This is the third book in Ryan Holiday’s series on the four cardinal virtues from stoic philosophy. Courage is Calling covers courage, temperance is covered by Discipline is Destiny and this covers justice. His coming book will cover wisdom.
Holiday’s investigation of justice covers three different areas. First he covers what justice means in your personal behaviour. Second Holiday looks at justice in terms of the sociopolitical landscape in which we live. Finally he takes a look at justice in terms of the overall equality in the world we inhabit.
The Advice
Holiday aptly highlights the contrast between our desire to see people tell the truth, and the world in which they live where telling the truth about misdeeds often leads to lost jobs and huge ridicule until one day you might be vindicated1. With those with power punching down as they work to keep their position of power secure, it can be hard to even fathom speaking truth to power because of the personal cost.
To that Holiday would say that if you had to lie and cheat to get to your place in the world, but can you be proud of your accomplishment in attaining your position2? You didn’t get there on your own merit, you got there on the backs of lies which means your power lies on an extremely shaky foundation.
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On the political front Holiday says that the lack of justice around us gives those with some power the opportunity to struggle to expand our circles of moral concern growing those that we consider equal with ourselves3. This idea can be practiced daily as we treat those that are serving us in retail as worthwhile instead of being upset by slow service or out of stock goods we wish to purpose. I agree with Holiday’s advice that the one thing we can do daily without regret is be nice because it costs nothing to be nice and being kind will never look bad in hindsight4.
If you have power more broadly then you can take the step of not abdicating your responsibility when things don’t go your way5. It’s always easy to blame the economy, or the judges or…any external force when we’re unhappy with the outcome. Doing this allows us to keep our own erroneous self-concept of perfection. If some outside force caused us to score poorly on a test, we have nothing to improve and can continue to exist in our smugness. Instead, share the credit with those around you and take the blame on yourself.
Finally Holiday takes a page out of David Brooks The Second Mountain working to help readers focus on goals outside themselves and their immediate daily needs. Holiday points to Ghandi as one that had his personal needs met, and then turned all his effort to fighting injustices around him while including anyone that had injustice visited on them as his family. Ghandi took his responsibility for his misdeeds so seriously that when he left the side of his dying father to lay with his wife and his father died while he was away he swore off the physical pleasures of life to instead always do his duty instead of serving his pleasure.
The World Around Us
The biggest issue I see when reading this book is looking at the world I inhabit and seeing such injustice in the world. Seeing liars take office and liar’s becoming billionaires makes it easy to question why on earth I would bother being someone that tells the truth and seeks justice for others. While Holiday says we won’t be proud of our place if we lied to get there, the evidence points to the opposite being true.
Holiday addresses this line of thinking by citing Harry Truman who was expected to take bribes in his positions before becoming President of the United States, but didn’t. Even though his position was given to him by those that expected favours later, he was continually fair minded and didn’t look for his own advantage instead serving the public to the best of his ability every day. Truman could walk away from his political career with his head held high, not worrying if the things he did in secret would later tarnish his reputation because if he felt like he needed to hide his actions he just didn’t do them6.
In the face of the corruption we see around us, can we say that we acted right and always told the truth even when it would harm us7?
I hope I can.
Should I Read Right Thing Right Now by Ryan Holiday?
Yes and you should probably read it again at some point in the future when you need to do some philosophical thinking. I know I’ll read it again.
- Purchase Right Thing Right now on Bookshop.org – support local bookstores
- Purchase on Amazon