In 2018, Tonya Illman, walking around sand dunes on a remote beach in Western Australia, picked up a bottle, It contained a message written 132 years prior, thrown from a German ship called Paula. The note was still readable and was later confirmed authentic. That was the oldest message ever found in a bottle. 

Made me think. What motivates someone to write a message, put it in a bottle and throw it into the sea? Maybe they are just curious as to whether it will be picked up by anyone. Or they may need help or try to inspire an unknown stranger. In any case, it is an interesting idea and has inspired many songs, movies and novels. 

And I wondered—if modern-day Stoics were to inspire some unknown person in the future, what message would they write, put it in a bottle, and throw it into the sea? 

So I asked some eminent Stoic scholars, Stoic academics, Stoic therapists, and Stoic practitioners what Stoic message they would put in a bottle that might inspire someone in the future. They were generous enough to share their accumulated wisdom with us. 

What did they tell us? If I took what they all said and put in another botlle, this is how it would read: 

You have an in-built capacity to make progress. Wisdom is the most important thing in life. Virtue is the path to the good life. 

What you do now matters. Trust life is governed by reason. See yourself as a part of the whole. 

Accept things as they are. Exercise and enjoy your agency. 

Act on what is in your power. It is all a matter of choice. 

Whatever happens, respond rationally Let your life be well-lived. 

These are great thoughts to live by. They are as true today as they were when the ancient philosophers first formulated them some two thousand years ago. We are fortunate to have modern Stoics to interpret for us, to inspire us. 

We can take any one of these thoughts, contemplate over it for a day, a week, a year or a lifetime. And yet we can also be inspired as we read them and find our path to wisdom, goodness, and happiness within minutes of reading them. 

All these messages in a bottle are perhaps things we have known all our lives. But when someone distills a lifetime of wisdom in a bite-sized piece, it focusses our thoughts on the most important things. 

It’s hard to practice these “messages in a bottle” and not be transformed into a better version of ourselves. 

I thank the contributors for their generosity is sharing their wisdom with us. Hope the messages inspire you. 

Chuck Chakrapani 

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Dr. Chuck Chakrapani Editor-in-Chief

 

 

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