren't really all that different

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  from each other. What Matt said was, people really are the same everywhere. Interacting with people, watching them commute, pick up laundry, go grocery shopping, and do all the other everyday things you did back home, you really internalize the idea that fundamentally, we all just want the same things: to be happy, to be safe and secure, to have friends and family who love us. The how of what we do is different, but the why of what we do is universal. This is true not only right now, but it's true in the past, and it will be true in the future. Humans are humans are humans, for good and for bad. How much better a place would the world be if we could all remember this, if the Stoic concept of Sympathia was not far from our minds?

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  Which is part of the reason we created that physical reminder of it. Certainly, we'd all get along better, collaborate better, and be more understanding of each other. If you've done any bit of traveling, Matt's answer likely reminds you of your own experiences of being far from home and finding comfort in realizing that people are just like you, doing their best, just wanting to feel happy, safe, and secure, loved, and around the people who they care about most. That is universal. If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps. And tell a friend.