If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Discourses and Selected Writings
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Epictetus was born a slave around 50 ad. His owner was Epaphroditus, a rich freedman who was once a slave of Nero. Though he was a slave Epictetus was sent to study philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus was lame and there are some stories it was caused by his master and others that it was caused by disease.
He was a freedman when all philosophers were banished from Rome in 89 by the Emperor Domitian. He then started his school in Greece, and had many students. He did not leave any writings from his lessons, but one of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes and wrote the Discourses.
Epictetus did not marry, had no children, and lived to be around 80-85.In retirement, he adopted a child that would have been abandoned and raised him with a woman.
He died sometime around AD 135.
He might be my favorite Stoic teacher. I love his bare bones and very straight forward approach.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of one of his lessons. Epictetus’s text appears in bold, my replies are in normal text.
After a sad week, I thought I should go back to your regularly scheduled programming. Life with the puppy is going well, he finally started to sleep all night and today started scratching at the door to go out. He will still pee inside if we don’t take him out every 15-20 minutes, but he seems to prefer to pee outside. Still get a little sad when I think about Smoke, but having the puppy really helps.
How ought we to bear ourselves toward tyrants?
If a man possesses some superiority, or thinks at least that he does, even though he does not, it is quite unavoidable that this man, if he is uneducated, becomes puffed up on account of it.
Did Epictetus know Joe Biden? Or have venal tyrants unaware of how stupid they really were been a problem for as long as we have had organized governments?
For example, the tyrant exclaims, “I am the mightiest in the world.” Very well, what can you do for me? Can you secure for me desire that is free from any hindrance? How can you? Do you have it yourself? Can you secure for me aversion proof against encountering what it would avoid? Do you have it yourself? Or infallible choice? And where can you claim a share in that? Come, when you are on board ship, do you feel confidence in yourself, or in the skilled navigator? And when you are in a chariot, in whom do you feel confidence other than the skilled driver. And how is it in the other arts? The same way. What does your power amount to, then? “All men pay attention[1] to me.” Yes, and I pay attention to my little plate and wash it and wipe it out, and for the sake of my oil-flask I drive a peg in the wall. What follows, then? Are these things superior to me? No, but they render me some service, and therefore I pay attention to them. Again, do I not pay attention to my donkey? 5Do I not wash his feet? Do I not curry him? Do you not know that every man pays attention to himself, and to you just as he does to his donkey? For who pays attention to you as to a man? Point him out to me. Who wishes to become like you? Who becomes a zealous follower of yours as men did of Socrates? “But I can cut off your head.” Well said! I had forgotten that I ought to pay attention to you, as to fever or cholera, and set up an altar to you, just as in Rome there is an altar to the God Fever.
All the tyrants throughout history have had an inflated idea of their value. I have always tried to ignore the government as much as possible and for most of my life that has worked pretty well for me. It is only in the last few years that this has become impossible. They constantly try to keep us in our place by not stealing so much that it foments revolt. For those more inclined to resist they make sure we know how long the J6 sentences are for walking into a building. The government has become a spreading virus and the Romans thought if they prayed to the Flu, they could keep it away. Probably worked as well as masks.
What is it, then, that disturbs and bewilders the multitude? Is it the tyrant and his bodyguards? How is that possible? Nay, far from it! It is not possible that that which is by nature free should be disturbed or thwarted by anything but itself. But it is a man’s own judgements that disturb him. For when the tyrant says to a man, “I will chain your leg,” the man who has set a high value on his leg replies, “Nay, have mercy upon me,” while the man who has set a high value on his moral purpose replies, “If it seems more profitable to you to do so, chain it.” “Do you not care?” “No, I do not care.” “I will show you that I am master.” “How can you be my master? Zeus has set me free. Or do you really think that he was likely to let his own son be made a slave? You are, however, master of my dead body, take it.” 10“You mean, then, that when you approach me you will not pay attention to me?” “No, I pay attention only to myself. But if you wish me to say that I pay attention to you too, I tell you that I do so, but only as I pay attention to my pot.”
