Greetings Readers!
Here is the fourth volume of our series — Letters to a Young Seeker (Catch up on previous volumes: Don’t Forget to Live, Break Bread with the Dead, Live an Examined Life, and Carry the Fire). Be wise and be well!
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Dear Fellow Traveler,
There are times when life knocks you down.
It is generally not if—but when.
On September 9, 1965, while flying the A-4 Skyhawk over North Vietnam, James Stockdale was shot down and forced to eject. On his way parachuting down to the enemy, Stockdale said to himself, “I am leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.”
Stockdale would use Stoic Philosophy to survive brutal torture and horrendous conditions for nearly eight years as a prisoner of war in the “Hanoi Hilton” prison camp. Following his release, Stockdale received the Medal of Honor for his exemplary conduct and leadership.
Who would you turn to for guidance and strength in a similar situation? Do you have a philosophy of life for both good and bad times?
For his best-selling book Good to Great, author Jim Collins interviewed Stockdale to gather insights from his experience. Collins asked, “Who didn’t make it out?”
Stockdale responded quickly, “Oh, that’s easy, the optimists.”
With confusion, Collins stated: “The optimists?”
Stockdale said,
“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they would say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
After a long pause, Stockdale turned and said,
“This is an important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
Collins coined this insight, the Stockdale Paradox, in Good to Great. The Stockdale Paradox states that change begins when you confront brutal facts of reality while maintaining unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end—regardless of the circumstances.
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