(독서) Daily Stoic-10월1일 LET VIRTUE SHINE BRIGHT

"If you lay violent hands on me, you'll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo."-ZENO, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.24 ("당신이 내게 폭력을 휘두르면 내 몸은 가질 수 있지만, 내 마음은 여전히 스틸포와 함께 있을 것이다," -제노, 디오게네스 라에르티오스의 저서, <저명한 철학자들의 생애>, 7.1.24.)   Zeno is not claiming magic powers but simply that while his body can be victimized, philosophy prosects his mind-cultivated under his teacher, Stilpo-with an inner fortress whose gates can never be broken from the outside, only surrendered.   Look at Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the boxer wrongly convicted of homicide who spent nearly twenty years in prison. He would say, "I don't acknowledge the existence of the prison. It doesn't exist for me." Of course, the prison literally existed, and he was physically inside it. But he refused to let his mind be contained by it.   That's a power that you have too. Hopefully you'll never have to use this power in a situation of violence or grave injustice; however, in the midst of any and every kind of adversity, it is there. No...

"Nothing can satisfy greed, but even a small measure satisfies nature. So it is that the poverty of an exile brings no misfortune, for no place of exile is so barren as not to produce ample support for a person."-SENECA, ON CONSOLATION TO HELVIA, 10.11b ("탐욕은 결코 만족할 수 없지만, 자연은 작은 것만으로도 충분히 만족합니다. 그래서 망명의 가난은 불행을 가져오지 않으니, 어떤 망명지라도 사람을 위한 충분한 양식을 제공하지 않는 곳은 없습니다." - 세네카, 헬비아에게 보내는 위로의 글, 10.11b)   It can be beneficial to reflect on what you used to accept as normal. Consider your first paycheck-how big it seemed then. Or your first apartment, with its own bedroom and bathroom and the ramen you gladly scarfed down in the kitchen. Today, as you've become more successful, these conditions would hardly feel sufficient. In fact, you probably want even more than what you have right now. Yet just a few years ago those paltry conditions were not only enough, they felt great!   When we become successful, we forget how strong we used to be. We are so used to what we have, we half believe we'd die without it. Of course, this is just the comfort talking. In the days of the world wars, our parents and grandparents ...

"How appropriate that the gods put under our control only the most powerful ability that governs all the rest-the ability to make the right use of external appearances-and that they didn't put anything else under our control. Was this simply because they weren't willing to give us more? I think if it had been possible they would have given us more, but it was impossible.-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.1.7-8 ("신들이 나머지 모든 것을 지배하는 가장 강력한 능력, 즉 외부적 모습을 올바르게 사용하는 능력만 우리의 통제하에 두고 다른 어떤 것도 우리의 통제하에 두지 않은 것은 얼마나 적절한가. 단순히 신들이 우리에게 더 많은 것을 주고 싶지 않았기 때문일까요? 가능했다면 우리에게 더 많은 것을 줄 수 있었겠지만 불가능했습니다." -에픽테토스, <담화록>, 1.1.7-8)   We could look at the upcoming day and despair at all the things we don't control: other people, our health, the temperature, the outcome of a project once it leaves our hands.   Or we could look out at that very same day and rejoice at the one thing we...

"For even peace itself will supply more reason for worry. Not even safe circumstances will bring you confidence once your mind has been shocked-once it gets in the habit of blind panic, it can't provide for its own safety. For it doesn't really avoid danger, it just runs away. Yet we are exposed to greater danger with our backs turned."-SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 104.10b ("심지어 평화 그 자체도 더 많은 걱정거리를 가져다줄 것입니다. 한 번 마음이 충격을 받으면, 안전한 상황조차도 당신에게 자신감을 주지 못합니다. 마음이 맹목적인 공포에 익숙해지면, 스스로를 안전하게 지킬 수 없습니다. 마음은 실제로 위험을 피하는 것이 아니라 단지 도망치려고 할 뿐입니다. 하지만 등을 돌린 채로 더 큰 위험에 노출될 수 있습니다."- 세네카, 모랄 레터스, 104.10b)   There's an old proverb that money doesn't change people, it just makes them more of who they are. Robert Caro has written that "power doesn't corrupt, it reveals." In some ways, prosperity-financial and personal-is the same way.   If your mind has developed a certain cast-the habit of panicking, in Seneca's example-then it won't matter how good things get for you. You're still primed for panic. Your mind will still find ...

"Leisure without study is death-a tomb for the living person." -SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 82.4 ("공부 없는 여가는 죽음이다 - 살아있는 사람을 위한 무덤이다." - 세네카, 『도덕 서신집』, 82.4)   You deserve a vacation. You work hard. You sacrifice. You push your- You deserve a vacation. You wop a plane, check into your hotel, and head to the beach-but tuck a book under your arm (and not a trashy beach read). Make sure you enjoy your relaxation like a poet-not idly but actively, observing the world around you, taking it all in, better understanding your place in the universe. Take a day off from work every now and then, but not a day off from learning.   Maybe your goal is to make enough money so that you can retire early. Good for you! But the purpose of retirement is not to live a life of indolence or to run out the clock, as easy as that might be to do. Rather, it's to allow for the pursuit of your real calling now that a big distraction is out of the way. To sit around all day and do nothing? To watch endless amounts of television or simply travel from place to ...