They’re Going To Do You Wrong | A New Way To Pray

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1:04Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast. Each day, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, illustrated with stories from history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do. And at the beginning of the week, we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of Stoic intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about, whatever it is you happen to be doing. So let's get into it.

1:43They are going to do you wrong. He had worked many years on it. He had done an incredible job. he had published something that would be of use to many generations, bringing them the life-changing wisdom of the past. And how was George Long, the 19th century British translator of Mark Sirellis, rewarded for this service? By finding out that an American publisher almost immediately put out a bootleg edition that siphoned off his royalties. Worse still, he found out that they put their own dedication page in the book against his wishes and his practice. Long had not previously dedicated his books to anyone.

2:17He could have been angry. He had every right to be. But the thing about stoicism, the thing about Marcus Aurelius is that it can't help but get its claws into you. The words, once you introduce them into your system, they get to work. So George Long, remembering Marcus's advice to understand that people are people and that we're only harmed if something affects our character, that we do our work without thinking about the third thing, recognition, compensation, whatever. And so he adds the following note to the new edition addressing the controversy. I do not grudge him his profit if he has made any.

2:51There may be many men and women in the United States who will be glad to read the thoughts of the Roman emperor. If the American politicians, as they are called, would read them also, I should be much pleased. But I do not think the emperor's morality would suit their taste. And it's good that George Long decided to see these things this way because he had not much longer left to live. That's one of the reasons the Stoics practiced memento mori, wasn't it? Because life is too short to be bitter, too short for feuds, too short to be driven to madness by someone else's bad deeds. And look, the George Long translation is from the late 1800s.

3:25It's pretty freaking good. I mean, you can get it for free on the internet. Some people have brought it back out, but it's really good. I personally love the Gregory Hayes translation. Actually, I was just at a bookstore here on vacation with the family, and I didn't have a copy with me. And I grabbed a copy of the paperback Gregory Hayes Modern Library Translation. That's the one with the bird on it. It's like black and red. That's also the one we have the leather edition of it that we sell at Daily Stoic. I bought the rights from Gregory Hayes to do like a really good Stand the Test of Time edition, which you can check out at store.dailystoic.com or grab a copy at The Painted Porch.

4:02I'll sign it for you or whatever. But if you haven't read Meditations yet, you gotta. And I've got to imagine Gregory Hayes has similar stories of Marcus's work just worming its way into his life too. I know I have many myself.

4:24A new way to pray. We often pray for things we desire, and in the process, excuse ourselves from the equation. We're hoping that the heavens will magically gift us with the outcome we want, whether it's for a promotion or a speedy recovery of a loved one. The Stoics would urge you to stop doing this. Marcus Aurelius reminded himself not to present the gods with a list of demands for pleasures or comforts, but instead ask for help, not needing those things. In a sense, then he was really asking for inner strength. He was, in a sense, asking himself. So think about all the things you want that you're praying or hoping for and try turning them around like this.

5:09See what you come up with instead. And this is from this week's entry in the Daily Stoic Journal. You can check out the Daily Stoic Journal, 366 Days of Writing and Reflection on the Art of Living by me, Ryan Holiday, anywhere books are sold, including The Painted Porch, my bookstore at thepaintedporch.com. Try praying differently, Marcus writes in Meditations 940. See what happens. Instead of asking for a way to sleep with her. Try asking for a way to stop desiring to sleep with her. Instead of asking for a way to get rid of him, try asking for a way not to crave his demise. Instead of a way not to lose my child, try asking for a way to lose my fear of it.

5:51And then Epictetus in Discourses says, we cry to God Almighty, how can we escape this agony? Don't you have hands? Or could it be that God forgot to give you a pair, sit and pray your nose doesn't run, or rather just wipe your own nose and stop seeking a scapegoat. And then Epictetus in Discourses 4.1, he says, but I haven't at any time been hindered in my will nor forced against it. How is that possible? I have bound up my choice to act with the will of God. God wills that I be sick, such as my will. He wills that I should choose something, so do I. He wills that I reach for something, or something be given to me, I wish for the same.

6:29What God doesn't will, I will not wish for. This idea of blowing your own nose, that's a great expression from Epictetus that I love. I think what the Stoics are talking about here is self-sufficiency. I was just reading a great little biography of Musashi, the samurai swordsman, and I wrote down a line in my commonplace book from him. He says, worship the gods and Buddha, but do not rely on them. right he didn't want to go into a sword fight hoping that buddha would bless him he trained for it to make that irrelevant right he he wanted to rely on his sword and his actions remember the stoics talk about what's in our control what's not in our control i think what the stoics are talking about is don't pray for things that are not in your control that are not up to you don't make yourself dependent on getting lucky on being blessed on your dreams coming true on everything going right.

7:23Focus on having a plan that, as the Stoics say, is indifferent to all that. There's another great line from Epictetus where he says, a student's like, how should I do this? He says, you're asking me to show you what to do. And he says, wouldn't it be better to ask to be adaptable to all circumstances? And so this is really where we're trying to get, a place where there isn't anything we pray for. I take some pride. Every year, my wife will go, what do you want for your birthday? And I go, I don't, nothing. I don't want anything. There's nothing I need. There's nothing I want. It's not because I'm a billionaire.

7:57It's that I spent more time getting the things that I did need, the tools I need for my life or my happiness. And then for the most part, being indifferent to all the other things and not needing to wait for my birthday or Christmas or a check to come in to be able to afford this thing. It's better to not want it in the first place. And I think this is true for all the kinds of luck or, you know, cool experiences or things that we think we want or need. No, either get it for yourself if it's possible or write it off. I think that's what the third quote, the final quote from Epictetus is saying is like, look, I'll just align my likes with what happens.

8:39If God wants me to have it or the gods want me to have it or the logos or whatever, Stokes Obviously, I had complicated, somewhat contradictory views on religion. But what will be will be. What I get is what I get. I won't throw a fit, right? That's where we're trying to get as Stoics, trying to get to this place of self-sufficiency where we blow our own nose, where we're good, whatever happens. And I wish that for you. It's not easy. It doesn't just happen. You got to work for it. But that's what we're doing here, these meditations. And I hope this helps. And I'll talk to you soon. If you want to come see me talk, if you want to see me get over some of my own stage fright, and you want to ask questions and hang out a bit, I would love to see you.

9:22I'm doing events in London, Rotterdam, and Dublin in early November. And then after that, Vancouver and Toronto. This is all basically the 12th through the 20th. So it's going to be a busy November for me. So grab tickets, ryanholiday.net slash tour. Both the events in Australia sold out. So these will sell out also. So grab your tickets. I'll see you all soon.

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