"Yes, getting your wish would have been so nice. But isn't that exactly why pleasure trips us up? Instead, see if these things might be even nicer-a great soul, freedom, honesty, kindness, saintliness. For there is nothing so pleasing as wisdom itself, when you consider how sure-footed and effortless the works of understanding and knowledge are."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.9
(“네, 소원을 이루면 정말 좋았을 텐데요. 하지만 바로 그 점이 쾌락이 우리를 흥분시키는 이유가 아닐까요? 그 대신 위대한 영혼, 자유, 정직, 친절, 성스러움 같은 것들이 더 좋은 것은 아닌지 생각해 보세요. 이해와 지식의 작용이 얼마나 확실하고 수월한지 생각해 보면 지혜 그 자체만큼 즐거운 것은 없습니다.” - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 5.9)
Nobody can argue that pleasure doesn't feel good. That's pretty much what it does by definition.
But today Marcus Aurelius is reminding you-just as he reminded himself that those pleasures hardly stand up to virtue. The dopamine rush that comes from sex is momentary. So is the pride of an ...
