The Daily Stoic25 Loka 2018

Time Doesn’t Make Everything Better...It Just Makes Them What They Are

When we get dumped or we fail or we lose someone, we often hear that “Time heals all wounds” or some such remark, all of it in consolation. Obviously this is meant well, but it’s also frustrating--if only because it’s trite...and way too simple.

As Rilke wrote, “Time does not ‘console’ as people say superficially; at best it puts things in their place and it creates order.” There is a Zen story about a man whose horse ran away. People said it was bad luck. Then the horse came back, which people thought was good luck, and then his son broke his leg while falling off it and people thought that was bad luck come round again. But because his leg was broken, the man’s son was saved from fighting and dying in a war, and the cycle went on and on.

Time doesn’t make things better or worse, it simply makes them what they are. That’s why the Stoics talk about not rushing to judgment about anything, about waiting and seeing. Because we don’t know. Just giving something time isn’t automatically going to make it better--but it does at least give things a chance to shake out, for us to see the full picture. If there is one aphorism about time that we CAN rely on, that the Stoics would agree with, it's that 'time will tell.'

That’s the moral of the Zen story too. Trying to label things as good luck or bad luck is shortsighted. It assumes that all the facts have been entered into evidence. It’s better to hold off on forming an opinion, because fate is constantly unfolding around us, and today’s bad luck may very well be setting up tomorrow’s good luck (and vice versa).

Time isn’t a panacea, but it is a form of truth. So watch for it. Time will, in fact, tell.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(2980)

Marcus Aurelius's Rules for Living a Better Life

To wrap up Meditations Month, today Ryan explores Marcus’s best rules for using the precious time in your life.Reading Marcus Aurelius can change your life, but only if you know how to read his work �...

29 Huhti 10min

It’s Right There. Take It. | Stoic Lessons Hidden in Bruce Springsteen Songs

You can’t learn history that you don’t take the time to look at, that you think you already understand.📚 BOOKS:Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's NebraskaWisdom Takes Work 🎙...

28 Huhti 12min

Nothing Is As Encouraging As This | The Freedom of Contempt

It was a dark world…and Marcus Aurelius desperately needed some light.LAST CHANCE | Your ticket to the live Q&A with Ryan Holiday 👉 https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/meditations-month-2026See Priv...

27 Huhti 8min

The Most Powerful Lines From Marcus Aurelius

How can a 2,000-year-old book still change the way you think today? In this episode, Ryan Holiday shares passages from Meditations that he’s returned to more than a hundred times over the years. Each ...

26 Huhti 31min

Why “Meditations” Needs a New Name—According to William O. Stephens

Most people read Marcus Aurelius the wrong way. In this episode, Ryan sits down with philosopher William Stephens to discuss why the title "Meditations" may be misleading, what these writings were act...

25 Huhti 33min

It’s Never an Accident | Ask Daily Stoic

Our true character comes out under pressure. So we must train that character, we must develop our bodies, we have to put in the work. Your ticket to a live Q&A with Ryan Holiday 👉 https://store.dai...

24 Huhti 16min

Empower Yourself with This | Why You Need to Get In the Arena

We all have those days where we’d rather just not. Days where we’d rather not deal with that annoying co-worker or petty family member. Days where we’d rather not bother with all the work we have to d...

23 Huhti 12min

You Have Access to a Miracle of History

The Stoics weren’t just leaders and philosophers. They were parents, spouses, and friends, who experienced joy, who fell in love, who cherished the beauty of the world around them. Reading Marcus Aure...

22 Huhti 3min