The Daily Stoic

The Practicing Stoic

How to Be a Stoic

If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)

What I’m currently reading:

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius: Robertson, Donald J.: 9781250196620: Amazon.com: Books

Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.

 

Meditations was my introduction to the Stoic philosophy. According to Amazon, I bought this on January 31st 2020, so I half-assed studied it for 2 years before I actually tried to seriously incorporate it into my daily life. This book along with The Daily Stoic really helped me to control my anger and deal with outside forces more successfully.

This was not planned to be published by Marcus Aurelius, it was more of a personal guidebook. In it he talks of his struggles and has useful exercises to overcome them. He was not born to be Emperor, but he was adopted by Hadrian’s heir, Marcus’s uncle Antoninus Pius, and became co-Emperor with his adoptive brother Lucius Verus in 161.

Early in their co-reign the Parthians invaded Armenia(a Roman client state). Lucius was sent to deal with this while Marcus remained in Rome. Apparently, Lucius spent most of his time drinking and gambling and the war turned into a disaster. In 166 Rome won, mostly due to the generals and not either of the Emperors.  The returning soldiers brought a plague with them and it is believed that this is what killed Lucius in 168.

In 161 or 162 while the Parthian war was being fought, Germanic tribes were also invading Roman territory. Marcus got actively involved in 169 and his first engagement was a defeat for the Romans. After reorganizing and changing tactics, they forced the tribes back and signed a treaty with the major tribe in 175 and Marcus assumed the victory title “Sarmaticus“.

Whether or not he had intentions of carrying the fighting to the remaining tribes is unknown, because at this time he had to deal with a rebellion by one of his Generals, Avidius Cassius. Cassius was claiming Marcus was dead and trying to make himself Emperor. Once the Legions learned Marcus was alive many rallied to him. While he was preparing to go to war with Cassius, a centurion of one of Cassius’ legions murdered Cassius, sending his head to Aurelius as proof.

It is believed that during these turbulent times, Marcus wrote the bulk of Meditations. I can imagine it was difficult for him, having no military experience and learning on the fly while dealing with the normal pressures of being Emperor.

Marcus died at the age of 58 on 17 March 180 and in spite of probably being a great Emperor and a great philosopher, he might not have been a good father as his son Commodus became Emperor and became a dictator until he was assassinated in 192.

The book is broken into different phases, but not necessarily chronological.

I enjoy this book because it is not written in a flowery way, but more straight forward and simple. Some of my favorite quotes:

Be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continually pounds; it stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet. I hear you say, “How unlucky that this should happen to me!” Not at all! Say instead, “How lucky that I am not broken by what has happened and am not afraid of what is about to happen. The same blow might have struck anyone, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation or complaint.”

— IV. 49
This one is a reminder that whatever unfortunate event happens to me, could happen to anyone. Using that perspective, it is easier to not complain about the unfairness and simply deal with what I control. I think no matter how my life goes, I have the knowledge and ability to not let it break me. I wish I would never have to test myself in this regard, but eventually something will happen to me or someone I care about, there is no way to change that.

Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn’t your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?

— XII. 15
Here we have a lesson in perseverance and not allowing the outside world to change my inner self. I will do my best to be a good person regardless of my external circumstances.

[Before making a decision] The first thing to do – don’t get worked up. For everything happens according to the nature of all things, and in a short time you’ll be nobody and nowhere even as the great emperors Hadrian and Augustus are now. The next thing to do – consider carefully the task at hand for what it is, while remembering that your purpose is to be a good human being. Get straight to doing what nature requires of you, and speak as you see most just and fitting – with kindness, modesty, and sincerity.

— VIII. 5
I am struggling with this one now. I want to push my 20 year old son to get a job and start his own life. My wife is (rightly) concerned that I will blow a fuse and the conversation will end with him out of the house. She is reminding me that our daughter once ran away to get married at 18 and was divorced by 19 BUT is currently happily married and working as a Popeye’s manager. I need to keep in mind that we don’t know the future and try to be understanding, while figuring out how to get him moving. It is difficult for me to relate to him, I have been working steadily since I was 13 on a dairy farm so I definitely need kindness and modesty.

Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust or lose your sense of shame or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill-will or hypocrisy or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.

— III. 7
I believe this logic 100%. At work, I hear conversations about hiding things from spouses and people say they have passwords on their phones so the spouse can’t see. My wife knows pretty much everything I do and neither one of us has a password on our phone. Does this mean I have never lied? No, but I do try not to and I don’t keep secrets.
Disclaimer #1: This is a very simplified telling of history, so don’t go all “Well, actually…” on me.
Disclaimer #2: I don’t know 100% if Marcus Aurelius was a good person, or just an evil one that liked to write philosophy. I asked Pie, but he says he was not living in Rome at the time, so I couldn’t get a first hand experience.
Music this week is the Galactic Cowboys. they are a little weird, but have some really good songs on their first 2 albums.

This one is from 5 years ago, I just heard it for the first time: