Dive into the mind of John Adams, a historical figure grappling with his intricate emotions. Discover how rereading can reveal new insights, as he found renewed wisdom in Cicero's writings later in life. The importance of slowing down and reflecting is emphasized, showcasing how fresh perspectives can emerge with age and experience. This exploration highlights that literature holds endless layers waiting to be unveiled, mirroring the philosophies of great thinkers like Marcus Aurelius.
03:00
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
John Adams' Transformation
John Adams, despite his accomplishments, struggled with inner turmoil and a yearning for tranquility.
Later in life, rereading Cicero's De Senectute, he found new meaning and a shifted perspective.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Revisiting and Re-reading
Revisit books, places, and everyday beauty with fresh eyes.
Like stepping into a different river, each encounter offers new understanding.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
It’s no secret that John Adams is one of history’s brilliant minds. He was widely respected as a lawyer, a politician, a president, and as a husband, a father, and a friend. But for all this, he was often overwhelmed by anguish, despair, discontent, loneliness, doubt, fear, uncertainty, and the rest. “I can as easily still the fierce tempests or stop the rapid thunderbolt,” he once lamented in his journal, “as command the motions and operations of my own mind.” Like many of us, Adams longed for stillness, for “tranquility of mind,” vowing to one day “wear out of my mind every mean and base affection.” But it was a long time coming—indeed, it nearly came too late. In 1819, the year after the death of his treasured wife of fifty-four years, the devastated Adams turned to Cicero’s essay on growing old gracefully, De Senectute. It was an essay he had read “for seventy years, to the point of nearly knowing it by heart,” but somehow, now, in the quiet stillness, he found something new in it. As he wrote:I never delighted much in contemplating commas and colons, or in spelling or measuring syllables; but now...if I attempt to look at these little objects, I find my imagination, in spite of all my exertions, roaming in the Milky Way, among the nebulae, those mighty orbs, and stupendous orbits of suns, planets, satellites, and comets, which compose the incomprehensible universe.It was as if, now, having slowed down, having experienced so much, that he was seeing things differently. In short, he noticed what he had missed before—by reading and re-reading, he found something he had missed all those previous times. When Marcus Aurelius quoted Heraclitus—about how we can never step in the same river twice—this is what he was encouraging. We cannot content ourselves with first impressions or encounters, we must constantly revisit everything. Revisit the pages of books, revisit the sights we have overlooked, revisit the ordinary beauty of the world. It might take a lifetime for us to finally “get” it—but the stillness and the understanding will be worth it.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Daily Stoic 
