In the 4th century BC, Zeno's father brought home the works of Socrates for his son after one of his long voyages. In the 2nd century AD, a philosopher named Rusticus gave a copy of Epictetus' work to Marcus Aurelius. In the middle of the 16th century, a teacher at the Collége de Guyenne let a precious boy named Montaigne sneak books off his shelf.
In the 1890s, Harry Truman's father sent away for a copy of Plutarch's Lives with a bright red cover, which he read over and over at bedtime at Harry's request. In 1962, Professor Phillip Rhinelander handed a parting gift to one of his most unusual graduate students, whom the world would later know as Commander James Stockdale, not knowing that the words of Epictetus would save his life. More recently, at a memorial service for the great George Raveling, nearly everyone giving a eulogy mentioned Coach Rav's habit of giving them a book (or several) every time he saw them…just as his own grandmother had given him the gift of books and reading as a young orphan.
There is really no better gift than a book—few equal them in value. As Seneca said, in the pages of a philosophy or a history book we are able to annex all the wisdom of the past into our own life. Rusticus gifted Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius and then Marcus Aurelius gifted to the world what became Meditations (our leather edition here). Many of you were probably gifted that book or some other book about the Stoics—and look at the impact that that had on your life.
At that famous meeting with the bookseller in the agora, Zeno came to understand the prophecy he had heard from the oracle as a young man—that wisdom comes from conversations with the dead. Books are a way to have those conversations. This is, as the classics have been called, the Great Conversation. We write in the margins. We fold the pages. We apply the ideas to life, adding our own spin to them.
Through this superpower—the power of books—we can learn from the mistakes of Seneca, the restraint of Marcus Aurelius, the resilience of Epictetus and now James Stockdale. We can learn about the greats and not-so-greats of history via Plutarch (our favorite edition here). We can absorb George Raveling's hard-won wisdom and read about the lives he intersected with (Wilt Chamberlain, Martin Luther King Jr., Jerry West, Michael Jordan). We can…And with the holidays approaching, very few of us need more stuff. We do need more lessons, more wisdom, more examples of who we could become.
"I'll always be grateful to my father for introducing me to Plutarch." Truman said years later. "The things you happen on at an early age like that stay with you for the rest of your life." You never know whose life you will change with the gift of a book. This is the gift that keeps giving—not just knowledge, but a path to becoming someone better. The lessons of the Stoics have helped millions of readers become more focused, more courageous, better leaders, and better people. They've learned to turn obstacles into opportunities, to tame their ego, and to build daily practices that actually stick.
At the Daily Stoic, you'll find books that don't just sit on the shelf, but change how you live. From our leatherbound editions of The Daily Stoic and The Daily Dad, to the bestselling Stoic Virtues Series, The Daily Stoic is the only place you can find signed copies of all of Ryan Holiday's books. Signed copies make for an extra special gift that will be cherished by the reader for years to come. Be sure to order your signed copies before December 15 (December 7 if you live internationally) to ensure delivery before December 25.
No comments:
Post a Comment