We All Share This Thing Together

The Daily Stoic

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

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2019

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yesterday was the 49th year we celebrated Earth Day...in the 4.5 billionth year of the Earth’s existence. In 1970, at the height of counterculture in the United States, the protest movement, and rising dissatisfaction with the environmental abuses of the modern world, U.S. senator and governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson conceived the idea of Earth Day. In a speech during that inaugural day in 1970, Nelson said:

Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures.

Some people talk about protecting the environment as if it only involves clean air and clean water. The environment, Nelson urged, “involves the whole broad spectrum of man's relationship to all other living creatures, including other human beings.”

Basically: We live on earth. We come from the earth. We will become earth when we die. So we should probably treat it with some respect.

The Stoics spoke of this at length. In fact, they had a word for it: sympatheia—“a connectedness with the cosmos.” It is one of the lesser known Stoic concepts, in part because it’s so incredibly easy to focus on the self and lose sight of the whole. As Marcus Aurelius wrote:

Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe. For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other—for one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance.

No one is saying you have to stop driving a car or go off the grid. But it is your duty to care and to care for this place you call home. You can find the little places where you can make small differences. You can try to limit yourself and your appetites. You can be good to your fellow human beings.

We are all connected and unified and made for one another and this should never be far from our minds. We should be humane to the Earth we inhabit and to each other—yesterday, today, and every day. Let’s take care of each other.

Happy Earth Day.

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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 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 DailyStoke.com.
0:35.3	We all share this thing together.
0:38.3	Today is the 49th year we celebrate Earth Day and the 4.5 billionth year of the Earth's existence.
0:45.3	In 1970, at the height of counterculture in the United States, the protest movement, and rising dissatisfaction with the environmental abuses of the modern world,
0:55.3	US Senator and Governor of Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, conceived the idea of Earth Day. In a speech during that inaugural day in 1970, Nelson said,
1:05.3	Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and beauty and water. The objective is an environment of decency, quality, and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures.
1:20.3	Some people talk about protecting the environment as if it only involves clean air and clean water.
1:27.3	But the environment, Nelson urged, involves the whole broad spectrum of man's relationship to all other living creatures, including other human beings.
1:38.3	Basically, we live on Earth, we come from Earth, we will become Earth when we die, so we should probably treat it with some respect.
1:46.3	The Stoic spoke of this at length. In fact, they had a word for it, Sympathia, a connectedness with the cosmos.
1:55.3	It is one of the lesser known Stoic concepts, in part because it's so incredibly easy to focus on the self and lose sight of the whole.
2:03.3	But, as Marcus Aurelius wrote, we should meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe.
2:12.3	For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity with each other.
2:18.3	For one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirings, and the unity of all substance.
2:27.3	No one is saying you have to stop driving a car, go off a grid, but it is your duty to care and to care for this place, you call home.
2:36.3	You can find the little places where you can make small differences, you can try to limit yourself in your appetites, you can be good to your fellow human beings.
2:45.3	We are all connected and unified and made for one another, and this should never be far from our minds.
2:52.3	We should be humane to the earth we inhabit and to each other today and every day. Let us take care of each other and happy Earth Day.
3:02.3	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.
3:15.3	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and ad free on Amazon Music.
	...

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