Does any of it really matter?

 

We grow up wanting success. We almost expect it! As we enter adulthood, with all the hopes of youth, we set out to live a good life and make a difference to the world. But in reality, life is hard. Earning a living can be a daily struggle. Hours are cut. The rent is due. The car breaks down. With so many bills to pay, it can be difficult to make ends meet. Perhaps we take a second job to help ease the pressure. We may even find ourselves walking the streets at night delivering advertising fliers. Low pay, but every dollar helps. 

Busy lives don't allow much time for reflection. But occasionally we may find ourselves with a few spare minutes. Precious time to ponder the question, does any of this really matter? 

As we come to realize that our vanishingly short lives will soon pass, we may conclude that our mundane activities are insignificant and that nothing we do is of any real value. Indeed, our lives are short, and our accomplishments, great and small, will quickly fade until eventually all evidence that we lived will have disappeared. So, we may be forgiven for thinking that there is little point to it all. That our lives don’t really matter. 

But what is it that we want to leave behind? Large bank accounts? Buildings? Artwork? In focusing on the overt ways in which we might make a difference, we forget the subtle. We may think that delivering fliers is insignificant and makes no real difference, but is this true? Consider that the delivery of a pamphlet at just the right time may result in someone visiting a store, which may lead to a chance encounter with a sales assistant, which could result in her inspiration to take a course and change her life direction. She may end up having a significant impact on society. The flier deliverer will one day be gone and forgotten, but that is true of everyone. We will all be forgotten. However, our activities ripple through time and can make a significant difference to the world. 

So, when we feel insignificant and think our lives don't matter, we must remember that we are part of a massively interconnected chain of cause and effect. Our actions don't exist in isolation. They reverberate around the world and echo through time.

Responding to intensity with intensity

 

Tell me, my friends: is it wise to answer intensity with intensity? Or is it wiser to resist it?

Sometimes, people respond to a question with a level of intensity that far exceeds the question itself. Their reply can be hyperbolic, as if to say, “why on Earth are you even asking this question?” But we need to ask ourselves: will responding with hyperbole help?

Overblown back-and-forth exchanges can escalate frustration and shut down conversation. We need to remain calm, and ask the question again in a clearer way, while explaining why we are asking it. Remember: we cannot control the response of others, but we can choose our own approach to conversation.

Talk To The Dead

 

The Stoic writer Ryan Holiday tells a story about Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. Zeno once asked the Oracle at Delphi how to live the best life. Her reply was cryptic: “Talk to the dead.”

Years later, Zeno came to understand what she meant. He encountered a book about Socrates, and through its pages, he heard the voice of a thinker long gone. By reading the dead, he learned how to live, and from this encounter, Stoicism was born.

In our troubled times, we may also find it helpful to talk to the dead. We can do this by picking up their books. Through reading, we can listen to the thoughts of people who lived long before us, yet faced challenges not so different from our own. Their words still speak to us. 

Perhaps, if we are willing to listen, like Zeno, we too may learn how to live the best life.

Experts and trust

 

My friends, I was once told that I am wise because I know that I know nothing.

I have spent my life seeking out people said to be experts, hoping to learn from them. But I have often found that some do not realize the limits of their own knowledge. It's as if their confidence is mistaken for wisdom.

From this, I have learned two things:
First, we should never blindly accept what experts say.
But second, neither should we dismiss them simply because they are experts.

The wise response to an expert is questioning:
1.    What is your evidence?
2.    How was it tested?
3.    What would count against your claim?

To question expertise is not arrogance.
To refuse all expertise is.

Write it down

 

Historically I am known for not writing anything down. In fact, everything that people know about me comes from the writings of my contemporaries. With this in mind, you may find what I'm about to say to be ironic. But, here it is: Write!

We struggle with life decisions. We get frustrated with every day events. We ruminate on the past. But let me ask: is it better to keep those thoughts bouncing around in the mind, or offload them? Writing offers a means by which we can externalize thoughts and work through them in a methodical way.

Marcus Aurelius famously kept a daily journal. When we read his thoughts, we see him grappling with day-to-day issues, many of which are not too different to the issues we face in our day and age. His wisdom was to write it down... to work it all out on the page. This helps clarify thoughts and free the mind. So, my friends, despite my historic suspicion of the written word, I have come to think that setting one’s thoughts down privately -- not for display, but for examination -- can help liberate the mind.