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.
Of freedom from fear Part III
Who is there, then, that I can any longer be afraid of? Shall I be afraid of the chamberlains? For fear they do what? Lock the door in my face? If they find me wanting to enter, let them lock the door in my face!—Why, then, do you go to the gate of the palace?—Because I think it fitting for me to join in the game while the game lasts.
If I want something outside of my control, I have to be accepting of the fact I might not get what I want. As long as I understand this, then the thing I desire has no power over me. Problems start when I feel I deserve something or get amgry because something isn’t “fair”.
20—How, then, is it that you are not locked out?[3]—Because, if anyone will not receive me, I do not care to go in, but always I wish rather the thing which takes place. For I regard God’s will as better than my will. I shall attach myself to Him as a servant and follower, my choice is one with His, my desire one with His, in a word, my will is one with His will. No door is locked in my face, but rather in the face of those who would force themselves in. Why, then, do I not force myself in? Why, because I know that within nothing good is distributed among those who have entered. But when I hear someone called blessed, because he is being honored by Caesar, I say, “What is his portion? Does he, then, get also a judgement such as he ought to have for governing a province?[† 1] Does he, then, get also the ability to administer a procuratorship? Why should I any longer push my way in?
The things I want out of life are not things that other people have the power to give me. Because of this, I do not have to be false to myself or pretend I enjoy things I don’t in an effort to fit in and become popular.
Somebody is scattering dried figs and nuts; the children snatch them up and fight with one another, the men do not, for they count this a small matter. But if somebody throws potsherds around, not even the children snatch them up. Governorships are being passed around. The children shall see[4] to that. Money. The children shall see to that. A praetorship, a consulship. Let the children snatch them up; let the children have the door locked in their faces, take a beating, kiss the hands of the giver, and the hands of his slaves. As for me, it’s a mere scattering of dried figs and nuts.” But what, then, if, when the man is throwing them about, a dried fig chances to fall into my lap? I take it up and eat it. For I may properly value even a dried fig as much as that. But neither a dried fig, nor any other of the things not good, which the philosophers have persuaded me not to think good, is of sufficient value to warrant my grovelling and upsetting someone else, or being upset by him, or flattering those who have flung the dried figs among us.
I enjoy the things I have managed to accomplish in life, but do not beg others for more. I also value things differently than a lot of people I know. I work, but my life outside of that is more important. I did not always have this perspective and put my wife and kids through a lot of difficult times because I seemed to believe the Marine Corps could not get by without me.
25Show me the swords of the guards. “See how large and how sharp they are!” What, then, do these large and sharp swords do? “They kill.” And what does fever do? “Nothing else.” And what does a tile do? “Nothing else.” Do you want me, then, to respect and do obeisance to all these things, and to go about as the slave of them all? Far from it! But if once I have learned that what is born must also perish, so that the world may not stand still, nor be hampered, it makes no difference to me whether a fever shall bring that consummation, or a tile, or a soldier; but, if I must make a comparison, I know that the soldier will bring it about with less trouble and more speed.
There are many things that can kill people, and we will all die someday. I have had enough experiences where I thought I was going to die or been in combat where it could happen at any moment, so I am confident that death does not scare me. I am not looking forward to it, but I understand it is a part of life that we can not decide when or how it will happen. I am reminded of Ned Stark in Game of Thrones when he was offered the chance to confess to something he didn’t do to preserve his life. He replied “You think my life is some precious thing to me? That I would trade my honor for a few more years… of what?” If a person truly has this mindset, they can not be controlled.
I have been traveling for work the past week, I have identified one area that my Stoicism is lacking in: going to the airport. I always feel as though I am going to be late. Even when I am on track to arrive at the airport 2 1/2 hours before the flight. This makes me stressed out for no reason. Then I made it through security and got to my gate 1 hour and 45 minutes before boarding even started. Why do I do this to myself? My wife blames the Marine Corps, but I think it’s just me and something I should be able to control. I no longer get angry at the TSA, but I do not talk to those people while I am going through.
