Daily Stoic

Meditations

How to Be a Stoic

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic

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

Today’s lesson comes from: Musonious Rufus’s Lectures

We don”t know much about Rufus’s life, he was born between 20-30 AD. By the rein of Nero he was a leading Stoic teacher. He was banished twice under different Emperors. His most famous student was Epictetus and like him, Rufus did not write any of his own lessons. The lessons and fragments that remain were written by his students. We do not now when he died, but in 101 AD Pliny mentions him as deceased.

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

That kings also should study philosophy.

¹ When one of the kings from Syria once came to him (for at that time there were still kings in Syria, vassals of the Romans),[1] amongst many other things he had to say to the man were the following words in particular. Do not imagine, he said, that it is more appropriate for anyone to study philosophy than for you, nor for any other reason than because you are a king. For the first duty of a king is to be able to protect and benefit his people, and a protector and benefactor must know what is good for a man and what is bad, what is helpful and what harmful, what advantageous and what disadvantageous, inasmuch as it is plain that those who ally themselves with evil come to harm, while those who cleave to good enjoy protection, and those who are deemed worthy of help and advantage enjoy benefits, while those who involve themselves in things disadvantageous and harmful suffer punishment.

As an unimportant person, I wish the “important” people that rule our Government understood this. Instead we get evil disguised as caring and disdain for people that actually lift up others.

² But to distinguish between good and bad, advantageous and disadvantageous, helpful and harmful is the part of none other than the philosopher, who constantly occupies himself with this very question, how not to be ignorant of any of these things, and has made it his art to understand what conduces to a man’s happiness or unhappiness. Therefore it appears that the king should study philosophy. ⁶Furthermore it is fitting for a king, or rather it is an absolute necessity for him, to arbitrate justice as between subjects so that no one may have more or less than his just deserts, but may receive honor or punishment as he deserves.

Marcus Aurelius, who was Emperor about 100 years after Rufus, understood this. His writings are full of reminders of what is important and telling himself how to be a good ruler and person.

³ But how would anyone who was not just ever be able to manage this? And how would anyone ever be just if he did not understand the nature of justice? Here again is a reason the king should study philosophy, for without such study it would not be plain that he knew justice and the just. For one cannot deny either that the one who has learned it will understand justice better than the one who has not learned it, or that all who have not studied philosophy are ignorant of its nature. The truth of this statement appears from the fact that men disagree and contend with one another about justice, some saying that it is here, others that it is there.

Studying something does not make one a master of the subject. Barack Obama studied the Constitution, but did not understand the underlying principle. Many people have studied things in order to find loopholes and ways to attack it. I think if a person studies Stoicism with an open mind and honest intentions, it can be beneficial, no matter their station in life.

⁴ Yet about things of which men have knowledge there is no difference of opinion, as for example about white and black, or hot and cold, or soft and hard, but all think the same about them and use the same words. In just the same way they would agree about justice if they knew what it was, but in their very lack of agreement they reveal their ignorance. Indeed I am inclined to think that you are not far from such ignorance yourself, and you ought therefore more than anyone else to concern yourself with this knowledge, the more disgraceful it is for a king than for a private citizen to be ignorant about justice.

So many people are ignorant about important concepts like justice. Unfortunately a lot of them are willfully so. Even so, it is possible to have honest disagreement about what constitutes justice in individual cases. The problems start when someone uses the phrase “social justice.” Once the underlying concept is changed then it becomes impossible to have honest disagreements.

I got to practice my Stoicism because the electric cooktop cracked while my wife was using it (scared the hell out of her). I had to take her to buy one and then install it. If she doesn’t find me handsome, at least she will find me handy. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, although I did have to cut the hole slightly bigger to accommodate the new one.

Good Times

I’ll be on a ship all day Friday, o feel free to go off topic as soon as this drops. Although that applies to every week, I really don’t care.

It was good seeing all of the Honey Harvest folks. That is always a good time well spent with fellow miscreants.