The government has no problem with using coercion and intimidation to get what it wants. We all have lines we won’t let them cross, but by the time we realize what is happening it is too late. For myself, I let them bully me into getting the vax. I did take the J&J, and refused to get the MRNA one. It was my decision, but I partially blame the Marine Corps, I had so many shots that one more didn’t seem like a big deal, plus it was early, before there were a lot of stories about potential dangers. Mostly though, it was my deciding that my standard of living was more important than not knuckling under. I have learned a valuable lesson, if they try the same thing with a booster, I will lose my job and feel much better about my decision than I do about giving in the first time.
This is not mere self-love; such is the nature of the animal man; everything that he does is for himself. Why, even the sun does everything for its own sake, and, for that matter, so does Zeus himself. But when Zeus wishes to be “Rain-bringer,” and “Fruit-giver,” and “Father of men and of gods,” you can see for yourself that he cannot achieve these works, or win these appellations, unless he proves himself useful to the common interest; and in general he has so constituted the nature of the rational animal man, that he can attain nothing of his own proper goods unless he contributes something to the common interest. Hence it follows that it can no longer be regarded as unsocial for a man to do everything for his own sake. 15For what do you expect? That a man should neglect himself and his own interest? And in that case how can there be room for one and the same principle of action for all, namely, that of appropriation[2] to their own needs?
The government doesn’t care about you. I wish I could convince some people I know of this obvious fact. It has its own self interest at heart in everything it does. Like the government, we all do things in our own self interest. Even when I do something for my wife that I don’t want to do, it is to make her happy which makes my life happier. Although after 29 years together, it is hard to tell where one person’s happiness ends and the other person’s begins.
What then? When men entertain absurd opinions about what lies outside the province of the moral purpose, counting it good or bad, it is altogether unavoidable for them to pay attention to the tyrant. Aye, would that it were merely the tyrants and not their chamberlains too! And yet how can the man suddenly become wise when Caesar puts him in charge of his chamber pot? How can we forthwith say “Felicio has spoken wisely to me”? I would that he were deposed from the superintendency of the dunghill, that you may think him a fool again! Epaphroditus owned a certain cobbler whom he sold because he was useless; then by some chance the fellow was bought by a member of Caesar’s household and became cobbler to Caesar. You should have seen how Epaphroditus honored him! 20“How is my good Felicio, I pray you?” he used to say. And then if someone asked us, “What is your master[3] doing?” he was told, “He is consulting Felicio about something or other.” Why, had he not sold him as being useless? Who, then, had suddenly made a wise man out of him? This is what it means to honor something else than what lies within the province of the moral purpose.
The power concentrated in the government is like a siren song, drawing the worst sycophants and power hungry people. It seems to infect a lot of people that work for the government as well. I work with government workers and they are overall nice, they are some of the most entitled people I ever met. I’m sure in DC, it’s even worse.
“He has been honored with a tribuneship,” someone says. All who meet him offer their congratulations; one man kisses him on the eyes, another on the neck, his slaves kiss his hands. He goes home; he finds lamps being lighted. 25He climbs up the Capitol and offers sacrifice. Now who ever sacrificed as a thank-offering for having had right desire, or for having exercised choice in accordance with nature? For we give thanks to the gods for that wherein we set the good.
Getting appointed to a high level in government is a lifelong goal for some people. Epictetus thins desiring such a position goes against nature. Personally, I could never do it, I am happy with my job where I am only responsible for me.
To-day a man was talking to me about a priesthood of Augustus. I say to him, “Man, drop the matter; you will be spending a great deal to no purpose.” “But,” says he, “those who draw up deeds of sale will inscribe my name.” “Do you really expect, then, to be present when the deeds are read and say, ‘That is my name they have written’? And even supposing you are now able to be present whenever anyone reads them, what will you do if you die?” “My name will remain after me.” “Inscribe it on a stone and it will remain after you. Come now, who will remember you outside of Nicopolis?”[4] “But I shall wear a crown of gold.” “If you desire a crown at all, take a crown of roses and put it on; you will look much more elegant in that.”