“Why do I do this to myself?”
Ron, it goes with the territory. The fear of being late and making the other person have to wait is our training. Better we should wait a 1/2 hour than the other end have to wait a couple minutes.
“Better to be 10 minutes early than 1 minute late”
/My Old Boss
I leave for appointments plenty early, “in case something happens” like an accident or traffic or some other figment of my imagination. I often take a book, in case there is none of the above. Occasionally it pays off, get in early, out early. Usually though it works the other way.
My wife doesn’t understand my anxiety, I have to prod her to make sure we arrive too early.
I concur. For some reason I tend to leave 5 or 10 minutes later than I plan, but I’m still running early. And yet, I’m in the car stressing out about it the whole way. Even if I am late a few minutes for an appointment, nobody really cares. But I do, a little too much.
When you say you’re going to do something then you make sure you do it. That includes appointments.
You need to show up 15 minutes early to the 15 minute early formation.
Dr’s receptionist: Please plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment.
::shows up 15 minutes early::
::waits another 45 minutes to see the doctor::
True that!
My billable time is $200 an hour, $1.70 a mile.
Make it snappy Doc.
It takes a long time to get those instruments cold.
Pistoffnick: I have learned to adjust my arrival schedule to reflect the reality that I also have observed.
Yep – I still want to be 15 minutes early for everything. My wife enjoys being 15 minutes late. That causes the most tension in our marriage on a regular basis.
Heading out in 20min and I will say, this gig’s location is remarkably convenient, only five minutes away. On the way, I’ll have to wait in my car to finish the last half of my ritual, ‘begin-the -day smoke. Solid positive.
I’ll be trying our German sausage for lunch, $1.82. These euphemisms, which aren’t, are plump, juicy and well-veined. (Yeesh.)
(Ev, I think I had a movie recommendation based on something you’d said overnight. I’ll have to go look. Don’t wait up.)
Curious to hear! I’ll be around to check!
What prompted it? (Best not be Reefer Madness…)
Eh, not important. But good.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089606
I FUCKING DO!
I have been tempted to bleat like a sheep while in line.
You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick.
And if two people, two people do it, in harmony they may think they’re both faggots.
If three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people standing in line bleating like a sheep? They may think it’s an organization.
/sits on Group W bench
TSA is security theater.
They steal.
They grope.
They bark contradictory orders.
They don’t make me safer. In fact, they make me less safe. My wallet is waiting in a bin at the end of the conveyer looking like easy picking for the rest of the sheep while those fucks figure out if I can walk through the Rape Scanner yet.
I haven’t flown for over a decade.
One time in the way back days while in my class As they made me take my boots off, what a pain in the ass.
🎶 Don’t touch Nick’s bags if you pleeease, Mr. Customs Man
I dread flying now, for that reason. And I agree it’s just theater. For a person in a wheelchair, they put you to the side next to the scanner to wait for a person to come get you. Then they take you through a gate, and you pass by all the people who have already been scanned to get to an area where they feel you up. I know they have cameras and all, but every time I can’t help think a person with some sleight of hand skills could easily pass something to a person who’s already been scanned. I guess I watch too many TV shows.
“I dread flying now”
I’m not certain I would ever want to fly again. It’s not the TSA BS, it’s all the arranging beforehand that I would find nervewracking (getting the flight scheduled, baggage tags, boarding passes, etc. etc. etc.). Partly because It is a given that no matter where I go I ALWAYS forget one thing (even if its inconsequential), and that fear would send my blood pressure high for hours.
Oh, you have a bag to check? That’ll be $50. You want an assigned seat? $50. You want to park your car so from LAX that you need a bus to get there? $200. The bus ride is free! Just stand in this line for 20 minutes. If you like, you can buy a mediocre beer in the bar while you wait to board. $18.
