This Cannot Be Taken (Only Given)

0:05Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a Stoic inspired meditation designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is based on the 2 ,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women, to help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visit dailystoic.com.

1:09turkey because they've got a bunch of great options. Turkeys start at$149 a pound if you have prime with organic birds at$299 a pound, and they only carry no antibiotic ever turkeys that will bring quality to your table at a great price. Whole Foods has great everyday prices on all your Thanksgiving essentials, whether you celebrate with a massive family or just a few close friends. Everything they sell has high standards to help you shop with confidence. enjoy so many ways to save on her Thanksgiving spread at Whole Foods Market. This cannot be taken, only given. Nero could take their freedom, he could confiscate their wealth, he could remove them from their positions.

1:50He was, after all, a tyrant. And in many cases, he did take those things. Just ask Seneca, ask Thrasia, ask Agrippinus, all Stoics whom we profile in Lives of the Stoics. But there was something else that not even the most powerful dictator can deprive someone of without their consent, their dignity, their self-respect, their values. It was this that Agrippinus maintained despite the culture of fear around him, refusing even to attend Nero's banquets. Thrasia declined to take part in the farce that was so many of Nero's edicts and policies. He declined to participate in the fiction and the unreality that Nero's enablers chose to co-sign.

2:29Seneca, unfortunately, did give up so much of his dignity and respectability in order to maintain his position with Nero, as did countless other Romans. Nero didn't take this from Seneca. It was given. As Sophocles said, whoever makes his journey to a tyrant's court becomes his slave, although he went there a free man. The same holds true in our times. Powerful people can take from you. They can push you around. They can do great harm to you. But still, the Stoics would say that our character remains ours to preserve or debase. Our dignity depends on what we do and has nothing to do with external circumstances.

3:09We must never give it up.

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