You know, sometimes you hear a quote and you think, That's it.That's me. That's my philosophy for life.
Well it turns out that's a pretty common and timeless thing.
At the very least, we know it goes back to the time of George Washington, whose birthday we're celebrating today here in the US. Washington's favorite play was Cato by Joseph Addison. This play, about the Roman senator and Stoic philosopher, was written in 1712 and was hugely famous in its time—with some irony, it might be called the Hamilton of the day. Washington liked to quote one line that must have resonated with him the way certain quotes resonate with us today—the kind of quote that, when you hear it, you just know that nothing will capture what you think and feel about life better.
"Free," he said in a letter to a friend after the Revolution about his return to private life, "from the bustle of a camp and the intrigues of court, I shall view the busy world 'in the calm light of mild philosophy,' and with that serenity of mind, which the Soldier in his pursuit of glory, and the Statesman of fame have not time to enjoy." In fact, in the book The Political Philosophy of George Washington, the author Jeffry H. Morrison notes that, in a single two-week period in 1797, Washington quoted that same line in three different letters. And later, in Washington's greatest but probably least-known moment, when he talked down the mutinous troops who were plotting to overthrow the US government at Newburgh, he quoted the same line again, as he urged them away from acting on their anger and frustration.
In the calm light of mild philosophy. That's Stoicism. That's using reason to temper our impulses and our emotions. As Epictetus said, it's about putting our impressions up to the test. It's what Marcus Aurelius talked about when he said that our life is what our thoughts make it. That what we choose to see determines how we will feel.
We must follow this advice today and every day. It served Cato well and Washington even better. All that we see must be illuminated by the calm light of mild philosophy. So we can see what it really is. So we don't do anything we regret. So we can enjoy this wonderful gift of life we possess, whatever our station.
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