The Daily Stoic - The Young Think There Is Always Tomorrow | The Smoke And Dust Of Life

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

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For more, visit DailyStoic.com. The young think there is always tomorrow. It's not that we're never going to do it. It's not that we don't plan to do it. It's not that we don't understand that time is passing. It's that we say we're gonna do it tomorrow. It's that we think we still have many more tomorrows. And you know what? We might. Most of the time, we're right.

But the Stoics want us to remember that we don't always have tomorrow. In the Gregory Hayes translation of the famous Marcus Aurelius passage, Marcus says that you could leave life right now, but could is the important word there. You could have tomorrow and hopefully you will, but also you could not.

One thing we can say for certain is that eventually, inevitably someday we will not. When will that be? We don't know. Could be right now though. And so we must act and prioritize accordingly. We should not put important things off. We should not take things for granted.

We should not presume a future. None of us are entitled to tomorrow. Today though is here. It is ours. Will we use it? The smoke and dust of life. Keep a list before your mind of those who burned with anger and resentment about something, of even the most renowned for success, misfortune, evil deeds, or any special distinction. Then ask yourself, how did that work out? Smoke and dust, the stuff of

simple myth trying to be legend. Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, 1227. In Marcus Aurelius' writings, he constantly points out how the emperors who came before him were barely remembered just a few years later. To him, this was a reminder that no matter how much he conquered, no matter how much he inflicted his will on the world, it would be like building a castle in the sand, soon to be erased by the winds of time. The same goes for those driven to the heights of hate or anger or obsession or perfectionism. Marcus liked to point out that Alexander the Great, one of the most passionate and ambitious men who ever lived, was buried in the same ground

as his mule driver. Eventually all of us will pass away and slowly be forgotten. We should enjoy this brief time we have here on Earth, not be enslaved to emotions that make us miserable and dissatisfied. That's the daily stoic entry for February 25th. Marcus does seem to return a lot to Alexander the Great. He's sort of fascinated with him. I think it's because he was so famous, so well known that it's almost sort of taken

as a given. Obviously, it was worth it. But I think Marcus wants to go, was it worth it? Is it meaningful to Alexander the Great that Alexandria still bore his name in Marcus's time, that it still bears his name today? No. Where is Alexander? He's buried in the same ground as his mule driver and he's just as dead as anyone who ever lived. And I think this isn't nihilism. What Marcus is trying to remind himself of is that what matters is now. What matters is who you are now. And the idea that, you know, I've talked about this before, but if you watch the Michael Jordan, the last dance documentary, you see this guy who's fueled by this intense anger, this intense

desire to prove himself. And you see that doesn't make him particularly happy. But then you go, make him particularly happy, but then you go, but it is making him really, really successful, right? And so we go, oh, that trade-off is worth it. And I think Marcus is saying, no, it's not worth it because the accomplishments are not as permanent as you think they are. In fact, they're inherently impermanent. They turn to ashes and dust soon enough.

And so Marcus didn't want to be deceived the way that you know his predecessors were. You know Octavian talks about how he inherits an empire and he turns it into something that lasts. But does he? I mean if I say Octavian or I say Augustus, does the average person even know that this is the same person or does it all blend and blur together and forgotten, right? Sure, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. And we remember him, but who was the great basketball player before him and before him and before him? And who was the most famous athlete of the 19th century? And who was the most famous musician of the 17th century?

It blurs together really quickly. I wrote an email about this not long ago where I sort of went back and I looked at the top Spotify charts by decade and how quickly you don't even know any of the names. These are the most famous of the most famous of the most famous. And that's what Marcus is trying to remind us.

Don't pine for things you don't control. Don't focus on legacy. Focus on now. Focus on doing the right thing right now. Be humble. Be present. Be good. Hey, it's Ryan.

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