I have the same feelings about death. There is no fear of it but I don’t want to miss out on the good things that won’t happen for another few decades. I wasn’t to see my kids have children of their own and hold them. If they are slow like me that won’t be for another 32 years. I pray I make it that far with my facilities. I know my body will be shot by then as it is now.
These people could use a good dose of Stoicism
Meanwhile, lawmakers and industry figures alike worry that Paramount’s acquisition could trigger deep layoffs. Schultz, whose district includes the Warner Bros. lot, said that there is “a lot of angst in our community” over the sale.
“It creates a lot of uncertainty among our residents,” he said. “I want to ensure that … we’re going to have jobs staying in our community, that we’re going to see vibrant and consistent production on our studio lot.”
The fleas think they should be running the circus. Why wouldn’t they?
The movie industry as it is is a dead man walking. They are clearly in denial about that.
*Looks at white collar industries* What are you laughing about?
Literally tens of thousands of AI videos and documentaries, a good many of them actually fairly accurate in detail and facts (I’ve seen some howlers), are flooding onto Youtube and its copycats. Already one full-length AI move is out and there’s got to be lots more on their way. A lot of content creation will be crap, even those with plenty of human assistance. But both AI and its fleshy helpers will ‘learn’ quickly. Hollywood production level and above features and series are only a matter of time.
I can’t until the first full-length Amelia movie comes out.
I despise the AI history documentaries. They take some fictional accomplishment and wrap real history around it.
At which point I either have to research the topic myself or I look at the other videos on the channel and how long it has been in existence and figure out it is AI slop.
Sensai. I’ve seen a few and they were jarring, WWII history that I knew fairly well and the stories were either a little bit wrong or got some major points wrong, and stretched out to maximize some YouTube algorithm.
3D. Exactly!
What’s the matter with Kansas?
The Kansas state government has invalidated the driver’s licenses and birth certificates of transgender residents who changed the gender on those documents, in accordance with a law that took effect on Thursday.
The move affects more than 1,000 people. The law requires residents to change their gender identification to the sex they were assigned at birth, and also bans residents from changing their gender on those documents in the future.
Affected residents must pay for their new driver’s licenses.
The law also requires transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in buildings owned or leased by government entities that match their sex assigned at birth.
Transgender people in the United States have faced increasing restrictions at the state and national levels. Republican President Donald Trump has taken a particularly hard line since returning to office last year, issuing multiple executive orders limiting transgender rights.
It’s genocide, I tells ya.
“…limiting transgender rights.”
No he did not.
“increasing restrictions”
I guess you could see it that way, if you think the baseline is they should be able to impose their life choices on everyone else. I’m betting that article used the word “erased” too.
They used the word ‘rights’. They have the right to identify/present or whatever as they choose. The imposition part has no relationship with rights.
The new Kansas law “puts transgender people in danger any time they interact with law enforcement or apply for a job or for housing or public benefits,” said Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney with the LGBTQ and HIV Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The mismatch between how they present themselves in the world and their driver’s license puts them at risk of discrimination or violence, and so that’s why many trans people choose to change the sex markers on our licenses so that we can live as ourselves in society and keep ourselves safe.”
“You’re not fooling anyone, you know.”
I no longer get angry at the TSA
If you no longer get angry at the TSA, you have transcended Stoicism into some other higher realm.
I’m driving through Boise ID, Ogden UT, and Laramie WY starting on Mar 4th, should be back through but dipping into SLC on the 11th on my return trip.
I dont know if any Glibs are in any of those areas or not.
I’ll be on the job site in the Boise area around 5pm mountain then back on the road probably 5 or 6 pm on the 5th, maybe a little later. Then onto Wyoming.
I’ll be headed through Boise on the 5th. Not the 4th.
Where are you starting from?
Lewiston Idaho,
95 to Boise,
84 to SLC area
80 into Wyoming. I’m not going to quite make it all the way to Laramie.
I usually go to central WA or OR. Today I’m headed to Kennewick WA.
