How Diogenes mocked society's idea of success

HostMost of us spend our whole lives trying to get the next big thing, like a better job or a nicer house. We think that's how you win. But there was a man in ancient Greece who thought that whole race was a trap. He chose to live in a big clay jar on the street just to show how little a person actually needs to be happy. How did Diogenes use his own life to flip the idea of success on its head?

GuestWell, he basically turned his life into a big show to prove a point. You have to picture this guy. He didn't have a job, he didn't have a home, and he carried almost nothing. He saw that people were sad and stressed because they were always chasing things they didn't really need. He thought that if you can learn to want nothing, then you're truly free. He didn't just talk about it, though. He lived it in a very loud way. He would walk through the streets in the middle of a sunny day holding a lit lamp. When people asked what he was doing, he’d say he was just looking for one real, honest man. It was his way of saying that everyone around him was just playing a part and hiding behind their fancy clothes.

HostHmm, that sounds like he was just trying to be a pest. If someone did that today, I’d think they were just being rude, not deep.

GuestOh, he was definitely being a pest. That was the plan. He wanted to sting people into waking up. He thought life in the city was like a bad dream where we all agree to care about things that don't matter. To him, the rules of the city were fake, but the rules of nature were real. That’s why he called himself a dog. Dogs don't care if you're a king or a beggar. They eat when they're hungry and sleep when they're tired. One time, he saw a child drinking water out of their hands at a fountain. He realized he was still carrying a wooden bowl to do the same thing. He threw the bowl away because he felt like he was still carrying too much. He wanted to get down to the very bones of being alive.

HostBut we aren't dogs. We have to build things together. If everyone lived in a jar, we wouldn't have anything. Is this even a way to live?

GuestHe didn't want everyone to live in a jar. He was a mirror. He wanted to show people that they were slaves to their things. He thought that if you're afraid to lose your house, then the house owns you. If you're afraid of what people will say, then those people own your soul. He even went after the most powerful people to show how small they were. There's this famous story where Alexander the Great went to meet him. Alexander was a man who had conquered almost the whole world. He expected this wise man to be impressed. Instead, he found Diogenes just lying in the dirt, enjoying the sun. Alexander stood over him and offered him anything he wanted. He could've given him a palace or a mountain of gold.

HostAnd it seems dangerous to blow off a king who has an army behind him. Did he really just tell a king to go away?

GuestHe told him to move a little to the side because he was blocking the sun. That was his only request. It told Alexander that for all his armies, he couldn't actually give Diogenes anything he didn't already have. He couldn't give him the sun, and he couldn't take away his peace of mind. It showed that the most powerful man in the world was actually poorer than a guy in a jar, because Alexander still wanted more, while Diogenes had everything he needed. Alexander was so moved by it that he said if he couldn't be himself, he would want to be Diogenes. He saw that the beggar was the only one who was actually free.

HostSo it's about who has the power to walk away. If you can walk away from everything, no one can ever tell you what to do.

GuestRight, and he took that to the very edge. He would do things in public that were considered bad manners, like eating in the middle of the market. Back then, that was a big deal. But he argued that if it's not wrong to eat, then it's not wrong to eat in front of people. He wanted to show that being ashamed is just a tool people use to keep you in line. If you can stop feeling shame about things that aren't actually hurting anyone, you become impossible to control. He was trying to strip away all the layers of how we're supposed to act. He even asked to be buried facedown when he died, because he said that soon everything would be turned upside down anyway.

GuestHe once spent time at a statue with his hand out, begging for money, and when people asked why, he said he was just getting used to people saying no.

HostThe clay jar and the old lamp show us that the person who needs the least is the one who finally gets to be the boss of their own life.