“â€Whatever anyone does or says, for my part I’m bound to the good. In the same way an emerald or gold or purple might always proclaim: ‘whatever anyone does or says, I must be what I am and show my true colours.’†Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.15
The Stoics believed that every person, animal, and thing has a purpose or a place in nature. Even in ancient Greek and Roman times, they vaguely understood that the world was composed of millions of tiny atoms. It was this idea – this sense of an interconnected cosmos – that underpinned their sense that every person and every action was part of a larger system. Everyone had a job – a specific duty. Even people who did bad things – they were doing their job of being evil because evil is a part of life.
The most critical part of this system was the belief that you, the student who has sought out Stoicism, have the most important job: to be good! To be wise. “To remain the person that philosophy wished to make us.â€
Do your job today. Whatever happens, whatever other people’s jobs happen to be, do yours. Be good.â€
From The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman
