Transcript
A (0:00)
So this is like the best time of year in Texas. You know, the weather's getting good, you want to spend time outside. Our patio furniture is just like falling apart. So we are going to upgrade our little patio outside the house. Our back deck at the ranch and the first place we went to find some new chairs, a new rug, we're going to get a porch swing. Was Wayfair. It's been wonderful. Get out there, enjoy the spring before it gets too hot. Too crazy. Delivery was super easy. Wayfair also has installation and assembly stuff so I could spend my time writing instead of getting angry at some frustrating instructions. Ordering online is easy. It's all delivered right to your door. Wayfair products have over 20 million verified five star reviews to help you make the right call. And I recommend shopping with Wayfair Verified. Your shortcut to the good stuff. Their team of product specialists vet everything by hand using a 10 point quality inspection. So you know you're getting a great piece no matter your budget. Get prepped for patio season for way less. Head over to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com Wayfair Every style. Every home. Wayfair Every Style. Every home. Welcome to the daily Stoic podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice and wisdom, into the real world.
B (1:26)
Stoic Stoicism, I think, like Marcus Aurelius Meditations is so informative on so many levels. I mean, here you have somebody who was literally an emperor and he's writing this journal in a tent, in a battlefield. So his perspective is amazing. And he once wrote that the soul becomes dyed the color of its thoughts. And I think about that all the time. The cost to me of living in a way that's inconsistent and not aligned with what feels right, what models the right thing for my children, what feels inherently true to me. It's too expensive.
A (2:01)
I mean, look, here's the thing. She's totally right. That's exactly what Marcus Reelius said. That's exactly what stoicism is about. She's just not living or acting in accordance with it in any way. If you did, you'd have an intervention with your dad, whose life would be dyed with his horrible, negative, mean, bullying thoughts all the time.
C (2:21)
Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for cnn. Don't talk to me that way. You're just a. You're just a lightweight. Gavin Newscom has admitted that he has learning disabilities. Ilan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. So he's totally incoherent and he goes, thank you, thank you.
A (2:46)
I'll give you another great Marx Aelius quote. Ivanka, he says, waste no more time talking about what a good person is. Like, just fucking be one. Look, this, this is just obviously incredibly cringe. The sort of performative philosophy, the popularity of stoicism with people who have no idea that this is a philosophy built around an ethical core, which justice is the true north of the philosophy. I'll tell you what stoicism is not. Stoicism is not a way for you not to have to care about the consequences of the things that are happening around you. It's not a way to turn inward and turn away from other people, from what's happening in the world, from not having to care. It's not, oh, I'm just going to think nice thoughts so I can have a nice life. I'm not going to let critics or criticism penetrate because then I'd have to, you know, actually make some changes or take some accountability or, or stare in the face the reality of what I have been complicit in, what I am responsible for. Ivanka Trump quoting Marcus Aurelius. I mean, that's as eye rolly as you can get. The only similarity you have with the, the Aurelius family is that you're a Commodus and so are your shitty brothers. Look, nobody loves seeing people talk about Marx, Aurelius and stoicism more than me. This is what gets me out of bed in the morning. My life's work is getting people to pick up meditation. So that's awes. I love to see it. Also, this is as cringe as it possibly gets because it's not real and it's totally missing the point. You know, Marcus Aurelius wasn't just saying these things for his health. He wasn't just quoting random bits of Stoic wisdom. He was trying to live it, right? Trying to live it, trying to put it into practice. That's the whole point of Meditations. As I said, he's fighting to be the person that philosophy tried to make him. Not performatively, but in his private journal. These were reminders of to himself to do better. And yes, sometimes they're about, you know, directing your thoughts properly. But most of the reminders in meditations are ethical reminders, reminders to be a better person, to follow the Stoic principles, to put them into practice, to be a better person than his job and his wealth would let him get away with being. You know, Marcus Rus is the most powerful person in the world. You and he wrote obsessively about what that responsibility meant, about justice, about not letting power corrupt. You know, stoicism is not a brand, it's a practice. And it demands honesty, it demands self awareness, it demands accountability, it demands doing the right thing even when it costs you something, even when it's painful, even when it would mean, I don't know, confronting your horrible family members. So no, quoting Marx, Aurelius, doesn't make you a stoic. Doesn't make you wise. You have to live in and act with integrity. You have to be involved in public life in a way that is beyond reproach, in a way that contributes rather than extracts value from the government.
