Good day, Stoics.
Today, many people are celebrating freedom.
Which makes this a fitting day for one of the most famous stories in philosophy.
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher known for living with almost nothing. He rejected status, wealth, luxury, and social approval. He supposedly slept inside a large ceramic jar in the marketplace and spent much of his life proving how little a person truly needs in order to live.
One day, Alexander the Great, one of the most powerful men in the world, came to meet him.
Alexander stood before Diogenes and asked,”
Is there anything I can do for you?
Diogenes replied,”
Yes. Move. You’re blocking my sunlight.
That’s it.
No fear.
No need to impress him.
No desire for status, approval, or power.
Just a man who had become internally free.
The Stoics believed freedom wasn’t only external.
It was freedom from being controlled by impulse, fear, ego, anger, approval, comfort, or endless desire.
A person can live in a free country and still be deeply imprisoned internally.
And a person can have very little, yet still be free.
That’s worth thinking about today.
Stay steady.