All Things Can Be Used for a Purpose

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures

Education, 694393, Daily Stoic, Society & Culture, Stoic, Stoicism, Self-improvement, Business, Stoic Philosophy, Philosophy, Ryan Holiday

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2019

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One of the benefits of being an artist is that everything that happens to you—no matter how traumatic or frustrating—has at least one hidden benefit: It can be used in your art. A painful parting can become a powerful breakup anthem. Melancholy mixes in with your oil paints and transforms an ordinary image into something deeply moving. A mistake creates an insight that leads to an innovation, to a new angle on an old idea, to a brilliant passage in a book.

The writer Jorge Luis Borges spoke to that last benefit well:

A writer — and, I believe, generally all persons — must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.

Everything is material. We can use it all. And again, not just artists. Issues we had with our parents become lessons that we teach our children. An injury that lays us up in bed becomes a reason to reflect on where our life is going. A problem at work inspires us to invent a new product and strike out on our own. These obstacles become opportunities.

The line from Marcus Aurelius about this was that a blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. That’s how we want to be. We want to be the artist that turns pain and frustration and even humiliation into beauty. We want to be the entrepreneur that turns a sticking point into a money maker. We want to be the person who takes their own experiences and turns them into wisdom that can be learned from and passed on to others.

Use it all. Find purpose in all of it. Find opportunity in everything. Be the painter of your own picture, the sculptor of your own life.

That’s your task for today and always.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:13.6	Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life.
0:23.3	Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com.
0:36.3	All things can be used for a purpose. One of the benefits of being an artist is that everything that happens to you, no matter how painful or traumatic or frustrating, has at least one hidden benefit.
0:50.3	A painful parting can become a powerful breakup anthem. Melon Colley mixes in with your oil paints and transforms an ordinary image into something deeply moving.
1:01.3	A mistake creates an insight which leads to an innovation, to a new angle on an old idea, to a brilliant passage, in a book.
1:10.3	The writer Jorge Luis Borges spoke to that last benefit well. A writer, and I believe generally all persons, must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource.
1:24.3	All things have been given to us for a purpose and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material,
1:39.3	and we can only rely on our own ability to make our own life a reality.
1:43.3	We can only rely on our own ability to make our own life a reality.
1:48.3	In other words, he's saying everything is material. We can use it all. And again, not just as artists. Issues we had with our parents become lessons that we teach our children.
1:55.3	An injury that lays us up in bed becomes a reason to reflect on where our life is going.
2:01.3	A problem at work inspires us to invent a new product and strike out on our own.
2:07.3	The line from Marcus Aurelius was that a blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that has thrown into it.
2:14.3	That's how we want to be. We want to be the artist that turns pain and frustration and even humiliation into beauty.
2:21.3	We want to be the entrepreneur that turns a sticking point into a moneymaker. We want to be the person who takes their own experiences, turns them into wisdom that can be learned from and passed on to others.
2:34.3	Use it all. Find purpose in all of it. Find opportunity in everything. Be the painter of your own picture, the sculptor of your own life.
2:44.3	That's your task for today and always.
2:49.3	If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps and tell a friend.
3:04.3	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and add free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today or you can listen early and add free with Wondering Plus in Apple podcasts.

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.