Can We Stoics Take A Day Off?

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spk_0 I'm Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center.

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spk_0 It seems like the pursuit of moral wisdom of virtue of Arate is meant to take up all of

spk_0 our time as stoic precoptons.

spk_0 So, does that mean we can never take a day off?

spk_0 Can we ever just phone it in or must we be forever vigilant?

spk_0 Welcome back for Copton, I hope you're well.

spk_0 This week we're going to be talking about exactly that.

spk_0 Whether a stoic precopton can, while still pursuing moral wisdom, take a day off.

spk_0 The answer, I hope, is a surprise.

spk_0 At first glance, it's easy to say no.

spk_0 Consider Epictetus, discourses 4.12.1.

spk_0 When you relax your attention for a while, do not fancy you will recover it whenever

spk_0 you please.

spk_0 But remember this, that because of your fault today, your affairs must necessarily be in

spk_0 worse condition in future occasions.

spk_0 And then there's Marcus Aurelius in Meditation 7.14.

spk_0 Everywhere and all the time it lies within your power to be reverently contended with your

spk_0 present lot, to behave justly to such people as our present at hand and to deal skillfully

spk_0 with your present impressions so that nothing may steal into your mind which you have not

spk_0 adequately grasped.

spk_0 At first it sounds like the ancients are telling us, never rest, never give up, always be vigilant,

spk_0 always be on the ball.

spk_0 But neither Marcus nor Epictetus were sages, and that means they didn't walk the stoic

spk_0 path perfectly, and that means they must have failed at maintaining vigilance every now

spk_0 and then, probably even often.

spk_0 Here's Epictetus again, this time striking a more forgiving tone than before.

spk_0 This is discourses 3.25.4.

spk_0 In this contest, even if we should fault her for a while, no one can prevent us from

spk_0 resuming the fight, nor is it necessary to wait another four years for the next Olympic

spk_0 Games to come around.

spk_0 But as soon as one has recovered and regained one's strength and can muster the same zeal

spk_0 as before, one can enter the fight, and if one should fail again, one can re-enter once

spk_0 again, and if one should carry off the victory one fine day, it will be as if they had never

spk_0 given in.

spk_0 We have a bad habit today, we've probably had it as human beings for a really long time.

spk_0 We idolize our heroes from the past, we put them on pedestals and talk about them as if

spk_0 they were flawless.

spk_0 We imagine Epictetus as a perfect instructor, Zeno as the ultimate stoic thinker, and Marcus

spk_0 as the perfect ruler.

spk_0 But that's nonsense, and we should know that.

spk_0 I don't believe for a moment that any of these men lived without lapses.

spk_0 History doesn't tell us whether Marcus ever lost his temper at home, or whether Epictetus

spk_0 ever threw a book at a stubborn student, or whether Zeno ever passed gas at a state dinner

spk_0 and blamed the guy next to him.

spk_0 Of course, these things probably didn't happen, but refusing to admit that they could have

spk_0 happened, because no sage has ever existed, is frankly pretty naive.

spk_0 Marcus, being imperfect, surely had off days, but he always recovered his wits and returned

spk_0 to the work.

spk_0 So would've Zeno, so would've Epictetus.

spk_0 If these earnest practitioners could never take a day off, still accidentally mess things

spk_0 up for a day or two, then return to the effort the next morning.

spk_0 How different is that from choosing to rest on purpose, and coming back the next day,

spk_0 renewed?

spk_0 There is a difference, of course, maybe a subtle one.

spk_0 It's like the difference between trying to be a good parent every day, sometimes failing,

spk_0 but keeping at it, and simply abandoning your child and not returning until they're

spk_0 30 and you feel ready to be a parent.

spk_0 One is imperfect practice, while the other is an intentional lapse of presence or practice.

spk_0 So there is a difference.

spk_0 But is there really so much difference between a week of trying your best and falling short,

spk_0 and a week of deliberate rest to recharge your parenting batteries, or in this case, your

spk_0 stoic ones?

spk_0 That is where I think things get interesting.

spk_0 Have you ever stayed up all night wrestling with a problem?

spk_0 A tough puzzle at work, you just can't solve, you're awake until 2 a.m., then you drag

spk_0 yourself into work the next day, and all that effort is wasted because you got nowhere

spk_0 anyway, and now you perform like shit all day and your Bosch yells at you.

spk_0 Then you go home, defeated, dejected, you shower, maybe go for a walk or a run, you see

spk_0 something, a tree blowing in the wind, a rare vintage car, kids playing in the park.

spk_0 And that moment sparks a memory, which sparks another memory, which sparks a thought, and

spk_0 suddenly boom, there's the answer.

