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Zeno lost everything in a shipwreck. His family business. His fortune. His taste for life at sea. You can read the full story in Lives of the Stoics, but suffice to say, it ended not just a chapter of his life, but the very purpose to which he thought his life was for.
Yet all was not actually lost. At a bookstore in Athens, Zeno discovered philosophy and would go on to found the school of Stoicism. Many years later, he would be asked about those days. “I made a great fortune,” he said, “when I suffered a shipwreck.” It was a different kind of fortune but perhaps a better one–since it continues to this day, benefiting not just Zeno and his heirs but all of us.
It’s probable that Zeno was paraphrasing Diogenes the Cynic, one of the early philosophical influences to the Stoics, in that quip. Diogenes didn’t suffer a shipwreck, but he had been exiled. Walking in Athens one day, he was mocked for his fate, but as always insults found no target. “But it was because of that,” Diogenes said of his exile (calling his attacker a wretch in the process), “that I turned to philosophy.”
Exile. Shipwreck. Bankruptcy. Getting fired. Being cheated on. Blowing up your marriage. Losing your license. Going to jail. None of these things are ‘good,’ they are certainly not things we would choose. But for a Stoic, for a philosopher, they can be good if they make you good. It is not unfortunate if one finds a way to make something fortunate from them, finds a way to make a fortune out of them.
If you want to learn how your trials in life can make you good, check out Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is The Way. This cult classic has guided millions of readers to a great fortune like Zeno’s through one of the most powerful teachings in all of Stoicism—that we can’t control what happens to us but we can control how we respond. Our premium leather-bound edition is designed to stand the test of time, just like the content inside, and comes with brand-new illustrations, a letter from Ryan, and a FREE Obstacle is the Way medallion. Head here to get your copy today!
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