Brian Johnson explores the Stoic idea that everything in life, from possessions to relationships, is borrowed and will eventually be returned. Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius all taught that accepting this impermanence reduces suffering and frees us from attachment.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus 1. In our last few plus 1s, we had fun with some wisdom from a heroic friend of mine as we set up our new bat phones to receive calls from our Daimons at 212-451-2000. As you may recall, I shared the fact that I changed the last four digits of my number from 2000 to 2255 as a reminder of my commitment to create five volumes of Arete, each with 451 ideas. Fun fact. I actually just did the math on when we'll hit 10,000 heroic ones. Now this is heroic one, number 1723. If I did the math right, assuming all goes according to plan, insert heroic Gods LAUGHING we'll hit 10,000 heroic plus ones and 8,277 days from today, which is Friday, December 7, 2046. If I'm alive. Always the wise qualifier Memento Mori hero. I will be 72 years old. How about you? And today I want to chat about some more Memento Mori Stoic wisdom. Let's get straight to work. As you know, if you've been following along with our work together at Heroic and or if you're familiar with Stoic wisdom, one of the primary Stoic practices was remembering their own mortality. Guys like Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, two of whom are behind me, frequently.
Contemplated their own mortality as a means.
To appreciate the preciousness of our remarkably brief lives. So today we're going to explore another great Stoic practice on the subject. Let's open our philosopher's notes on Breakfast with Seneca to page five, where we'll find some powerful wisdom from David Feidler. He tells us, and I quote, one of my favorite Stoic ideas is that everything we have or believe that we possess is just on loan from the universe. Everything. And one day all those things will need to be returned. That's today's 1. Your life and my life.
And everything in our lives, it's just.
On loan from the universe. Everything. And one day, sooner than most of us would like to contemplate, our lives and all those things in it will.
Need to be returned.
Now, with that potent wisdom in mind.
Let'S not take our lives and any everything in it for granted.
Rather, let's follow the lead of the wisest among us and each of us at our wisest moment, and see our.
Lives and any everything in it as.
Gifts generously on loan from a benevolent universe. And let's have the humility to know that goosebumps, sweaty palms, hard skip. All of those gifts that are currently on loan will need to be returned much sooner than most of us would like to contemplate. Then let's go all in. As we activate our heroic potential and give ourselves, our families, our friends, our colleagues and our communities and the world all we've got today.