Greetings from North Nowhere Vermont where the rising temperature is stuck at 31.9F. NNV wasn’t affected by the recent Nor’easter but the old snow is still pretty deep. Tomorrow’s high is supposed to be 42F but then March comes in like a lion because Sunday night’s low is supposed to be -7F. I’ve got more firewood than the Winter has days left.
One of yesterday’s projects was to apply to get a replacement Social Security card which I may need since one of these years I’ll probably apply for Social Security. I have no idea where the card I got as a kid is. I went to the SSA web site and started the application process to be told I first had to create a Login.gov account. I started the account creation process and was told my e-mail address already had an account. I was able to change the password with a simple cell phone text message code exchange and discovered I created the account when I looked into getting TSA Precheck in 2024.
Continuing the SSA application process to prove my identity I uploaded images of my Vermont Real ID card and a selfie and was then told my cell phone number couldn’t be verified. This is the same number I used to change the Login.gov password and to which the SSA sent the link for the image uploading. They suggested I try a different phone number I’ve used for awhile. I’ve had my cell phone number for over a decade. After I thought about it for awhile I think the reason I never continued with the TSA Precheck thing is I encountered the same problem.
The SSA says one can go to a Post Office to have one’s identity verified. Since my small town’s Post Office just just down the street I’m going to do that. I have no idea what’s involved. I bet the Postmistress also has no idea what’s involved.
The idea being to generate as much ice especially black ice as possible!
That’s raycist!
I’d accuse the Weather Gods of being capricious but they hate being anthropomorphized.
The login.gov thing keeps getting worse. They have farmed it out to ID me and it’s weird. They had me do some live chat to verify my identity a couple years ago when I was trying to file my quarterly and the bandwidth at my place is so low the chat looked like it was 16 bit. If anything signing in through IDme is even less secure than the IRS was.
No one was going to log in and pay my estimated taxes for me. Just another more expensive layer of security theatre.
That’s another reason I want a real-genuine SS card. What happens when Login.gov/ID.me gets hacked and all the information one needs to prove one’s identify is in the hands people of ill repute? I’ve got a birth certificate, passport, and Real ID card but I don’t have anything physical that proves my Social Security number is mine.
When?
That probably happened years ago they just haven’t made it public yet.
I’m using pics of my snow on Sunday. I am sure you will be unimpressed.
Last year North Nowhere Vermont didn’t get much snow but there wasn’t a thaw all Winter long either so by Spring the dirty snow was pretty deep. This year we’ve had more snow but there have been a few thaws. It’s still deeper than last year.
NNV hasn’t had a honest-to-goodness full-blown blizzard for many years. The southern half of Vermont seems to get one every few weeks or so. I don’t understand why anyone would live there.
Primate dominance display
Denver directed city police Thursday to come to the aid of people protesting the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, authorizing officers to detain federal agents who use deadly force.
The directive to aid peaceful protesters is outlined in an executive order signed by Mayor Mike Johnston that reflects the lingering outrage over the killing of Alex Pretti and Renée Nicole Good by federal agents deployed to Minneapolis last month.
“If we see any ICE officer using excessive force against a Denver resident, we will step in to detain that officer and remove them from the situation,” Johnston, a Democrat, said during a press conference to outline the order. “We hold our own officers to that standard, and we will hold any ICE agent to the same.”
Whatever.
🙄
How about protecting protesters by keeping them separated from ICE agents?
#ows738 🔎 5/5 (00:46)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🔥 streak: 1
onewordsearch.com
#stack353 5/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⏱️ 2m 5s
🔥 streak: 1
puzzlist.com/stackdown
The city’s order directs the Denver Police Department to protect peaceful protesters, provide emergency medical assistance and “de-escalate” conflicts with ICE officers.
It also directs local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute any ICE officer who assaults, shoots or kills someone in Denver, and prohibits the use of city-owned property such as parks or parking lots for enforcement staging or operations. A similar law banning ICE from state property is being contested by the Trump administration in New Jersey.
Prior to this there was no investigative authority for police use of force. It’s about damn time.
