Understanding the Daimon: Stoicism's Spiritual Compass

Practical Stoicism

Evergreen Podcasts

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of "Practical Stoicism," I delve into the intriguing concept of the Daimon in Stoic philosophy, an aspect I find less central to my practice but immensely significant. The discussion navigates the nuanced parallels between Stoicism and religious or deeply spiritual practices, underscoring the varied approaches to Stoic practice - from everyday practical applications to more devout, monk-like dedication. The core of the episode revolves around understanding the Daimon as our guiding spirit or conscience, likened to a fragment of the divine or Nature, steering us toward good. This exploration involves dissecting Marcus Aurelius's views on living harmoniously with the gods and the Daimon. I unravel the common misinterpretations of Marcus's teachings, emphasizing that following the Daimon isn't merely about "listening to your heart" in a new-age sense, but involves a deeper, rational introspection. Furthermore, the episode addresses the challenge of understanding Stoicism with only a fraction of its ancient texts available. This limited access calls for caution against dogmatic views and highlights the importance of maintaining an open, agnostic approach to Stoic teachings. Returning to the Daimon, I stress that it's not about passive acceptance of life's lot, but actively engaging with our inner drive as directed by the Daimon. This involves discerning and pursuing what is genuinely meaningful, despite external opinions or internal doubts. The episode illustrates this through personal reflections on pursuing passions and life choices, guided by the Daimon. In essence, this episode brings to light the practical aspects of engaging with the Daimon in Stoicism, encouraging listeners to embrace their inner guide towards living a fulfilling and virtuous life. -- Support my work directly on Patreon : https://stoicismpod.com/members Subscribe to my Everyday Stoicism blog : https://everydaystoicism.com Join the Actual Stoicism discord community : https://stoicismpod.com/discord -- Online copy of Meditations (A.S.L Farquharson) : https://link.stoicismpod.com/farquharson Online copy of Enchiridion (Elizabeth Carter) : https://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html -- Artwork by Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most of our media are owned by a handful of tech billionaires, but there's one place that still operates like the internet was never invented.
0:10.4	On the new season of the divided dial from On the Media, we're exploring shortwave radio, where prayer and propaganda coexist with news and conspiracy theories, and where an existential battle
0:22.6	for the public airwaves is playing out right now. Listen to On the Media, wherever you get your
0:28.5	podcasts. Good morning, Prokaptan. I hope you're doing well. Today we're covering Meditation 27 from
0:35.6	book five, which finally brings up the Damon by name for the first time on
0:41.7	this podcast. Before we jump in, a thank you to a new patron, Rick Cannerly. Thank you for becoming
0:48.1	a new patron, Rick. Much appreciated. If you're not already a patron, consider becoming one. You get rid of ads, gain access to additional content, and get the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes
1:00.0	with helping a creator you enjoy become successful as a creator.
1:04.0	Learn more at stoicismpod.com forward slash members.
1:08.0	Before we get started, here come the ads. See you on the other side.
1:26.4	As mentioned at the outset, we're going to talk about the Damon today, or Diamond. I say
1:32.6	Damon, which is a concept I'll admit to being less concerned with than most of the rest of
1:39.1	Stoicism. I rank the Damon up there with the nuances relating to God in the Stoic philosophy.
1:45.7	It's not that these nuances or concepts aren't important or central to the philosophy.
1:51.8	They're just the sort of things I find to be more interesting for individuals who are less like,
1:58.2	for example, everyday Buddhists and more like monastery-dwelling Buddhist monks.
2:04.6	This isn't a judgment. I want to make that clear. But there are two kinds of stoic practitioners, in my view.
2:12.2	Ones who are interested in applying stoicism practically, and that is the extent of their practice, and those who are
2:19.5	looking to become something more like the most devout form of Stoic monk. For some people,
2:28.2	stoicism rises to the level of a religion or heavily spiritual practice anyway. And that's certainly how the ancient Stoics viewed it,
2:36.6	to be fair. But this podcast isn't called the Stoic Monastery. It's called practical Stoicism. So I'm
2:43.9	going to try my best to derive some practical bits from the concept of the Damon. First,
	...

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