(독서) Daily Stoic-9월21일 MAINTAIN COMPOSURE, MAINTAIN CONTROL

"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, because an artful life requires being prepared to meet and withstand sudden and unexpected attacks."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.61 ("삶의 예술은 춤보다 레슬링에 더 가깝습니다. 왜냐하면 예술적인 삶은 갑작스럽고 예상치 못한 공격에 대비하고 견딜 준비가 되어 있어야 하기 때문입니다." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상록, 7.61)   Dancing is a popular metaphor for life. One must be limber and agile and go along with the music. One must feel and follow and flow with their partner. But anyone who has tried to do something difficult, where there is competition or an adversary, knows that the dancing metaphor is insufficient. Nobody ever gets up on stage and tries to tackle a dancer. The dancer never gets choked out by a rival.   For a wrestler, on the other hand, adversity and the unexpected are part and parcel of what they do. Their sport is a battle, just like life. They are fighting an opponent as well as their ...

"Remember that to change your mind and to follow someone's correction are consistent with a free will. For the action is yours alone to fulfill its purpose in keeping with your impulse and judgment, and yes, with your intelligence."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.16 ("마음을 바꾸고 누군가의 교정을 따르는 것은 자유 의지와 일치하는 것입니다. 행동은 오직 당신의 것이며, 당신의 충동과 판단, 그리고 지성에 따라 그 목적을 이루기 위해 수행하는 것입니다." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 8.16)   When you set your mind to a task, do you always follow through? It's an impressive feat if you do. But don't let yourself become a prisoner of that kind of determination. That asset might become a liability someday.   Conditions change. New facts come in. Circumstances arise. If you can't adapt to them-if you simply proceed onward, unable to adjust according to this additional information-you are no better than a robot. ...

"Whenever you suffer pain, keep in mind that it's nothing to be ashamed of and that it can't degrade your guiding intelligence, nor keep it from acting rationally and for the common good. And in most cases you should be helped by the saying of Epicurus, that pain is never unbearable or unending, so you can remember these limits and not add to them in your imagination. Remember too that many common annoyances are pain in disguise, such as sleepiness, fever and loss of appetite. When they start to get you down, tell yourself you are giving in to pain."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.64 (“고통을 겪을 때마다 고통은 부끄러워할 일이 아니며, 그 고통이 우리를 이끄는 지성을 저하시키거나 합리적이고 공익을 위해 행동하는 것을 막을 수 없다는 사실을 명심하세요. 그리고 대부분의 경우 고통은 결코 참을 수 없거나 영원하지 않다고 하는 에피쿠로스의 말에 도움을 받아 이러한 한계를 기억하고 상상 속에서 고통을 더하지 않도록 해야 합니다. 졸음, 발열, 식욕 부진과 같은 일반적인 성가신 증상도 고통을 가장한 것임을 기억하세요. 그런 것들이 당신을 주저앉히기 시작하면 스스로에게 고통에 굴복하고 있다고 말하세요."-마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상, 7.64)   In 1931, on a trip to New York City, Winston Churchill was struck crossing the street by a car going more than thirty miles an hour. A witness at the scene was sure that he had been killed. He would spend some eight days in the hospital, with cracked ribs and a severe head wound.   Churchill somehow retained consciousness. When he spoke to the police, he went to great lengths to insist that he was completely to blame and wanted no harm to come to the driver. Later, the driver came to visit Churchill at the hospital. When Churchill heard that the driver was ...

"What if someone despises me? Let them see to it. But I will see to it that I won't be found doing or saying anything contemptible. What if someone hates me? Let them see to that. But I will see to it that I'm kind and good-natured to all, and prepared to show even the hater where they went wrong. Not in a critical way, or to show off my patience, but genuinely and usefully."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 11.13 (“누군가 저를 경멸하면 어떻게 하나요? 그렇게 하도록 내버려둬요. 하지만 제가 경멸할 만한 행동이나 말을 하지 않도록 주의하겠습니다. 누군가 나를 싫어하면 어떻게 하나요? 그렇게 하도록 내버려 둡니다. 하지만 저는 모든 사람에게 친절하고 선량하며, 미워하는 사람에게도 그들이 어디에서 잘못했는지 보여줄 준비가 되어 있다는 것을 보여줄 것입니다. 비판적인 방식이나 내 인내심을 과시하기 위해서가 아니라 진정으로 유용하게 말이죠."-마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상, 11.13)   When someone has a strong opinion about something, it usually says more about them than whatever or whomever the opinion happens to be about. This is especially true when it comes to resentment and hatred of other people. (It is a sad irony that the prejudiced often harbor secret attractions to those they so publicly hate.)   For this reason, the Stoic does two things when encountering hatred or ill opinion in others. They ask: Is this opinion ...

"Success comes to the lowly and to the poorly talented, but the special characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life."-SENECA, ON PROVIDENCE, 4.1 (“성공은 비천하고 재능이 부족한 사람에게도 찾아오지만, 위대한 사람의 특별한 특징은 인간 삶의 재난과 공황을 이겨내는 것입니다."-세네카, 운명론, 4.1)   Perhaps you know people who've been extraordinarily lucky in life. Maybe they hit the genetic lottery or have skated through classes and careers with ease. Despite never planning, making reckless decisions, jumping from one thing to the next, they've somehow survived without a scratch. There's a saying: "God favors fools."   It's natural to be a bit envious of these folks. We want the easy life too or so we think. But is the easy life really that admirable? Anyone can get lucky. There's no skill in being oblivious, and no one would consider that greatness.   On the other hand, the person who perseveres through difficulties, who keeps going when others quit, who makes it to their destination through hard work and honesty? That's admirable, because their survival was the result of fortitude and resilience, not birthright or circumstance. A person who overcame not just the external obstacles to success but mastered themselves and their ...