The desire to be important is not one I understand. Maybe a little, when I was a Corporal in the Marines in artillery, I really wanted to be a section chief running a howitzer with about 13 Marines under me. When I achieved this I was very happy, because to me that was validation that I was good at being a Marine as well as being good at artillery.
Music this week is from Iron Maiden’s first album.
Iron Maiden is one of my favorite bands of all time, I first heard them in 1985 when I was 14.
Prowler Probably my favorite song from the Paul Di’Anno era.
While Bruce is a much better singer Paul fits this raw style very well.
The musicianship is amazing for a bunch of 19 years old, and you can hear where they are trying to get to with the guitar harmonies and galloping bass with the time changes.
Still a huge hit live.
Last Saturday there was a Mens Breakfast at church.
There were two lines from the talk that I found very interesting. They are both very shallow sounding at first, but actually have a lot of depth to them. And I think both are major problems with both believers and churches today. Although I don’t see any obvious connection to stoicism, I thought of this thread last Saturday and thought I would share them here today.
1. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.
2. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
I think almost every problem the modern (or middle ages, or early) church has can be traced to not applying one of those two.
Excellent. Thanks.
I think for a connection to Stoicism if you can’t change God’s love, then do your best to live a good life and not obsess about that.
If you focus on living properly then it doesn’t matter how much God loves you.
If you live for every little pleasure regardless of the consequences, it also doesn’t matter how much God loves you.
Wow, this one was great. That second paragraph was pretty scorching. Now I see why they call Stoicism “white supremacist” or whatever. It’s a direct challenge to our status quo.
Seconded. I enjoy all of these, but this one is especially relevant to all right now.
It’s very direct.
There’s a reason this philosophy is hardly mentioned in the government schools.
It definitely is not for the type of people they strive to create.
Speaking of tyrants, this may be a hopeful sign:
Furious protestors screaming “close the border” heckled Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Jerry Nadler and other Democrats Friday as they were holding a press conference on the Big Apple’s escalating migrant crisis.
They were also flipping them off and yelling “send them back”. Pretty interesting that even the citizens of NYC are reaching the point where maybe they’ve had enough.
It took sending them to NYC to get some action, though. Nobody else exists but NYC. Subject them to the problems of the rest of the country, they start screaming immediately with no sense of self-awareness at all.
Unfortunately very true. And they will still keep voting for Democrats, because they can’t see the connection between their voting preferences and the consequences of their voting preferences.
Not only that though. The thought of voting for a right winger is even more abhorrent.
Local blogger (well educated traditional democrat) thinks the problem is just extremism and incompetence, not the natural outcome of leftist ideas. Suggest he quit pulling the lever for Democrats and he tirades about Nazis and Trumpers (and thinks the Turtle is on the same sheet as Trump himself). His stated ideal Republicans are Nixon and Fords.
NIMBYism at it’s finest.
But you don’t understand, they’re not used to it!
They are prevented from getting jobs. They are prevented from employment and that is part of the strain on our public systems. The faster that folks can access the work that they’re asking for, legally, the better we can solve.
They need to be turned away at the border and the ones that get through need to be captured and deported. But, instead, the feds invite them in and traffic them around the country.
“They are prevented from getting jobs. “
I thought they were, but I keep seeing stories to the contrary.
Well, familiarity does breed contempt, they say.
Broadly popular
Biden announced his candidacy for re-election earlier this year. He’s already raised $77 million as of July, and has no serious primary challenge. He remains broadly popular among Democratic voters, even if he clearly has work to do in order to reassure wayward party members. When Lyndon Johnson abandoned re-election in March 1968, he had spent months dragging his feet on launching a campaign. When he almost lost the New Hampshire Democratic primary to Sen. Eugene McCarthy, his name wasn’t even on the ballot (voters had to write it in). None of that is happening with Biden. He has given every imaginable signal that he is running and that his heart is in it. Barring some unforeseen health event, he’s not dropping out. It simply isn’t going to happen.
