A Plan for Action
Epictetus once said that we ought to stand up to our equals, defer to our superiors and act with moderation towards our inferiors. I’m not sure I agree with that.
In fact, I think I’d change it to learn from your inferiors, ignore your equals and spar with you superiors — parry but be ok with losing. It’s certainly harder and will tie your stomach in knots but the best part of waking up sore and stiff, I’ve found, is knowing that the quickest way to loosen up is to do it some more.
Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of Trust Me, I’m Lying, The Obstacle Is The Way, Ego Is The Enemy, and other books about marketing, culture, and the human condition. His work has been translated into thirty languages and has appeared everywhere from the Columbia Journalism Review to Fast Company. His company, Brass Check, has advised companies such as Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as Grammy Award winning musicians and some of the biggest authors in the world. He lives in Austin, Texas.
I totally agree. Lately I have been heading to some heavy hitting kendo dojos in preparation for the upcoming shodan shinsa. I am going for my 2dan, basically my second black belt, and I learn a ton more from going after the stronger guys.
I disagree. You can’t base your relations to people simply on their position in a hierarchy. I choose to defer or ignore or spar based on the exchange or person at hand.
I don’t think he’s referring to a social hierarchy. I think he means literally like smarter than you, less intelligent than you and equal to you. Or whatever the interaction is based on.
Epictetus was a slave who became a celebrity philosopher. I don’t think he paid much attention to status either.
If your superiors are willing to sit and spar with you, you’re getting quite some favor.
I’d say learn learn learn from all of the above and never miss an opportunity to spar with a superior.
Also, ignoring the equal seems to me a mistake. There might be better ways of doing it, but I’ve learned how to differentiate specifically from watching/learning from equals.
Pizzamancer,
Anathem had some profoundly interesting concepts, but I believe Stephenson worked too obliquely with some of the philosophical stuff about how to live while being much more upfront about the cosmology, personal doubt and politics.
Basically, I wanted to know more about the Rhetors and Incantors. The huge mindfuck at the thrilling end wouldn’t have bothered me as much if that had been explained.
I can think of maybe two other authors alive who could write that book and make it as interesting though. It was a delight to read and work through.