spk_0 That's happened to most of us, probably all of us, probably pretty often.

spk_0 Sometimes the answers we're looking for come to us when we stop straining and give our

spk_0 rational faculty a break to focus on something else or not focus on anything at all in particular.

spk_0 And I've said this on previous episodes, that rest being healthy for the hegemonicon

spk_0 must sometimes therefore be a virtuous choice, but I don't think I was clear enough about how vicious

spk_0 it can be to never choose to rest.

spk_0 That's likely because I wasn't a father when I first said it.

spk_0 I have more perspective now.

spk_0 I have more responsibilities now.

spk_0 I have more roles to balance.

spk_0 I can see more clearly now how appropriate rest aids in making just choices and concerns

spk_0 to those responsibilities.

spk_0 And we all have responsibilities to our partner, our kids, our co-workers, boss, family,

spk_0 friends, our community, non-human animals, the cosmopolist, the earth itself,

spk_0 burnout is real. No one can dig a ditch every hour of every day without sleeping,

spk_0 drinking water or resting. This of course isn't a stoic secret, it's basic common sense.

spk_0 If we don't drink water, sleep, take breaks, and sometimes relax our stoic focus so we can

spk_0 notice nature, ourselves, and our loved ones, we'll burn out.

spk_0 The ancient stoics I hope would have intuited this.

spk_0 After all they rested, they spent time in nature, they took breaks, they must have.

spk_0 But they may not have framed it exactly in the way I'm framing it now.

spk_0 And if they didn't, I think that's a shame, but you know what?

spk_0 They weren't sages after all.

spk_0 Marcus also wrote this somewhat damning statement in his meditations.

spk_0 People try to get away from it all to the country, to the beach, to the mountains.

spk_0 You always wish that you could too, which is idiotic.

spk_0 You can get away from it all anytime you like by going with in.

spk_0 Know where you can go is more peaceful, more free of interruptions than your own soul.

spk_0 I honestly find this very hubaristic and more than a little bit funny.

spk_0 Marcus absolutely went to the country he had a house there.

spk_0 And are we really going to believe that the man who led Rome through multiple wars,

spk_0 plagues, floods, and disasters never buried his face in his hands and shouted the Latin equivalent

spk_0 of fuck before lying down to rest his mind and weary body?

spk_0 Especially someone as brooding as Marcus?

spk_0 Come on now.

spk_0 Of course he did.

spk_0 And so should you.

spk_0 Rest, I mean, ideally before he reached the screaming obscenities stage.

spk_0 Sometimes you just have to say enough stoic effort for now.

spk_0 I'll go walk by the lake, listen to the ducks,

spk_0 feel the breeze, and let myself unwind for an hour, a weekend, or a week.

spk_0 This won't harm your practice, not in the big picture.

spk_0 Instead, I believe it will help.

spk_0 Just as it very likely helped the ancient stoics, and as it helps everyone.

spk_0 Stoic or not.

spk_0 You don't need to be a stoic hard-nose to be a good stoic.

spk_0 In fact, I'd wager that if you are a stoic hard-nose,

spk_0 you're making less progress on the path of the percaptan than the stoic who knaps when needed,

spk_0 accepts that perfection is an endlessly far away and thus unreachable destination

spk_0 and cares for themselves so they can better serve others.

spk_0 So do me a favor.

spk_0 Today, take the rest of the day off from doing all the stoic things.

spk_0 If that's impossible, carve out some time soon.

spk_0 Go into nature for an hour or if you can, pitch a tent and camp for the weekend,

spk_0 or maybe just the night.

spk_0 Take your kids or your partner, or go alone if that's appropriate.

spk_0 Just step away and give yourself and your mind a little break.

spk_0 Now of course I don't mean take a break from making decent choices,

spk_0 or carefully thought through choices.

spk_0 I'm not suggesting you go wild, do something reckless, and wake up in prison.

spk_0 I simply mean rest.

spk_0 You're allowed to rest.

spk_0 In fact, you need to.

spk_0 And trust me, if you take a nap off to the side of the stoic path,

spk_0 the stoic path will still be there in the morning.

spk_0 Thanks for listening this week.

spk_0 As always, very appreciative and glad to have you here.

spk_0 I will see you next week.

spk_0 If you haven't already, please consider supporting this podcast

spk_0 by going to stoicismpod.com,

spk_0 forward slash members, and signing up for just $10 a month.

spk_0 You get access to an ad-free version of the podcast,

spk_0 access to me, and some other things that I won't talk about here.

spk_0 Thanks one more time for listening, and until next time, take care.

Can We Stoics Take A Day Off?

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