Meaningless... Like A Fine Wine

The Daily Stoic for December 24th, “Meaningless… Like A Fine Wine”.

“You know what wine and liqueur tastes like. It makes no difference whether a hundred or a thousand bottles pass through your bladder—you are nothing more than a filter.”

—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 77.16

I was once at a wine tasting in an old winery in the north of Spain. We were taught how to tell the good wines from the bad ones, the smells, etc… The fact is, after two hours, I was incapable of telling one wine from the other.

Maybe there’s something wrong with my pituitaries, or my taste buds… But I never really cared about it. The problem is, I pretended I could tell the difference. I was ashamed to let others know that I couldn’t.

Meaningless… Like A Fine Wine

We live in a consumerist society. We are taught that we need the best clothes, the best iPhone, the best car, and that all those things are a way of measuring how successful we are in life.

You don’t drive a BMW? Your glasses are not RayBan? Your phone is a cheap Chinese device with Android? What a loser… right?

Since I decluttered my life, I realized those things don’t matter at all anymore. My T-shirt costs 2.50€, and I have 5 of them, exactly the same model and color. My shoes are less than 20€, and so my three pants together. I don’t even have a car anymore.

I’m not proselytizing here. It but for me, it was certainly a relief. It’s not just about the clothes you wear or the car we own. It’s not pretending you can tell the difference between a 1€ wine and a Château Cheval Blanc. In the end, all that matters is to enjoy the company of others while you drink that wine. The price of the bottle is meaningless… like a fine wine.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Meaningless… Like A Fine Wine”, discusses how insignificant are some of the things we give a lot of value to. Like the car we drive, the clothes we wear, or the brand of our phone.