Welcome to The Stoic Ledger, a daily money meditation from one of the Stoic sages.

59/365: Epictetus on education

Education is the path to wisdom, to freedom. 

Not education as defined in the traditional circles: school, university, fancy parchment hanging in an office. 

It’s not necessary you go to Harvard to be educated. Epictetus didn’t. Marcus Aurelius didn’t. Seneca didn’t. Education has always been about what and how much we extract from the environment we’re in.

Education can, and should, be acquired through our daily environment. By watching our peers, reading books, learning from mistakes (ours and others’), and asking questions. 

There are no exams, no pop quizzes, no spoon-fed learning assignments—we’re on our own here, so it’s up to us to chase down education.

What’s on your learning docket today? 

How could more knowledge lead to more freedom?