The Daily Stoic - There’s Always Been a Darkness on the Edge of Town

Episode Date: August 6, 2020

"It feels a little bit like things suddenly got really bad. Like the political order is not working. Like government agencies are failing. The stock market is falling. The economy turned out to be not nearly as robust as we thought. And it’s true, these things are happening. It’s just important to remind ourselves that this is not new. It’s just that the darkness from the edge of town, the one Springsteen sang about—the bad luck, the poverty, the struggle, the pain—shifted a little bit. Now that it’s your problem, you’re suddenly taking it seriously."Ryan describes how these problems have always been around, and how we must change our behavior to reckon with this fact, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. The new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic. For each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's

greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystowach.com. There has always been a darkness on the edge of town. It feels a little bit like things suddenly got really bad. Like the political order is not working. Like government agencies are failing. The stock market is falling. The economy turned out to be not nearly as robust as we thought.

And it's true these things are happening. It's just important to remind ourselves that this is not new. It's just that the darkness from the edge of town, the one that Bruce Springsteen sung about, the bad luck, the poverty, the struggle, the pain, shifted a little bit. Now that it's your problem, you're suddenly taking it seriously. When 50 cent was being interviewed for his book,

The 50th Law with Robert Green, you made a pretty interesting observation. A reporter asked him about the then new and alarming financial crisis that was rippling through America. He said something like, you know where I'm from, it's always been a recession. So before you throw yourself a pity party about this global pandemic and the knock on recession, it's causing remind yourself, this is not new. This is not some tragedy that's only affecting me. This is a timeless fact of existence.

This has been happening to people for years. It just wasn't evenly distributed. When the Stoics talked about Sympathia, they wanted us to realize that we were all tied up with each other, that there was a real cost to letting the hive or a fellow bee be harmed. Did they fall short of their own ideals by tolerating slavery and imperialism? Yes, no question. But Marcus Aurelius strove to do everything he could for other people. He didn't allow his privilege to blind him to the fact that other people had it much worse. We are being reminded today just how interconnected and interdependent we are.

Those warehouse workers we refuse to support a better minimum wage for. Those people we didn't think deserved health insurance. Those people we wrote off as deplorables. Well, turns out that they are a lot more important than you thought. Turns out that their health and security is more related to your own than you might have realized. Turns out they were the canary in the coal mine. Your suffering is real. It's unfortunate, but it's not new and it's not special. And maybe one way to lessen it and prevent it in the future

is to care a little bit more about your fellow members of the hive. Hey, thanks for listening to the Daily Stoke Podcast. You can sign up to get our daily email at dailystoke.com slash email. I'd also encourage if you want to take your practice of stoicism to the next level to sign up for Daily Stoke Life, which is our members only program. It's got all sorts of awesome benefits. You can check that out at dailystoiclife.com. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.

Celebrity feuds are high stakes. You never know if you're just going to end up on page six or Du Moir or in court. I'm Matt Bellasai. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wonder E's new podcast, Dis and Tell, where each episode we unpack a different iconic celebrity feud from the buildup, why it happened, and the repercussions. What does our obsession with these feud say about us? The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama, but none is drawn out in personal as Brittany and Jamie Lynn Spears. When Brittany's fans form the free Brittany movement,

dedicated to fraying her from the infamous conservatorship, Jamie Lin's lack of public support, it angered some fans, a lot of them. It's a story of two young women who had their choices taken away from them by their controlling parents, but took their anger out on each other. And it's about a movement to save a superstar, which set its sights upon anyone who failed to fight for Britney.

Follow Disenthal wherever you get your podcast. You can listen ad free on Amazon Music or the Wonder App.