The Daily Stoic - They Are Not Your Rivals | Ask DS

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

What’s the opposite of Stoicism, this austere philosophy based on toughness and resilience, virtue and service? Well, in the ancient world, it was Epicureanism–a philosophy that said that pleasure was the highest good. Could there be anything more different than Stoicism?As it happens, the Epicureans got a bad rap in the ancient world and in today’s.---And in today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan presents part three of his Q&A at the Young President's Organization West Michigan chapter in which he discusses why the Stoics are an "operating manual for modern leadership", why it can be difficult to discourage ego in leadership during a time when it is promoted so heavily in the media, and more.📗 You can check out The Painted Porch to get your copy of Art of Happiness.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee 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 Wonderree'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. Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life.

Well on Thursdays we not only read the daily meditation but we answer some questions from listeners and fellow stoics we're trying to apply this philosophy just as you are. Some of these come from my talks. Some of these come from Zoom sessions that we do with daily stoic life members or as part of the challenges. Some of them are from interactions I have on the street when there happened to be someone there recording.

But thank you for listening. And we hope this is of use to you. They are not your rivals. What's the opposite of stoicism? This austere philosophy based on toughness and resilience, virtue and service? Well, in the ancient world, it was Epicurianism. A philosophy said that pleasure was the highest good. Could there be anything more different than stoicism? Diotimus, whose story is told in lives of the stoics, despised the Epicurians.

He thought that they were not just soft. He thought they were perverted gluttons. He would have been a gas that the fact that Seneca regularly quoted Epicurus in his letters, even if Seneca stipulated that he was no Epicurian, to Terry in the garden, to avoid paying. This was the antithesis of what the stoic was supposed to advise or celebrate. As it happens, the Epicurians got a bad rap in the ancient world and in today's. Part of that is because diotimus spread lies about them, not very stoic. And part of it is because we just plain miss what they meant when they talked about pleasure,

which is why it's worth quoting one of Epicurus' famous letters, which clarifies it all for us. By pleasure, he writes, we mean the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of marrymaking, not sexual love, not the enjoyment of the fish and the other delicacies of a luxurious table which produce a pleasant life. It is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest disturbances take possession of the soul. Of all this prudence, he writes, for this reason prudence

is a more precious thing even than the other virtues, for a life of pleasure which is not also a life of prudence and honor and justice, nor leading a life of prudence and honor and justice, which is not also a life of pleasure. For the virtues have grown one with a pleasant life and a pleasant life is inseparable from them. So maybe we don't disagree as much as we think we do. Perhaps we are not rivals but kindred spirits. And instead of scorning the Epicurians, we should try Assenica did to learn from them. There's actually a great book we carry in the painted porch called The Art of Happiness. It's a Penguin Classics collection of insights from Epicurus, which I recommend. I'll link to it in today's show up so that otherwise enjoy.

From your reading of the Stork Philosophers, why do these thinkers resonate so clearly to modern minds where other ancient thinkers become outmoded? The Storks are like operating manual for modern leadership. Well, I certainly agree with the premise that it's an operating manual for modern leadership. I think it's because of all the philosophical schools, the Stoics were real doers. Like they were actually, they were even Xeno. Xeno is a found Stoicism out of, and I talked about this in my latest book, Lives of the Stoics, is the first story in the book. Xeno is a successful merchant who loses everything

in a shipwreck and he turns to philosophy. So these were people with real experience in the real world. Marcus Aurelius is the emperor. Seneca is Rome's greatest playwright and it's most powerful, you know, power broker. The Stoics were diplomats in generals and businessmen and artists and mothers and fathers.

They were real people doing real things in the world. And so I think the philosophy is about practical application as opposed to, you know, coming up with interesting or provocative ideas. So that the pragmatism is why I think it resonates today. Is it difficult to discourage ego when we see so many examples of it in the media every day and in Washington DC? Yeah, there's sort of a publication bias, if you're familiar with that term when it comes to ego. As I was saying, most of the great CEOs want to operate under the radar. They don't want to tell you exactly what they're doing and how they're doing it.

They don't want to draw the attention of regulatory agencies or journalists or they don't want to be on the cover of magazines. So the people we hear about naturally are the most egotistical, almost by definition, right? The people who want you to hear about them tend to be the most egotistical and those are the people you hear about the most.

So, it's just worth noting that the people you hear about, I was thinking about this even during the pandemic, it can feel like a friend of mine, I was talking to a friend of mine who's Austin Cleon, who's a great writer, he did still like an artist. He's like one of the few sane people that I know that's been sort of really safe and smarter in the pandemic and we're talking about all the people we know who've not been safe. And he was like, you got to remember the people who are being safe, or the people who are being safe don't have anything to post on social media about how safe they're being. Whereas the people who are traveling around to events and going out to dinner every night and doing what they're not supposed to be doing are by definition the ones you see, because not only is there something for them to photograph and share, but they don't think there's anything wrong with it, so they're not ashamed to show it. So it's important to remember

that most people are humble. Most people are not ego maniacs. Most people don't want to be the center of attention. I think Susan Cain did this well with her book on introverts. Half the population is introverted. You just don't see them as much as the extroverts because they're introverted. Yeah, excellent. This next question, I think you already answered with that, but is social media with its ability to self-publish and live in an echo chamber created a dangerous pandemic of ego. Again, I think you just answered that. Yeah, just it feeds the ego. It says, what do you have to say? And then it says, here's what everyone thinks about what you have to say. And you know, it doesn't, I don't think it engenders humility to say anything of smart thinking.

Yeah. And then I would another question, how do you suggest coaching employees with these tendencies? Yeah, it's hard, right? It's funny, one of the questions I get the most of the people go, my boss has a huge ego. What should I do with it? What should I do about it? And I go, you probably have an ego too.

Why don't you start there, right? So I do think though, as the leader of a company, your job is to model egolessness and your job is so first off you got to do by example. But second, you're to protect ego. I think all right, sorry, you're to keep ego out of the organization. Bill Bellichek famously is, he's like, if you got an ego, if you're not going to play by the Patriot way, get out of here. He's willing to trade talented people. He's willing to take hits on contracts. His job is to protect the culture.

And I think that's your job as a leader. Your job is to protect the culture and to keep ego out. And how about him denying the medal in Washington? There's a lot of buyer values, huh? Although that was, that got it. That also was such a no brainer at the same time. I agree. But you've seen others that ran and got it in the same.

No, I know. I know. It's nuts. All right, I think we're kind of just a couple things. I guess what is the book that you most gift or recommend other than yours, obviously, and you've referenced a few. Yeah.

I think Robert Green's books are really good. This is one of my favorite books. I love The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. Yeah, awesome. So I think for anyone doing anything, Mark's to really see his meditations would be a big one. Antifragil is a good one. The black swan is a good one.

The book I've recommended the most this year is John M. Barry wrote a book called The Great Influenza, which is about the Spanish flu. If you want to figure out what's going to happen next, just study the past. So I thought that was a really great book. I definitely recommend that. And then I've also loved Doris Kerns, Goodwin's leadership and turbulent times. I think that's a no-brainer right now. Hey, Prime Members!

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