How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Discourses and Selected Writings
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Epictetus was born a slave around 50 ad. His owner was Epaphroditus, a rich freedman who was once a slave of Nero. Though he was a slave Epictetus was sent to study philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus was lame and there are some stories it was caused by his master and others that it was caused by disease.
He was a freedman when all philosophers were banished from Rome in 89 by the Emperor Domitian. He then started his school in Greece, and had many students. He did not leave any writings from his lessons, but one of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes and wrote the Discourses.
Epictetus did not marry, had no children, and lived to be around 80-85. In retirement, he adopted a child that would have been abandoned and raised him with a woman.
He died sometime around AD 135.
He is my favorite Stoic teacher. I love his bare bones and very straight forward approach.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of one of his lessons. Epictetus’s text appears italicized in bold, my replies are in normal text.
To those who have set their hearts upon living in peace Part V
For if once you swerve aside from this course, you are a slave, you are a subject, you have become liable to hindrance and to compulsion, you are entirely under the control of others. Nay, the word of Cleanthes is ready at hand,
Lead thou me on, O Zeus, and Destiny.[11]
Will ye have me go to Rome? I go to Rome. To Gyara? I go to Gyara.[12] To Athens? I go to Athens. To prison? I go to prison.
I have to be able to adapt to circumstances. Fighting them will do me no good and exasperate any stress that might be affecting me.
35If but once you say, “Oh, when may a man go to Athens?” you are lost. This wish, if unfulfilled, must necessarily make you unfortunate; if fulfilled, vain and puffed up over the wrong kind of thing; again, if you are hindered, you suffer a misfortune, falling into what you do not wish. Give up, then, all these things. “Athens is beautiful.” But happiness is much more beautiful, tranquillity, freedom from turmoil, having your own affairs under no man’s control. “There is turmoil in Rome, and salutations.” But serenity is worth all the annoyances. If, then, the time for these things has come, why not get rid of your aversion for them: Why must you needs bear burdens like a belabored donkey? Otherwise, I would have you see that you must be ever the slave of the man who is able to secure your release, to the man who is able to hinder you in everything,[13] and you must serve him as an Evil Genius.[14]
I do not have the perfect tranquility described here, but it is a goal and I am closer to it than I was before I discovered Stoicism and applied it to my daily life. When I let outside forces control my thoughts then I have no chance to be tranquil. If I waste time stressing things that haven’t happened then I am lost before anything actually happens. My wife was struggling with this before she took her mom to go see my father in law in the hospital. She was convinced that mom would have a melt down and was stressed for the day leading up to the visit. Luckily they seem to have finally straightened out mom’s medication and she was able to sit and talk to him as long as the hospital let them stay.
There is but one way to serenity (keep this thought ready for use at dawn, and by day, and at night), and that is to yield up all claim to the things that lie outside the sphere of the moral purpose, to regard nothing as your own possession; to surrender everything to the Deity, to Fortune; to yield everything to the supervision of those persons whom even Zeus has made supervisors;
I was able to deal with thinking I was going to die earlier this year by keeping this thought in mind. If my life is not under my control, then what does being upset about potentially losing it help. I wish I could keep the same attitude about the more minor inconveniences that I deal with daily in my life as a single man for the last 7 weeks with 2 weeks to go. I have been doing better, but I still get irritated way too easily.
40and to devote yourself to one thing only, that which is your own, that which is free from hindrance, and to read referring your reading to this end, and so to write and so to listen. That is why I cannot call a man industrious, if I hear merely that he reads or writes, and even if one adds that he sits up all night, I cannot yet say that the man is industrious, until I know for what end he does so. For neither do you call a man industrious who loses sleep for the sake of a wench; no more do I. But if he acts this way for the sake of reputation, I call him ambitious; if for the sake of money, I call him fond of money, not fond of toil. If, however, the end for which he toils is his own governing principle, to have it be, and live continually, in accordance with nature, then and then only I call him industrious. For I would not have you men ever either praise or blame a man for things that may be either good or bad, but only for judgements. Because these are each man’s own possessions, which make his actions either base or noble.
