This is Your Chief Task

The act of casting a ballot is in your control. You control whether or not you engage in the democratic process. And the Stoics are explicit on this point: the philosopher, they say, is obligated to contribute to the polis, and to participate in politics. 🎟️https://www.dailystoiclive.com/DAILY STOIC LIVE https://www.dailystoiclive.com/| Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you https://www.dailystoiclive.com/! Grab tickets here https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0100648FA1C21706 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daily-stoic-live-onstage-with-ryan-holiday-tickets-1991992836196?aff=oddtdtcreator Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daily-stoic-live-onstage-with-ryan-holiday-tickets-1987339339462?aff=oddtdtcreator Washington D. C. - December 9 https://www.unionstagepresents.com/shows/daily-stoic-live-09-dec 🎙️AD-FREE https://dailystoic.supercast.com/| Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing toThe Daily Stoic Premium https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content:https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ ✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email athttps://dailystoic.com/dailyemail Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:15Speaker 00

  The single most important practice in Stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we have control over and what we don't. Epictetus said, "The chief task in life is simply this, to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own." Well, today, we are calling on you to perform your chief task in life. You don't control the dark money that has flooded politics. You don't control the mediocre or awful candidates out there. You don't control that more than 50% of the population doesn't bother voting. You don't control the gerrymandering and the voter suppression.

• 2:00Speaker 00

  You don't control who ultimately gets elected. But the act of casting a ballot is in your control. You control whether you engage in the democratic process. And the Stoics are explicit on this point. The philosopher, they say, is obligated to contribute to the polis, to participate in politics. And this is actually the essential difference between the Epicureans and the Stoics. Seneca says that epicurus would say that "a wise man will not engage in public affairs except in an emergency," whereas Zeno says he will engage in public affairs unless something prevents him. While it's hard to argue with the statistics that any individual's vote makes a difference, think about how dangerous it would be when that logic is extrapolated out.

• 2:44Speaker 00

  Almost no difference is made by the individual who decides to do the right thing, to do an act of kindness, to insist on the truth, when a falsehood is easier to be a good parent, to care about the quality of their work. Is that a reason to be a liar, a cheat, an asshole, a bad parent, or a poor craftsman? Of course not. And imagine what the world would look like if everyone insisted it was. "A better world is built action by action," Marcus really has said, "vote by vote." We vote, we do good things, not because it has a noticeable or significant impact on the world, but because it is our duty. We make our tiny contribution to the common good today, in the next election, in every election. We perform our chief task in life today, tomorrow, and every day.

• 3:42Speaker 01

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• 3:55Speaker 02

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• 3:57Speaker 01

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