Nor will Biden jettison Harris from the presidential ticket. While it’s true that Harris is not terribly popular, dropping her from the ticket would be a slap in the face to the most consistently loyal constituency in the Democratic Party — Black women. There’s a reason that Biden’s announcement video this past June was brimming with images of Harris, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (who was nominated by Biden) and dozens of women of color. They are the bedrock of the party, and in an election that will rely heavily on mobilizing Democratic partisans, motivating Black women will be crucial for victory. Anyone suggesting that Biden should drop a Black woman from the presidential ticket to help his re-election chances simply doesn’t understand how Democratic politics works.
Re-elect Jungle Fever Joe!
Well, most Democrats would vote for a bag of rocks if it had a “D” after its name. So I believe Biden actually is broadly popular among Democratic voters.
“Well, most Democrats would vote for a bag of rocks if it had a “D” after its name.” Can confirm. Swalwell is my Congressman.
I can still remember all the conservative pundits (and also people here) explaining how Biden would be replaced by Harris shortly. Lots of various creative scenarios on how that would shortly happen.
They’re popping up again. I’m reading how any minute now they’re going to push him out…. uh huh.
…
Actually, no. He’s also going to run again for president, win, and serve the whole time.
He’s the perfect Democrat.
You forgot the scare quotes around ‘win’.
“win”
and has no serious primary challenge
The Democratic Party is rigging the primary against the serious challenger.
his heart is in it
Figuratively perhaps.
simply doesn’t understand how Democratic politics works
Easy. Check all the correct immutable characteristic boxes.
And then run the old white guy anyway.
Just in case you weren’t around when I shared this. Still cracks me up about the generation and how far it has travelled.
IRON MAIDEN / The Trooper [Cover by NEMOPHILA]
Okay, that cracked me up too.
I’ll check that out when I get home.
A lot of people don’t know this, but Iron Maiden is actually just an urban legend.
Renaissance carnival proprietors just made up Dickinson’s soaring vocals and Maiden’s innovative dual guitar shredding just to con gullible fair-goers.
What about the human-shaped box with spikes?
Totally legit, and a cultural phenomenon in the 80s.
Wow
😲
“No, I pay attention only to myself. But if you wish me to say that I pay attention to you too, I tell you that I do so, but only as I pay attention to my pot.”
That’s badass.
Now who ever sacrificed as a thank-offering for having had right desire, or for having exercised choice in accordance with nature? For we give thanks to the gods for that wherein we set the good.
That’s an interesting perspective. I’ll bet most of us thank God for stuff and situations more than we do for successfully leading a godly life.
Thanks, Ron. And thanks, too, for the Maiden. Just the ticket for lifting later!
I like where he compares paying attention to the tyrant to paying attention to the flu.
As for Maiden, I don’t listen to them as much as I used to.
When I do, I enjoy it, but I might have listened to them too much when I was younger.
Living as a Stoic ain’t easy if you try to pay attention to your thinking and use reason. Too often you can slip back into old habits – complaining about someone else’s behavior or ‘unfair’ turns of fate, trying to excuse yourself for doing something you shouldn’t have – the list could fill a book. It requires a good deal of vigilance. But it’s worth it.
Or have venal tyrants unaware of how stupid they really were been a problem for as long as we have had organized governments?
Yes. Open the Bible to Psalms and read the ones by David (most of the early ones). He sounds like a 1000 BC Donald Trump trying to run a country and wondering why everyone around him are evil assholes.
Is Hillary Goliath?
Different part of the Bible (Kings, I think), same guy, Goliath could be a metaphor for unelected bureaucrats.
Samuel
Oh.
Damn.
Ha – and Hunter is Absalom
Okay, it tracks.
No. Goliath was slain.
And then he became the evil asshole when it came to Bathsheba.
Yep. Although when he was called out for it, he confessed in public.
Hard to picture any of our leaders doing the same.
Send this grifting gremlin to the front.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Washington next week to meet President Biden at the White House and hold meetings on Capitol Hill during his trip to the U.S. for the UN General Assembly, according to two sources.
He probably should ask for money or something. I heard the U.S. is good for it.
He can take a bunch of illegals back with him. I heard he needs more cannon fodder.
Now you’re thinking.
