BONUS | Made For Working Together

Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Made for working together. This is an entry from the Daily Stoic, and a quote comes to us from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations 812. Whenever you have trouble getting up in the morning, remind yourself that you have been made by nature for the purpose of working with others, whereas even unthinking animals share sleeping, and it's our own natural purpose that is more fitting and satisfying. If a dog spends all day in bed, your bed most likely, that's fine, it's just being a dog.

It doesn't have anywhere to be, no other obligations other than being itself. But according to the Stoics, we have a higher obligation as humans, not to the gods, but to each other. What gets us out of bed each morning, even if we fight it, like Marcus sometimes did, is to render works held in common. Civilization and country are great projects we build together and have been building together with our ancestors for millennia. We are made for cooperation with each other.

So if you need an extra boost to get out of bed this morning, if you need something more than caffeine can offer, use this. People are depending on you. Your purpose is to help us render this great work together, and we're waiting, and we're excited. for you to show up. Let's look at the Hayes translation of that real quick.

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