(독서) Daily Stoic-11월14일 YOU CHOOSE THE OUTCOME

"Don't allow yourself to be heard any longer griping about public life, not even with your own ears!"-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.9 ("더 이상 공적 생활에 대해 불평하는 소리를 들려주지 마세요, 심지어 당신 자신의 귀에라도 들리지 않도록 하세요!" - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상록, 8.9)   Not only do even the most fortunate of us complain, it often seems like the more fortunate we are, the more time we have to do so. Marcus Aurelius was a reluctant chief executive-just as you might be a reluctant accountant, kid's soccer coach, or lawyer. Or perhaps you generally like your job, but you could do without a few of its attendant responsibilities. Where does that thinking get you? Nowhere, other than in a negative state of mind.   It calls to mind a motto of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli: "Never complain, never explain." He said this because, like Marcus, he knew that the burdens of responsibility were immense. It's so easy to complain about this or that, or to try to make excuses and justifications for the things you've done. But that ...

"If we judge as good and evil only the things in the power of our own choice, then there is no room left for blaming gods or being hostile to others."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.41 (“만약 우리가 오직 우리 자신의 선택에 있는 것들만을 선악으로 판단한다면, 신을 비난하거나 다른 사람에게 적대감을 가질 여지는 남지 않게 됩니다.” - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 6.41)    A sign on President Harry Truman's desk read, THE BUCK STOPS HERE. As president, with more power and control than pretty much anyone else, he knew that, good or bad, there wasn't anyone he could blame for stuff other than himself. There was no one to pass the buck to. The chain ended there, in the Oval Office.   As the president of our own lives-and knowing that our powers begin and end with our reasoned choice-we would do well to internalize this same attitude. We don't control things outside that sphere, but we do control our attitudes and our responses to those events-and that's plenty. It's enough that we go into each and every day knowing that there is no ...

"When you are distressed by an external thing, it's not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it. And you can wipe this out at a moment's notice."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.47 ("당신이 외부의 일로 인해 괴로워한다면, 당신을 괴롭히는 것은 그 일이 아니라, 오직 그 일에 대한 당신의 판단 때문입니다. 그리고 당신은 이를 즉시 지워버릴 수 있습니다." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, <명상록>, 8.47)   Imagine you've dreamed of a life in politics. You're young, you're vigorous, and you've held increasingly powerful positions over the course of your career. Then at thirty-nine, you start to feel run down. Your doctors tell you that you have polio and your life will never be the same. Your career is over-right?   This is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, now widely regarded as one of America's greatest political leaders. He was, at middle age, diagnosed with polio after spending years preparing for and dreaming about the presidency.   It's impossible to understand FDR without understanding this disability. The "external thing" was that he was crippled-this was a literal fact-but his judgment of it was that it did not cripple his career or his personhood. Though he was certainly the victim of a then incurable disease, he wiped away-almost ...

"Think by way of example on the times of Vespasian, and you'll see all these things: marrying, raising children, falling ill, dying, wars, holiday feasts, commerce, farming, flattering, pretending, suspecting, scheming, praying that others die, grumbling over one's lot, falling in love, amassing fortunes, lusting after office and power. Now that life of theirs is dead and gone. . . the times of Trajan, again the same...-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.32 ("베스파시아누스 시대를 생각해 보십시오. 그러면 결혼하고, 자식을 키우고, 병에 걸리고, 죽고, 전쟁을 벌이고, 축제를 즐기고, 상업을 하고, 농사를짓고, 아첨하고, 위선하며, 의심하고, 음모를 꾸미고, 남이 죽기를 기도하며, 자신의 처지를 불평하고, 사랑에 빠지고, 부를 쌓고, 직위와 권력을 탐내는모든 일들을 보게 될 것입니다. 그러나 그들의 삶은 이제 죽어 없어졌습니다. 트라야누스 시대도 마찬가지입니다." – 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 『명상록』4.32)   Ernest Hemingway opens his book The Sun Also Rises with a Bible verse: “One generation passeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever. The sun also riseth, and the sun goeth down, and resteth to the place where he arose." It was this passage, his editor would say, that "contained all the wisdom of the ancient world."   And what wisdom is that? One of the most striking things about history is just how long human beings have been doing what they do. Though certain attitudes and practices have come and ...

"The universe is change. Life is opinion."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.3.4b ("우주는 변화입니다. 삶은 의견입니다." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 4.3.4b)   In Plutarch's Life of Theseus, he describes how the ship of Theseus, an Athenian hero, was preserved by the people of Athens in battle-ready condition for many centuries. Each time a board decayed, it would be replaced until eventually every stick of wood in it had been replaced. Plutarch asks: Is it still the ship of Theseus, or is it a new one?   In Japan, a famous Shinto shrine is rebuilt every twenty-three years. It's gone through more than sixty of those cycles. Is it one shrine, 1,400 years old? Or sixty consecutive shrines? Even the U.S. Senate, given its staggered elections, could be said to have never been fully turned over. Is it the same body formed in the days of George Washington?   Our understanding of what something is is just a snapshot-an ephemeral opinion. The ...