Send that idea to Gov. Abbott.
Then they would have to fight the Cubans that Russia is sending to the front.
Biden hired this drag queen to HELP U.S. military recruitment.
This is why China and Russia are laughing at us.
The government doesn’t care about you.
And government employees don’t really care about their purported intentions or purpose.
Look, I’m here for the paycheck. If I had to support the mad schemes of the political classes, I’d be a wreck.
Speaking of evil tyrants… The Hawaiian government is really going to steal the land in Maui. Simply aren’t going to grant people permits to rebuild on their own property because of “global warming”
https://www.bitchute.com/video/ao8yp9M2GwC5/
The comments section makes Zerohedge look Jew friendly in comparison.
I thought you were kidding, but no….
I hate the guy but not for his race. Since Hawaii won’t let you have a gun he will no doubt be murdered by a Hawaiian war club.
“We’ll do what we can to make people whole, but if we’ve cut the value of your property by 90% because we’ll no longer let anyone build anything on it, oh well.”
CWAA
The government gave them $700, what more do those ungrateful people want?
They don’t want to build close to the water due to sea level rise. Most land in Hawaii rises pretty rapidly from the ocean because it’s a volcano. So they have to move buildings away from the shore by about a yard at most, if that’s even really even a problem.
Since we have lots of gym folk here, I have an opportunity.
Planet Fitness shares sink after board ousts CEO in shocking move
The way it was done suggests it wasn’t done just because his results weren’t meeting expectations.
looks like a lizard person
Boy he does look like he could snap a fly out of the air with his tongue.
I guess I am not one to talk.
I’m glad I read this comment before clicking on the link and seeing the picture, lmao.
looks like a lizard person
Looks more amphibian than reptile.
Supposedly staying on the board, so yeah, doesn’t make sense. It’s abrupt but can’t be that bad if he’s really remaining on the board.
Fucking the help probably.
Don’t bang the cleaning lady.
We just opened our gym this week. But we have a much different clientele than Planet Fitness. While we were looking for a building, we talked to someone who owns either a Planet Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness. He said he had 1000 members and didn’t see half of them past January.
Congratulations!
I’m not a gym person, but I can imagine there is a bit of difference between independent and chain. Although for more than a few I suppose location is likely the biggest driver. My brief read on the subject is the closer the gym the more likely you will go.
Thanks. We are targeting people who are serious about going to the gym and we want to see them there often. We can be profitable with 200 people, not 1000. You’re right, location is a deciding factor. Our location is right near a shopping center in our town so it should be convenient for a lot of people. We’re also putting in a shower eventually, because a lot of people go in early before work.
In my market the shower would be a necessity.
Although the gym people I know go before work.
“All the”… WTH autocorrect.
Why are they ousting the CEO? I thought they were a no-judgment zone.
It rant of the week: my kids’ teachers are providing their class syllabus (or claiming to) so the school and the district can claim to be more transparent about what goes on in the class. Problem: none of the syllabus’s list the textbooks or reading materials or anything about the lessons. It’s all about classroom conduct and what percentage of the grade is homework vs tests.
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Beat the teachers with a dictionary until they learn what syllabus means.
It’s a vehicle for word fragments.
Then it ain’t a syllabus.
Rondeau’s departure appears sudden, and it’s not clear what triggered the decision, especially after a stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings report last month. Some staff close to Rondeau learned about his departure around the time the news was announced publicly, leaving them shocked, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hanky panky? Secret Nazi CEO?
Where was he on January 6?
“I’ll take ‘Threatened by Commie Stockholders’ for $500, Alex.”
They found out that he sometimes drops the weights?
Grunted during a meeting?
Thank you for another great post, Ron.
Heh…
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell became enraged and swore at opposing counsel during a series of depositions earlier this year, according to newly released videos. The new tapes give a glimpse into what took place during those interviews.
He didn’t kill the lawyer?
I am disappoint.
A la Randle P. McMurphy?
USG continues to facilitate an invasion of the states. Seems kindof treason-y.
Watch as Border Patrol mass releases hundreds of illegal migrants to a city street in San Diego as CBP facilities are overcrowded.
