Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The philosophy track that is short in length,
But not in depth.
Now,
I'm going to say something blaringly obvious.
Wherever you go,
You are there.
Now,
It sounds almost banal when I say it out loud.
However,
When you watch how you behave,
It becomes clear that you often forget it,
And so do I.
Think about how often you or I run around looking for some solace,
Trying to find a retreat.
I mean,
I ran retreats for a long time,
So I know that people search for this.
But my man Marcus Aurelius thought this searching was a waste of time.
He writes the following.
Man seeks retreats from himself,
In the country,
By the sea,
In the hills.
And you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning.
But all of this is quite unphilosophical,
When it is open to you at any time you want to retreat into yourself.
Seneca echoes the issues of frantic searching for peace by saying,
He who is everywhere is nowhere.
He goes on to explain how,
The primary indication of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.
You see,
We cannot outrun our problems,
Because they reside in our own psyche.
The only journey that will bring us peace is the one within ourselves.
No beach in Bali,
No waterfall in Costa Rica,
No wave in the Maldives can help with that.
And I should know,
Because I tried all of those.
As nice as those places are,
They are only distractions if your mind is not at peace.
We cannot live a life where the environment can exert so much control over us.
It is simply not sustainable and opens us up to disappointment.
I am also guilty of this,
Often daydreaming about living outside the UK and claiming that my life would be infinitely better if I was just by the ocean.
It is too easy to shift the blame onto the environment.
You see,
The grass is not always greener on the other side.
The grass is greener where you water it.
More to the point,
Grass grows best with a bit of manure on it.
Hard to believe,
But true.
So let us not search out the perfect destination.
Let us search out a calm mind.
As Seneca says,
All outdoors may be bedlam,
Provided that there is no disturbance within.
When no noise reaches you,
When no word shakes you,
Whether it be flattery or threat.
As always,
Much easier said than done,
Which is why we have to practice this every day that we can.
This is the true destination we seek,
You see,
And it's more likely found in meditation than in vacation.
Thanks so much for joining me.
If you'd like to hear more of this type of thing,
Check out my courses in Stoicism.
I think you'll really enjoy them.
