Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (February 16, 2020)

Hello there,

This week I’m going to draw inspiration from a different source, as our ancient guides tell us wisdom can be found anywhere and is in the public domain. This is from  Nietzche ‘s famous work Thus Spoke Zarathustra:  

“It is the same with man as with the tree. The more he seeks to rise into the height and light, the more vigorously do his roots struggle earthward, downward, into the dark, the deep – into evil…This is not the danger of the noble man, that he might become one of the good, but a know it all, a mocker, a destroyer.”

Why do you read these exercises every week? Why are you doing all this work, listening to podcasts, reading books, keeping a journal…whatever the effort you’re making to live a better life, why do you do it? Because you have recognized that you are far form perfect and that while you have time in this temporal existence you have the choice to become better. So you work towards becoming a better person.

What Nietzche (through his protagonist Zarathustra) is reminding us here is that we must never get complacent over our personal growth and development. It is a life long journey with no finish line. It is not a race to be won, or a task to be completed. It is a sequence of continuous efforts to make ourselves slightly better (more virtuous) than we were the previous day.

But the fact that we have accomplished tangible improvements does not change the fact that we have to (still) continue improving. I am once again reminded of the Stoic drowning man analogy here. We are all drowning in this murky water that is our moral destitute. We try to swim to the surface to breathe the fresh air, and if we can get there then we can be virtuous all the time no matter what happens around us. This is the definition of a philosopher-king, or a sage, which is a symbolic status to work towards, but in reality, it is impossible to attain. 

We live in these animal vessels that are severely flawed. It is the emotions of this primitive vessel that drives all the evil in the world. It is emotions that will rationalize hurting others, even taking lives in random acts of violence or wars. We can never shed this part of us, as we quite literally cannot exist anywhere except in these vessels (so far). So we will always be drowning in these murky waters, no matter how hard or high we’ve swum.

So, this week remind yourself that no matter how hard you worked or how far you have come along…or how much improvement you see in your virtue and demeanour, much work remains to be done…much improvement remains to be realized. Don’t get complacent over your improvements to date, and continuously strive to be better than your previous self every time you open your eyes in the morning.

As always, I wish you a wise, tranquil and productive week.

Anderson Silver

(Author of “Your User’s Manual” and “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”)