Brian Johnson and his son Emerson discuss a set of seven Daily Stoic coins (created by Ryan Holiday) and explain the Stoic idea each coin represents. They name each coin (Memento Mori; Summum bonum; Amor Fati; Fire/Challenge; The Obstacle Is The Way; Ego Is The Enemy; Premeditatio Malorum; Sympatheia), describe imagery and quotations on the coins, and describe a morning ritual of each person picking a coin to guide that day.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian.
Hi, this is Emerson. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one.
In our last plus one, we talked about going deep to serve profoundly. And immediately after finishing that plus one, I went downstairs to hang out with the family. But before I stepped out of the office to check in for some deep love time, I actually grabbed my new collection of Daily Stoic coins so Emerson and I could complete one of our new rituals. Huh? Yeah, it's pretty cool. Quick context. You know that Memento Mori coin I love so much? I've got a link to an old plus one. Well, Ryan Holiday created that coin as part of his modern Stoic movement. I love the coin and his Daily Stoic book and everything he's up to@dailystoic.com. check it out. And I recently discovered that he created a whole collection of coins and to capture various aspects of Stoic philosophy. So, of course, I immediately bought the whole set. Which brings us to my new ritual with Emerson. When the coins arrived, he and I had fun lining them all up. Huh? And talking about what they mean. There are seven coins in total. Let's take a quick look. First we have the Memento Mori coin. What does that one mean? Do you remember? What does it mean?
It means remember death. Remember death?
It means remember death. The coin features a skull and reminds us of the fact that we can leave life at any moment. Therefore, make this one count. Next up, we have the Summum bonum coin. This one with a statue. This one means the highest good. Summum bonum means the highest good. It's a phrase Aristotle and other classic philosophers used to capture the most important thing in life to live with. Eudaimonia. How do we do that? Via arete. Which is why this coin features a statue of the goddess Arete on the front in Aurelius admonition to do your best on the back. Then we have what might be Emerson's favorite coin. It's called the Amor Fati coin. Amor fati means to love your fate. This one features a fire on the front, which represents Aurelius wisdom that the blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it. The back has a Nietzsche quote. Not merely to bear what is necessary, but to love it. Do you love that coin? Yeah. Why'd you pick it this morning?
Because I love it.
Because you like the fire, huh? Do you remember what the fire means? Tell us.
If you put something in the fire, makes it bigger.
Makes it bigger. And what kinds of things can you put in the fire?
Challenges.
Challenges, huh? So if something Challenging happens during the day. What do you do?
Put in the fire.
And what happens?
It burns.
And it makes the fire bigger and stronger. Huh? We get bigger and stronger every challenge we face. That's the Fire coin. Then we have the Obstacle is the Way coin. This one is based on Ryan's book by the same name, which is based on some more Aurelius wisdom that, as Aurelia says, the impediment to action advances the action. What stands in the way becomes the way. And that quote is on the back of the coin. On the front, we have a picture of a trail leading up a mountain, implying that right after we get to that peak, we should expect to climb yet another mountain immediately thereafter. Then we have an Ego is the enemy coin. Check out this one. This one has a bust of a statue. And what's it missing?
Its head.
It's missing its head. Pretty cool, huh? That reminds us of the dangers of excessive self focus. Then we have another one of Emerson's favorite coins. Which one am I gonna talk about now?
These two.
This one. What's on the COVID of that one in front of that one?
A shipwreck.
A shipwreck. This one is called Premeditatio Malorum, which means the premeditation of evils, the ancient Stoic reminder to anticipate what can go wrong, which is represented by a ship in heavy seas. Right. Almost getting to a shipwreck. And every time I look at it, I smile, remembering the fact that Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, arrived in Athens via shipwreck. We're going to talk more about that one tomorrow. We got a fun story, don't we? Yeah, we do. And finally, we have the Sympatheia coin, which is the one I picked today. This one features a globe and serves as a reminder of the interconnectedness of us all. The quote on the back, another gem from Aurelius. Revere the gods and look after each other. Life is short. The fruit of this life is a good character and acts for the common good. I picked this one this morning. What's it got on the COVID on the front?
A world.
A world. To remind myself the fact that we are here. Let me see the actual quote on the back. The actual quote on the back is, we are made for each other. So I picked this one this morning because it reminds me of people we're connected to and how we're made for each other and here to serve everybody else, huh? Exactly. Now, it was super fun to explain all that to Emerson as we looked at the coins, wasn't it? You found that? I did too. And every morning, most mornings, I should say, we each pick a new coin for the day. When I typed this, that morning, you picked the shipwreck one. But this morning, again, what'd you pick?
The fire.
The fire one. Amor Fatih. All of which leads us to today's +1. What coin will you virtually pick as a reminder of the ideals you aspire to embody today? That's it. Wanna say bye bye?
