| Epictetus was well-accustomed to a hard life, having spent years as a slave. Zeno founded Stoicism from nothing, having lost everything. Cleanthes made subsistence wages as a manual laborer. But certainly few of the Stoics tried to be poor. In fact, financial security, if not wealth, was one of the "preferred indifferents" that Seneca spoke about. A Stoic should be able to be good regardless of their circumstances, but if one had a choice about those circumstances, it's pretty reasonable to go with more than less, right? As a matter of fact, many of the Stoics were quite wealthy. Cato came from one of Rome's great families. Seneca's father passed to him and his brothers an enormous estate and Seneca had a mind for business (and also made his own fortune in politics). Cicero, coming to Rome's public life as a new man—from new money—was a successful lawyer. Marcus Aurelius had family money and then, you know, became the head of the entire empire. So when they talked about living the simple life, it was about contentment and discipline amidst abundance. It was more about avoiding temptations and entitlements and softness than anything else. "One may live well even in a palace," Marcus Aurelius wrote (and tried to live by). He would have also readily agreed that one could live well at camp (which he had to do) or in exile (which plenty of Stoics had to do.) This is why Seneca sometimes practiced poverty as a philosophical exercise. He had money and luxury now, but things could change. Did that thought scare him? Or could he shrug his shoulders at it? Wherever we sit on the socio-economic spectrum, whatever our ambitions and aspirations, we need to cultivate this indifference and this independence. If you need money and success to live well, then you're vulnerable to things not going well. And the one thing we know about life is that things don't always go well, they can change in an instant.
Today on the podcast: Brigid Delaney was at a unique point in her life when she found herself looking for answers around life's deepest questions: What does it mean to be a good person? How do we stop letting the things out of our control rule our emotions? Can our anger be tamed? After learning more about Stoicism, Brigid decided to spend the year dedicated to letting the ancient wisdom from Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca guide her decisions. While in Australia on tour, Ryan had the chance to meet Brigid in person and talk with her about why Stoicism resonated with her, how to successfully apply Stoicism to modern problems, and the common misconceptions around Stoicism being exclusively for men. 🎙️ Listen to Brigid and Ryan on the Daily Stoic | Apple Podcasts & Spotify
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