Hard work without a goal in mind is not productive. Losing sleep to read because I don’t feel like sleeping is a stupid way to spend my time and yet I have been doing it again this week. I have not lost as much sleep as I did in the weeks prior, but I am still hating myself in the mornings. I understand Paul in Romans 7:15, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
45Bearing all this in mind, rejoice in what you have and be satisfied with what the moment brings. If you see any of the things that you have learned and studied thoroughly coming to fruition for you in action, rejoice in these things. If you have put away or reduced a malignant disposition, and reviling, or impertinence, or foul language, or recklessness, or negligence; if you are not moved by the things that once moved you, or at least not to the same degree, then you can keep festival day after day; to-day because you behaved well in this action, to-morrow because you behaved well in another. How much greater cause for thanksgiving is this than a consulship or a governorship! these things come to you from your own self and from the gods. Remember who the Giver is, and to whom He gives, and for what end. If you are brought up in reasoning such as these, can you any longer raise the questions where you are going to be happy, and where you will please God? Are not men everywhere equally distant from God? Do they not everywhere have the same view of what comes to pass?
I try to remember what I have done well. I still focus too much on what I need to do. I need to remember that we were able to afford my wife going to Okinawa and help her family. The fact things have become more dire than we anticipated is beyond anyone’s control. I wish I could have went, but that is also beyond what we can control at this time. I also understand she doesn’t have the opportunity to call me everyday. Instead I am happy when she does have the chance and make sure that I don’t complain about anything I have issues with here, especially since they are all my fault.
Can one be stoic when full of turkey and booze?
You found a drunk turk?
Being full of turkey and booze would help, I would guess.
🫃
. I still focus too much on what I need to do. – Send Pie a bottle of good rye?
I tried to bottle Rye, but the bread was ruined crushing it into the bottle.
Maybe I can bake it in the bottle next time…
Someone needs to be more stoic about not having a bottle of good rye.
The catoctin creek cask strength i have is decent. The willet 4 was better. I hear the willet 7 and 11 are even better but unobtanium in old europa
Willet rye has an interesting, minty flavor in its profile.
I don’t think my stoicism is up to the task of figuring out the rules and paperwork to ship a bottle of good rye to Romania.
So, the wry is in the mail?
The fact things have become more dire than we anticipated is beyond anyone’s control – sorry… the previous joke may have been uncalled for
Any joke is always called for.
It is a cold dreary wet day. It is raining and i am on the balcony having a cigar which does not burn as usual in the humidity amd a glass of penelope architect which is not bad. Things could be worse.
An account of early 15th century Britain from a young Pope Pius II. Note the account of two young women offering themselves to the traveler “as was the custom at the time”.
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Curtis Yarvin
@curtis_yarvin
Note that these are the 15th-century ancestors of the Borderers, ie, rednecks.
Particularly piquant custom of fleeing to the hills and leaving the women behind to be raped by wild Scotsmen. This is origin of country music
https://x.com/curtis_yarvin/status/1994436983574470773
Three Year Letterman
@3YearLetterman
The Europoor mind cannot fathom the Egg Bowl
WELL AT LEAST WE DO NOT FINANCE WATERBEDS LIKE AMERICANS
And that, right there, is why the continent and its culture is dying.
So what percentage of workin americans take the friday after thanks giving off from work?
Quite a few. Company I work for (and the previous one) had them as official company holidays.
We got sent home early, but a lot of people called off.
Day off for me.
Things could be worse.
Things could always be worse.
“It could be worse”
“How?”
“It could be raining”
“Cheer up,” he said, “Things could always get worse!”
So I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse.