Migrant: “It’s no problem if I go to Chicago?”
BP agent: “You can do whatever you want, you’re free.”
These are Biden’s buses, not Texas.
They are also doing that in small border towns in rural AZ. The local BP agents apparently refer to these releases as “freedom runs”.
“I was raised as a poor, black, Puerto Rican, catholic, Jew…”
Biden, on a call with rabbis before the Jewish High Holy Days: “I was, you might say, raised in the synagogues of my state. You think I’m kidding — I’m not”
Pity there’s no way to scrape that up. My lawn needs fertilizing.
I thought Joe Bidenopoulos was raised by Greeks?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LVqD1iPLfO8
He’s the Zelig of religion.
Ah, attending synagogue in between letting kids play with the blonde hairs on his legs and brawling with Corn Pop. He’s lived a helluva life.
Forrest Biden.
“We own the science…”
Is this Orwellian censorship part of illegal partnership the fascists at @Google and @Youtube signed with @UN to suppress information and censor info that contradicts heir lies, as admitted by UN comms czar @MelissaFleming at the evil @WEF? Help expose these tyrants. @elonmusk
Try typing something like “Biden shell companies” into Google search. Normally auto complete would quickly figure out what your typing. But Google will act like it has no idea what you could possibly be searching for.
*your* or you’re, whichever floats you’re boat.
TW: the book of faces … Build Back Better!
Bidenomics in action
After California lawmakers passed a landmark fast-food bill, an independent advocacy group of McDonald’s
owners is pushing back against what it says will be a “devastating financial blow” to its franchisees in the state, according to a memo to its membership viewed by CNBC.
The bill, AB 1228, was passed by the state Senate late Thursday and heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for signature. He has already pledged to sign the bill into law. It includes a wage floor of $20 for California workers at fast-food chains with at least 60 locations nationwide, starting April 1.
Labor groups pushed for even higher wages in previous legislation, but the resulting $20 an hour floor prevailed. Even in a state where the minimum wage is $15.50 and the pay floor is even higher in some municipalities, the deal will bring a significant raise for many workers. But despite support from franchisee and restaurant advocacy groups, some owners are concerned about what the bill means for operations in a challenging labor market and during a period of high inflation.
The National Owners Association, an independent advocacy group of more than 1,000 McDonald’s owners, projects in the memo the bill will cost each restaurant in the state $250,000 annually. The group said the costs “simply cannot be absorbed by the business model.” It also warned similar legislation will follow in other states.
Further, the organization claimed in the letter that “a small coalition of franchisors, including McDonald’s, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the International Franchise Association (IFA) independently w/o franchisee involvement, negotiated a deal with the [Service Employees International Union]; causing the legislative outcome to now become certain.”
According to plan.
O/T: Greetings from Nisswa, Minnesota, right on the southern shore of Lower Cullen Lake.
For the next couple of days, I hope I have no reason to be stoic.
Look out for MikeS. and his brother, NoDakMatt! They are some BAD mambo-jambos and have been known to tear the town of Nisswa up when they roll through.
Meanwhile, worker advocates — who won wage hikes but not increases as large as they first sought — said their work is just getting started.
“Fast-food workers’ fight in California isn’t close to over — it has only just begun as they prepare to take their seat at the table and help transform their industry for the better,” Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement to CNBC.
She added, “California’s Fast Food Council brings together every stakeholder in this industry, including franchisees. At this table, workers and franchisees alike will be heard by global franchisors and will have a direct role in shaping improved standards in the industry. This groundbreaking, sector-wide approach is the path to making fast-food jobs safer and the industry more sustainable for everyone.”
Employers exist solely for the benefit of the Worker.
Workers of the world, unite!
Sad. If you are just sitting on grill duty for years like SpongeBob Squarepants you don’t need a raise. Move up to management or go get a job somewhere else.
Riven!
It’s autumn-y here right now. 60s!
I’m sure it will be back in the 90s soon.
Want more bees? Quit monocropping and use more regenerative ag. It’s not that difficult.
Whoops!