THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

In A Time Of Universal Deceit, Telling The Truth Becomes A Revolutionary Act. (Orwell)

ALL TRUTH PASSES THROUGH THREE STAGES; FIRST, IT IS RIDICULED, SECOND, IT IS VIOLENTLY OPPOSED, THIRD, IT IS ACCEPTED AS BEING SELF-EVIDENT. (Arthur Schopenhauer)

I WILL TELL YOU ONE THING FOR SURE. ONCE YOU GET TO THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE ACTUALLY DOING THINGS FOR TRUTH'S SAKE, THEN NOBODY CAN EVER TOUCH YOU AGAIN BECAUSE YOU ARE HARMONIZING WITH A GREATER POWER. (George Harrison)

THE WORLD ALWAYS INVISIBLY AND DANGEROUSLY REVOLVES AROUND PHILOSOPHERS. (Nietzsche)

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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

What A Thing To Have Done!


In 175 AD, Marcus Aurelius was betrayed in a palace coup. Marcus was sick and supposedly on death’s door. His trusted general Avidius Cassius declared himself emperor, making Marcus and his family marked men, vulnerable to danger and death. 
 
Marcus, whose health was not as bad as the rumors had suggested, could have sprung into action. His predecessors certainly would have (in fact, Hadrian was infamous for it). Instead, Marcus held back. He took his time—what a thing to have done! He waited, waited to see if Cassius would come to his senses. When it was clear that he would not, Marcus knew he would need to respond, but by this point, he was not angry. Instead, as he explained to his men, he saw that there was good that could come of this awful situation, that they could “settle this affair well and show to all mankind that there is a right way to deal even with civil wars.” He gave similar instructions to the Senate—no one was to be killed, his reign was not to be stained with even a drop of blood.

Again, what a thing to have done!

Why do we so rarely do the same? Most of our problems are not so urgent. The stakes are not so high. Yet we rush, we react emotionally, we punish instinctively. But how much more magnanimous and wise it would be to wait. To think. To calm down. To let things settle.

The Stoics say that the greatest empire is command of oneself. Even if Marcus’s reign was temporarily in jeopardy, it’s clear he never lost control of that. He was—unlike his rash opponent—calm and philosophical. He understood the dangers. He knew mistakes once made could not be unmade. He saw the opportunity for greatness. 
 
By reacting dispassionately and then virtuously, he seized it. And so must we.

Marcus Aurelius' Advice For Better Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS0gSjrlMJc

When I first shared this story (hey, Ryan here) 10 years ago in the original Obstacle Is the Way, I never could have predicted that book would inspire a global resurgence in Stoicism, let alone that that book would go on to be published in forty languages and sell two million copies in English alone.

And as it happened, all that was only possible because I had waited. A small publisher offered me the opportunity to do a book about Stoicism as early as 2009, but my mentor Robert Greene advised me to wait. You aren’t ready, he said, give yourself time. How lucky I am to have listened to him!

RYAN HOLIDAY

https://dailystoic.com/

Who Would Marcus Aurelius Vote For?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIfGfclhSE

Daily Stoic

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