Brian Johnson (Heroic) reflects on James Stockdale’s reading of Epictetus to explain how hardship distinguishes "heroes" from "bums." He argues education should prepare people for failure, using sports (boxing/wrestling) metaphors and Stoic quotations (Epictetus, Seneca, Ryan Holiday) to show how suffering forges resilience. The episode ends with practical exhortations to treat obstacles as opportunities and to practice one’s philosophy daily.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. Concluding our brief tour through James Stockdale's wisdom from our notes on thoughts of a Philosophical fighter pilot. Let's talk about the heroes and and the bombs and how to sort them out. We'll bring the Vice Admiral back to the party for his final words in this little series of plus ones. As we've discussed, Epictetus was Stockdale's favorite teacher. He's also my favorite teacher, and he was Marcus Aurelius favorite teacher as well. His fierce, unapologetic intensity and coherent practical philosophy is deeply inspiring for me. Bless you, Epictetus. Check out our notes on his enchiridion and discourses, along with how to Be Free by A.A. long, how to Be a Stoic by Massimo PI Lucci, the Stoic Art of Living by Tom Morris, and our entire collection of stoic wisdom for more, all of which is linked in this plus one. Now, before telling us how to separate the bums from the heroes, Stockdale quotes Epictetus, who in his discourses tells us, and I quote, the true man is revealed in difficult times. So when trouble comes, think of yourself as a wrestler whom God, like a trainer, has paired you with a tough young buck. For what purpose? To turn you into Olympic class material. But this is going to take some sweat to accomplish. From my perspective, no one's difficulties, and this is Epictetus 2000 years ago, no one's difficulties ever gave him a better test than than yours. If you are prepared to make use of them the way a wrestler makes use of an opponent in peak condition, then Stockdale tells us. But our bottom line was the challenge of education is not to prepare people for success, but to prepare them for failure. I think it's in the hardship and failure that the heroes and the bums really gets sorted out. Insert head exploding emoji for two reasons. First, Stockdale's perspective that the challenge of education is not to prepare people for success, but to prepare them for failure. In other words, we train for the hard things in life, not the easy things. Which is why Epictetus, who loved using sports metaphors, also compared our philosophical training for life to a boxer's training to enter a boxing ring. Ryan Holiday quotes both Epictetus and Seneca in the Daily Stoic, where he tells us, and I quote, the Stoics love to use boxing and wrestling metaphors the way we use baseball and football analogies today. This is probably because the sport of pankration, literally all strength but a purer form of mixed martial arts than one sees today in the ufc, was integral to boyhood and manhood in Greece and Rome. In fact, recent analysis has found that instances of cauliflower ear, a common grappling injury, on Greek statues. Now, the Stoics referred to fighting because it's what they knew. Ryan continues by saying, seneca writes that unbruised prosperity is weak and easy to defeat in the ring. But a man who has been at constant feud with misfortunes acquires a skin calloused by suffering. This man, he says, fights all the way to the ground and never gives up. And he says that's what Epictetus means, too. What kind of boxer are you if you leave because you get hit? That's the nature of the sport. Is that going to stop you from continuing? Now then, we have the second reason. My head exploded. You want to sort out the heroes and the bums. Perfect. Stockdale tells us that all we have to do is introduce some failure and hardship into your life and see how you respond. Are you a librarian of the mind, merely cataloging these ideas and falling apart the moment things get challenging? Or are you a warrior of the mind, fiercely committed to moving from theory to practice to mastery, using every challenge as an opportunity to practice your philosophy? Remembering that this is what we train for. Remember the wind extinguishes the fragile candle, but it fuels the antifragile fire. Let us remember that the obstacle is the way. Let us see the upside of stress. Let us cultivate our iron will. And let us choose to be guided by our highest ideals in our most challenging times. As we chisel our integrity, as we forge the strength for two, as we embrace the hero's commitment to be our brother's keeper. Not someday, and not when it's easy or convenient. No. Let's go all in, all day, every day. Especially, as always, today it's day one. We let's get in the arena and practice our philosophy.
Hero, we hope you enjoyed today's heroic one. For more ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools to help you flourish in energy, work and love, head to heroic us, where you can get started on your heroic journey for free.
