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Steve Jobs was more interested in Buddhism than he was Stoicism. He may not have been, at least according to biographies, a particularly good person. But he was still a person, one whose perspective on life was shaped in interesting ways and utterly changed after his first brush with cancer in 2003.

In his famous graduation speech to Stanford University, Jobs reflected on the lessons he had learned glimpsing into the abyss of mortality and how it shaped how he tried to live those last years of his life. As he said:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart…


…This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but some day not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.

Marcus Aurelius summed up life along similar lines: “Everything’s destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So that new things can be born.” Nothing is permanent. Not failure. Not pain. Not fame. Not fortune. Not you. Not anyone.

If you can take a minute to stop and think about this, it will help you lead a better life. It will help you be a better person. What might Steve Job’s relationship with his daughter have been had he realized it earlier? Might Marcus Aurelius have been a better or more attentive father himself had he taken the advice to heart sooner?

We are all naked. We are all small. When we accept this, so much pretense, so much agitation falls away. It allows us to simply be. To be here. To be happy. To be good. There is no reason not to follow your heart, not to do what you know is right and what you know you can do.

Can you see that?...The Daily Stoic

COMMENTS

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Falendria
19:47 Jan 12 2021

This really says alot that is very true. It good to think about things this way.

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Have you noticed that the most effective worker is generally the busiest?

Successful people are busy people. They despise idleness and constantly search for new challenges and better ways to do things. When others discover that you are a thoughtful, helpful, enthusiastic worker, you will soon have more business than you can manage, and you will greatly increase the number of people who have a stake in your success. The most mundane tasks become much more bearable when you compete with yourself to improve at doing them. When you find faster and better ways to do your job, you also free up time that can be spent in more creative pursuits....Napoleon Hill

You’ve got problems. We all do. Maybe you’re having a difficult time in your relationship. Or work has worn you down. Or you’re trying to figure out what to do with your life. Maybe the pandemic has shaken you to your foundation and you’re still reeling from the blow. Or things have gone exceedingly well and now you’re overwhelmed by opportunities you never thought possible. Or you’re stuck, or you’re lacking motivation, or you’re terrified by all the uncertainties facing the world as we enter this new decade.

Who can help you with this? Can anyone? Yes. “Would you really know what philosophy offers to humanity?” Seneca wrote. “Philosophy offers counsel.”

Philosophy isn’t something for the classroom. It isn’t about abstract questions, or debating the existence of free will—it’s something that helps you with life. Epictetus is here, and he knows about freedom. He’s here to show to how to “work day and night to attain a liberated frame of mind. Instead of a rich old man, cultivate the company of a philosopher.” Marcus Aurelius is here to show you how to accept success without arrogance and setbacks with indifference. Agrippinus is here to show you how to follow your conscience, how to be the bright red thread in a sea of conforming colors. And on and on and on.

But you have to keep turning to these counselors. You have to engage. You can’t treat philosophy like a side job, as Seneca reminds you; it must be the main thing. Love it like your birth mother, Marcus reminds you, return to it again and again. Stop drifting. Start committing. Find others who have committed too—find yourself a Cato or a Zeno to measure yourself against. Find a Junius Rusticus who can give you advice and check in with you.

The wisdom is there. It’s here and has been, sitting, patiently waiting for you, for over two thousand years. The question is if you’ll listen. If you’ll take heed of the counsel. Or will you be like Nero, if you’ll leave Seneca disappointed again, proving the idea that a horse can be led to water… but not made to drink.

Will you drink? Will you listen?...The Daily Stoic

You’ve got problems. We all do. Maybe you’re having a difficult time in your relationship. Or work has worn you down. Or you’re trying to figure out what to do with your life. Maybe the pandemic has shaken you to your foundation and you’re still reeling from the blow. Or things have gone exceedingly well and now you’re overwhelmed by opportunities you never thought possible. Or you’re stuck, or you’re lacking motivation, or you’re terrified by all the uncertainties facing the world as we enter this new decade.

Who can help you with this? Can anyone? Yes. “Would you really know what philosophy offers to humanity?” Seneca wrote. “Philosophy offers counsel.”

Philosophy isn’t something for the classroom. It isn’t about abstract questions, or debating the existence of free will—it’s something that helps you with life. Epictetus is here, and he knows about freedom. He’s here to show to how to “work day and night to attain a liberated frame of mind. Instead of a rich old man, cultivate the company of a philosopher.” Marcus Aurelius is here to show you how to accept success without arrogance and setbacks with indifference. Agrippinus is here to show you how to follow your conscience, how to be the bright red thread in a sea of conforming colors. And on and on and on.

But you have to keep turning to these counselors. You have to engage. You can’t treat philosophy like a side job, as Seneca reminds you; it must be the main thing. Love it like your birth mother, Marcus reminds you, return to it again and again. Stop drifting. Start committing. Find others who have committed too—find yourself a Cato or a Zeno to measure yourself against. Find a Junius Rusticus who can give you advice and check in with you.

The wisdom is there. It’s here and has been, sitting, patiently waiting for you, for over two thousand years. The question is if you’ll listen. If you’ll take heed of the counsel. Or will you be like Nero, if you’ll leave Seneca disappointed again, proving the idea that a horse can be led to water… but not made to drink.

Will you drink? Will you listen?...the Daily Stoic

Early 2020 being in quarantine was odd early on a bit angry about it because of lack of going places. While a lot of people were sneaking about trying to bring back “normal” There will be no “normal”. At least not right now.