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You will always have the option to stay there slumped, because, well, someone has to rot, so it might as well be you.
Motivational guide to overcoming suffering by managing judgments, developing virtues, and finding purpose through self-awareness and excellence.
Key Takeaways
- Suffering is more about perception than actual events.
- Personal responsibility is key to overcoming stagnation.
- Virtue and talent development align you with your cosmic purpose.
- Controlling emotional reactions prevents unnecessary distress.
- Self-knowledge and continuous learning foster a meaningful life.
What the video covers
- Suffering often stems from our judgments about reality, not reality itself.
- Taking responsibility for oneself is crucial; no one else will do the work for you.
- Governing passions and emotions based on virtuous understanding leads to a better life.
- Virtue is a cosmic message indicating one's purpose and place in the universe.
- Failing to develop one’s talents and virtues is a moral failure against the universe.
- Humans uniquely suffer from imagined fears and scenarios that do not yet exist.
- Self-awareness and evaluating one’s interpretations of reality prevent unnecessary panic.
- Identifying and pursuing excellence in one’s natural talents is essential for a fulfilled life.
- Knowing oneself deeply helps uncover one’s purpose and natural place in the cosmic order.
- Addiction to learning and curiosity can open up new interests and enrich life.
Chapters
- 00:00Choosing to Rise from Despair
- 00:38Judgments vs. Reality
- 01:13Self-Responsibility and Action
- 01:49Discovering Human Potential
- 02:33Governing Passions Stoically
- 03:12Virtue as a Cosmic Message
- 04:25Avoiding Distorted Perceptions
- 05:16Moral Failure and the Universe
- 07:20Imagined Fears and Their Impact
- 09:46Finding Purpose Through Virtues
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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When you start liking something, one thing leads to another, and then you won't be slumped anymore. We suffer because of what we imagine, much more often than because of what actually happens to us. We only suffer because of the judgments we make about reality.
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Reality does not disturb us. What disturbs us are the judgments we make about it; in this scheme, things will only get worse. So here is the deal: get up from there now, go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, and just
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say: "I am a loser." And to stop being a loser, I only have myself to count on. Why do you think others will wear themselves out in your place? You don't even wear yourself out for yourself.
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Now, do you think someone will do it for anyone other than themselves? No. You are the only one interested. Look in the mirror, splash your face with cold water, slap your face. And have some shame. Get up, get up, enough
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sleeping, you look like a sack of potatoes. Get up and do it. It might take time, but do it. Do something that you can be proud of. Do something that is contributive, enriching for you.
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There is so much fantastic stuff that being human provides for you, and you don't even know it exists. It is not possible that nothing interests you. It is not possible. For now, nothing has happened. Let's take it easy. Let's see
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what is happening. That is priceless. When you have a person by your side who takes you out of the assent and places you in a perspective of evaluating your first impression, this person with a stoic soul helps you a lot not to fuel
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the panic that exists from the first impression. Not only is it possible to govern your passions, but it is important to govern your passions. And it is important to govern the passions; it's not governing them for the sake of
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it, it is governing them according to the best thinking. It is governing them according to a virtuous understanding of life. There is a very clear difference, and here I wanted to draw your attention to this, right? A very
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clear difference between having an impression, like for example, a loud bang that causes alert, causes fear, causes distrust, right? and the assent that you might eventually give to that impression. I will not be able to live well if I do not develop my virtues and
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my talents with excellence. So, what is the good life? It is a life in which you can pursue excellence in that which you are virtuous, talented, etc. Why?
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Because virtue is the signal that the universe gives you. We could say that virtue is a cosmic message, to speak in terms a communications student would like, right? Virtue is a cosmic message that points out what your place in the
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universe is. So, if you turn your back on your virtue, you lose communication contact with the cosmos and end up adrift, not knowing what your place is.
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So, it is necessary to identify your talents, your talents, understand what message the universe sent you, and then pursue the excellence of those talents.
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And if you cannot pursue the excellence of your talents, then you will have lived poorly. A Stoic thinker does not present himself as a stone with no feelings, and he does not suggest that you be a stone with no feelings. What
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he is saying is that, as far as possible, from the moment this reality is perceived in a biased or distorted way, etc., then you must avoid, let's say, fueling what comes next, right?
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You must, let's say, uh, try to stick to what actually happened before anything else. It might seem like a small thing, right? But the distance between the question: "What happened?" and the question: "What am I telling myself happened?" The ability to
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evaluate one's own interpretation of reality is certainly fundamental so that a devastating first impression does not have even more devastating consequences in the subsequent moments, right? You may have someone by your side who increases the panic, or you
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may have someone by your side who reduces the panic. The fact that you do not develop your virtues is a grave sin, it is a moral error, it is a moral indignity. Let's imagine that you rob someone. So, from the modern point of
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view, that is unacceptable because you harmed someone, and so on. So, there is a negative evaluation of your conduct based on what you did to the other person. Well then, if you look for the word "other" in Aristotle, you won't
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find it, because that is not Aristotle's concern. When do you mess up? You mess up when you mess up with the universe, not with the other person. Screw the other person. It is with the universe that you mess up. And when
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do you mess up with the universe? When you don't do what you were supposed to do. And what were you supposed to do?
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Develop your talents. And if you did something else, you did very poorly. Oh, but many people were saved thanks to me. I didn't ask for that, I asked you to draw. Moral dignity coincides with the development and realization of
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virtues. They are the same thing. Animals feel fear when faced with imminent danger, but we go further, right? We have a, let's say, an added capacity, right? We are able to feel fear when faced with a danger that
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corresponds to nothing in the real world. We feel fear before a danger that is completely conjured, supposed, presumed, or imagined. Imagine, I might have an important meeting in 15 days.
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Uh, and then today, while I'm having coffee, I imagine my boss might ask me questions in front of the whole board.
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I imagine the questions and I myself don't know how to answer any of the questions I myself created. And then I imagine the demoralization, I imagine the failure, I imagine the consequences of that demoralization. And then? Then I leave breakfast, I don't even finish
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my scrambled eggs with jabuticaba jam that I like so much. Why? Because I imagined the meeting, I imagined the questions, I imagined the lack of answers, I imagined the humiliation, I imagined the consequences of the humiliation. And and in the end the the
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meeting is is in 15 days. And the boss at that moment didn't even remember that meeting. Do you realize you stopped eating eggs with jam because you have a competence for suffering over things that don't exist? Look, the
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best in you, you could call natural talents, right? Natural gifts. You observe your virtues, see what your virtues are, and by looking at your virtues, you will discover what your purpose is. So, if the package of life is well lived when I fulfill my purpose
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, the answer to my purpose is in my virtues. So, I won't be able to live well if I don't identify my virtues.
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Given that in nature there is nothing useless, right? Because everything has a purpose. So, for you to know what your purpose is, there is nothing better than knowing yourself well.
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Because if you identify your attributes, it becomes easy to know what they are for and you will find your purpose. And by finding your purpose, you find your natural place in the cosmic puzzle.
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And so, then you won't drift anymore. Since you have to do something, get addicted to studying. If you get addicted to studying, there are so many things that will become interesting to you. According to your perspective.
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You'll want to know more and more. That is wonderful.
Topics:StoicismVirtueSelf-awarenessPersonal responsibilityEmotional controlPurposeTalentsMotivationSufferingExcellence
