We Must Live By This Rule

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

🗓️ 18 January 2019

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Zigong once asked Confucius: “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” His reply: “Is not RECIPROCITY such a word?”

Thus we have, by yet another source, another formulation of the Golden Rule. Matthew 7:12, for instance, has its version: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.” And Luke 6:31: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”

The Stoics would obviously agree with this concept, though they would take it a little bit further. In fact, what we see in Marcus Aurelius over and over again is the idea that we must treat other people better than they treat us. Because they didn’t mean to do wrong, because they aren’t as informed as we are, because they have their own problems. And that we treat people well not because we ourselves would like to be treated well, but because to do anything less is a betrayal of our own values and standards.

The Golden Rule is simple and all-encompassing. It should govern how we talk to people, how we run our businesses, how we raise our children, how we react in difficult situations. It’s also an impossible standard. We’re never going to fully get there. We’re human. Empathy is sometimes beyond us in the moment. Which is why we need to constantly review and reflect on our own behavior (journaling is great for this), so that we can learn from it and improve on it.

If we can follow the Golden Rule and reflect honestly on our transgressions of it, we will get a little bit better at following it as we grow.

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 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.
0:35.3	We must live by this rule. Zegong, once asked Confucius, is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life? His reply is not reciprocity such a word.
0:49.3	Thus we have, by yet another source, another formulation of the golden rule. Matthew 712, for instance, has its version. All things whatsoever, ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law in the prophets.
1:06.3	The Stokes would obviously agree with this concept, though they would take it a little bit further. In fact, what we see in Marcus Aurelius over and over again is this idea that we must treat other people better than they treat us.
1:26.3	Because they didn't mean to do wrong, because they aren't as informed as we are, because they have their own problems. And that we should treat people well, not because we are cells would like to be treated well, but because to do anything less is a betrayal of our own values and standards.
1:43.3	The golden rule is simple and all-encompassing. It should govern how we talk to people, how we run our businesses, how we raise our children, how we react in difficult situations. It's also an impossible standard.
1:56.3	We're never going to fully get there. We're human, and empathy is sometimes beyond us in the moment, which is why we constantly review and reflect on our own behavior, and why here at Daily Stoke we recommend journaling so much.
2:10.3	So that we can learn from it and improve on it. If we can follow the golden rule and reflect honestly on our transgressions of it, we will get a little bit better at following it as we grow.
2:23.3	Please check out the Daily Stoke Store where we sell products that we ourselves use that are designed to take these Stoke lessons to the next level. Just go to DailyStoke.com slash store.
2:40.3	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke 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.