"Will you not bear with your own brother, who has Zeus for his ancestor?"

In 1936, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin. Adolf Hitler planned to use the games to prove the superiority of the "Aryan race". Jesse Owens, a Black American athlete, was the star of the track and field events. He was under immense pressure.

During the long jump qualification, Owens fouled on his first two attempts. He had one jump left. If he fouled again, he was out. He was tense and terrified.

Suddenly, a tall, blond German athlete named Luz Long approached him. Long was the picture of the Nazi ideal. He was Hitler's favorite to win. But Long didn't treat Owens as an enemy or an inferior. He saw that Owens was struggling with his run-up.

Long suggested that Owens place a towel a few inches behind the takeoff board to play it safe. He gave him technical advice. Owens took the advice, qualified, and eventually won the gold medal. Long took the silver.

In front of Hitler and the entire Nazi leadership, Luz Long embraced Jesse Owens. He walked arm-in-arm with him around the stadium. Long saw past the hateful ideology of his country. He didn't see a "Black man" or a "rival". He saw a fellow athlete. He recognized the excellence in Owens and honored it, regardless of the consequences.

Epictetus, who was a slave, often spoke about this. He reminded his students (many of whom were rich slave owners) that their slaves were their equals in the eyes of Zeus. He used the name "Zeus" to represent the universal reason that lives in all of us.

When you look at a person who is annoying, poor, or different from you, it's easy to see them as "lesser". Epictetus commands us to look at their lineage. They are descendants of the same universe you are. They carry the same spark of consciousness.

If you treat them like garbage, you are insulting their ancestors, some of whom you may even share. You are disrespecting the divine potential that resides within them. Luz Long realized that the spirit of athleticism in Jesse Owens was the same spirit that was in him. That shared spirit made them brothers, even if their governments were enemies.

Errors & Corrections

• Don't judge a person by their external station (job, clothes, race). These are just costumes. The actor underneath is divine.
• Don't forget that you have the same origin as the person you despise. You are both made of the same clay and breathed with the same fire.
• Don't think that "bearing with" them means you are doing them a favor. You are simply respecting the reality of their nature.

Applications to Modern Life

Interpersonal Relationships

You might have a family member who has fallen into addiction or made terrible life choices. It's easy to look down on them or write them off. But they are still your "brother" in the cosmic sense. The spark is still there, buried under the bad choices. Treat the spark, not the addiction.

Work

The janitor and the CEO are both "sons of Zeus". If you treat the CEO with respect but ignore the janitor, you are a hypocrite. You are respecting the position, not the human. A Stoic respects the human element in everyone. Say hello to the cleaners. Learn their names. They are your kin.

Politics

Political polarization thrives on dehumanization. We call the other side strong names as an insult to strip them of their divine status. Once they are just labels, we can hate them. Stop using the labels. Remind yourself that the person voting differently is a rational being trying to make sense of the world, just like you.

Social Media

The anonymity of the internet makes us forget the "divine spark". We type things to avatars that we would never say to faces. Before you hit send on a nasty reply, imagine the person is your actual brother or sister. Would you speak to them that way?

Maxims

• See the spark, not the soot.
• Respect the lineage within the stranger.
• No man is trash.

In-depth Concepts

Rational Nature (Logikos)

The thing that makes us "kin" to the gods is our capacity for logic and reason. Animals have bodies, but humans have minds that can understand the laws of the universe. This capacity is what Epictetus means by "Zeus as an ancestor". Because everyone has this capacity (even if they aren't using it well), everyone deserves basic dignity.

The City of Gods and Men

The Stoics believed that the universe is a community populated by two types of rational beings: gods and humans. We are all citizens of this same city. Therefore, mistreating a human is like mistreating a fellow citizen in the presence of the King. It violates the law of the cosmic city.