I’m seeing the Trump admin is looking into Medicare/Medicaid fraud. My MIL is retired and on Medicare. She told me she gets a statement every month (not a bill, just an explanation of benefits). This time it listed $13,000 for catheters in the last 6 months, billed to a company in Denver. She has never used a catheter in her life. She reported it, and this wasn’t the first complaint against that company. Meanwhile she’s stressing over $200 in meds every month.
Think of how many people just throw the statement away or in a drawer. Multiply that by 100 or 1000 and you’ve got some real money. I will stand by my estimate that at least 50% of government spending goes to fraud.
Let’s turn a two-sided clusterfuck into a three-sided clusterfuck of truly epic proportions, with cops and feds in a dick-measuring contest and mobs of Karens and boomers shrieking brainless slogans.
I Brooksed a reply to Brooks.
So at least I got that going for me.
Ackshually, I think you Gilmored it.
Wait a second – you mean to tell me Notre Dame is Catholic?
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/catholic-outrage-ostermann-notre-dame-appointment-intellectual-and-pastoral
The Salon article linked within is a doozy!
I thought it was Jesuit, not Catholic?
I thought that was Georgetown…
Good one!
You mean the Pope’s secret army?
Aw, man, I can’t find the one Jack Chick with “deadly Jesuit assassins”…
Scanning that article I do not see who appointed her. Why would someone appoint a supporter of abortion to a catholic school?
Catholic universities have been making such appointments for half a century.
I’ve never totally understood it. There are arguments about viewpoint diversity, but since this is academia only certain viewpoint diversity.
Until fairly recently Catholics were usually a reliable Team Blue voting block. Something else I’ve never fully understood.
Soon there will be no more birds
Cornell University conservation scientist Kenneth Rosenberg, who wasn’t part of the study, said the species declining fastest in the new research “are often considered pests or ‘trash birds,’ but if our environment cannot support healthy populations of these extreme generalists and extremely adaptable species that are tolerant of humans, then that is a very strong indicator that the environment is also toxic to humans and all other life.”
——-
The biggest locations for acceleration of bird loss were in the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest and California, the study found. And geography proved important when Leroy and Jarzyna looked for reasons why so many bird species are shrinking ever faster.
When it came to population declines — not the acceleration — the scientists noticed bigger losses further south. When they did a deeper analysis they statistically connected those losses to warmer temperatures from human-caused climate change.
“In regions where temperatures increase the most, we are seeing strongest declines in populations,” Jarzyna said. “On the other hand, the acceleration of those declines, that’s mostly driven by agricultural practices.”
Mankind is a pestilence and should be eradicated.
Experts blame agriculture, warming
And oddly no mention about wind driven electrical generation. Odd.
WRT grackles, I don’t know how either agriculture, wind farms OR warmer temperatures could be the problem. They live in urban areas where it’s miserably hot.
Farming feeds the damn things.
The starlings and pheasants have been slaying my pasture which was planted with wheat just a month ago.
“Soon there will be no more birds”
I thought none of them were real.
This is true.
As soon as I start hearing this kind of gibberish I want to ask “How much do they want?”
Invoking the Sergeant Schultz Defense
Former President Bill Clinton was set to tell the House Oversight Committee on Friday morning in testimony about Jeffrey Epstein that “I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong” during their times flying together or socializing.
“First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing,” Clinton planned to say during his closed-door deposition, which was underway in Chappaqua, New York.
“No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos. I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn’t see,” Clinton said to say.
What do the survivors say?
It depends on the definition of “see.”
I wish someone would have used that. I’d have donated to their campaign.
“I know horrors when I see them, I’ve seen Hillary’s snatch!”
Does that boyish grin still work on the wimminz?
If it dosent the $400 some odd million in the Clinton foundations sure as hell does.
🙁
Took a three hour nap when I didn’t want to fall asleep.
Ah well, at least I took the whole day off, so I was on my own time.
Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been thirteen hours. 😳