Someone alert SF…
Footage of Barron Trump towering over president dad at Thanksgiving dinner goes viral
Is it fashionable to button all 3 buttons on a suit jacket? Been a long time since I wore a suit
/Asking for Barr.., oops I mean a friend
Charity begins and ends at the tax accountant’s office
New tax laws risk reducing charitable giving by the wealthy next year, economists and academic experts say, leaving less-wealthy Americans to make up the difference.
Under President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” signed into law in July, several tax benefits for wealthy donors will be reduced. Top earners will also have their effective tax benefit cut from 37% to 35%. The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy estimates this cap alone will reduce giving by $4.1 billion to approximately $6.1 billion annually.
But what about the Giving Pledge?
“Charitable giving” does not necessarily mean that you’re helping anyone besides the well-paid functionaries of those “charitable” organizations.
I wonder how much charity money is spent on handing out food and cash to willingly homeless people so they can spend more on drugs.
Got ahold of the tax reports of the local pregnancy care clinic after giving to them one year.
They served as a pass through for the director and his wife and for annual trips to DC.
Didn’t give them anything again.
A two-percent drop? My, the ultra-wealthy are awfully cost sensitive in the good deeds department.
While the tax changes may help broaden the base of giving, making it less dependent on the ultra-wealthy, experts are skeptical that the math will balance out.
Elena Patel, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told Inside Wealth she is not optimistic that middle- and lower-income donors will be able to make up the shortfall as top earners give less.
“The nonprofit sector says that every dollar matters, and so incentivizing small donations from every household could have a meaningful impact for certain kinds of organizations. But the truth is that those kinds of contributions, however, just are not the bulk of charitable giving in the charitable sector,” she said. “That 2-percentage-point reduction [for top earners] might not seem like a big deal, but you have to keep in mind the scale of gifts that are being given among the highest-net-worth individuals in the United States.”
Non profits will suffer?
Good.
I like how “the wealthy” are simultaneously a scourge and “billionaires shouldn’t exist” and, also, they are essential due to providing most of the charity dollars.
I we taxed them more, we wouldn’t need charity and everyone would be rich.
New car day around here.
GF picked up her new ride this morning. Shiny.
Volkswagen?
Jeep Compass. She had a couple VWs before though.
The weatherman says 6 to 12 inches of snow by Sunday morning. Wunderground gives a more definitive guess of 9 inches.
Time to hunker down for about 48 hours.
no one needs 12 inches
Except Winston’s mom
We had 7 on Tuesday. I worked Wednesday cleaning he driveway/yard with the new Husqvarna machine.
Page format just changed.
just refresh
“Charitable giving” does not necessarily mean that you’re helping anyone besides the well-paid functionaries of those “charitable” organizations.
Exactly. You’re paying the salaries of the children of the rich, for the most part.
Irish Man Tries Thanksgiving
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dOijljSwtw
My, the ultra-wealthy are awfully cost sensitive in the good deeds department.
I love those bizarre calculations based on inverted (or utterly imaginary) cause and effect.
“According to our model, our model is correct.”
My 7-9 dispense duty was cold as fuck. I did drop a gallon bottle of water, and cheap-ass bottle, it exploded. I kept it in as best I could, but that all froze over quite quickly. Well, I assume. I told folk, but I was done and going to lunch. Did the best I could!
Remarkably busy, but it was also the quickest day of work I’ve experienced. Only 9.62 miles, and I’m usually at 10-11 for a day. A Mennonite wanted to know if we had ads. I thought he was asking for an “adz” at first, and I’m glad I didn’t open my mouth and remove all doubt. So I directed him to customer service for whatever they could provide. That’s a new one, for me.
Wasn’t a bad day. Odd, yes. But kinda worked in a good way. *shrug*
No word from the Derpster? Black Friday may have worn him out.
Revelation
“The Maverick has been a phenomenon since we launched,” James Gilpin, a product marketing manager at Ford, told ABC News. “We saw overwhelming interest since Day 1 … the demand has shocked the whole industry.”
Nobody wants a small simple cheap(er) pickup truck.
Right?
But the margins on a loaded F 150 are so much better. Let’s not give people a choice…