Don’t Be Distracted By Darkness

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures

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

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2019

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s no question that depressing things happen in this world. They always have and always will. People lie, cheat, steal. Envy, avarice, selfishness—it’s all out there. And it’s hard to miss.

It’s easy to despair about this. What do we do? Must it be this way? What’s the point of being good when everyone else is so bad?

This is the wrong way to think about it. It’s not up to us to change this unchangeable part of the human species, but instead to think about how to adapt to it, how to integrate it into our understanding of the world and not let it make us miserable. That’s a big part of why the Stoics talk about ignoring what other people do—their lying, cheating and stealing—and focusing on what we do. On making sure that we hold ourselves to a higher standard and put our energy towards evaluating ourselves according to those standards rather than projecting it onto others.

Marcus’s best advice on this is worth remembering today: instead of talking about other people’s selfishness and stupidity, our job is “to run straight for the finish line, unswerving.”

To not be distracted by the darkness of others, to head towards the light. To be good without hesitation, even when other people are not. That’s our job.

Today and for our whole lives.

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Transcript

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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	Don't be distracted by darkness. There's no question that depressing things happen in this world. They always have and always will. People lie, cheat, and steal.
0:46.3	Envy, Averis, Selfishness. It's all out there. And it's hard to miss. It's easy to despair about this. What can we do? Must it be this way? What's the point of being good when everyone else is so bad?
0:59.3	This is the wrong way to think about it. It's not up to us to change this unchangeable part of the human species, but instead to think about how to adapt to it, how to integrate it into our understanding of the world and not let it make us miserable.
1:13.3	That's a big part of why the Stoics talk about ignoring what other people do. They're lying, cheating, and stealing, and focusing on what we do, on making sure that we hold ourselves to a higher standard, and put our energy towards evaluating ourselves according to those standards, rather than projecting it on others.
1:32.3	Marcus's best advice on this is worth remembering today. Talking of other people's unselfishness and stupidity, he says that our job is to run straight for the finish line, unswerving, to not be distracted by the darkness of others. He says, to head towards the light, to be good without hesitation, even when other people are not. That's our job today and for our whole lives.
2:00.3	If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email.
2:09.3	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 Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.

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