☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Power To Live As One Wishes

Breaking free from servitude.

1. Morning Contemplation

🎧 You can find the audio version of this morning’s contemplation below.

Good morning.

In his Stoic Paradoxes, the Roman philosopher Cicero shares a thought that would later be echoed by the Stoic teacher Epictetus:

No one is free except for the wise person.

Freedom, Cicero says—again, as did Epictetus—is the power to live as one wishes.

The paradoxical nature of this thought reveals itself with Cicero’s assertion that a free person should contain their own libido, reject excessive pleasures, keep their anger in check, and restrain their greed.

To many, this doesn’t sound like freedom. How could such restraint equate to living as one wishes?

But Wisdom, the central virtue upon which Stoicism is built, is intertwined with such restraint.

Freedom is freedom from bad judgment, from unhealthy choices, from desires and indulgences that will sooner or later harm us.

The wise person, according to Cicero, does nothing against their will, nothing they may regret, and nothing that is forced on them. Any other way of living is a form of slavery.

Now, it’s impossible for a human to get the above correct 100% of the time, but Wisdom can be thought of more as a target to aim for than a destination to arrive at. The more we hit that target—the less we do things against our will, the less we do things we know we’ll regret, the less we allow things to be forced on us—the freer we’ll be.

So, contrary to a common perception, freedom isn’t the same thing as hedonism. It isn’t abandoning all caution in pursuit of every pleasure. There’s no independence in that. Pleasure becomes a master being served at all costs. And the costs are many.

Wisdom is breaking free from these kinds of servitude. It’s following the right path, forming good judgment, making healthy choices, and restraining our indulgences. That’s when we’re truly using our own will and living as we wish.

2. Morning Meditation

Sit down in a safe, comfortable spot, close your eyes, and take a few minutes to meditate on this morning's theme.