(독서) Daily Stoic-11월18일 FOUR HABITS OF THE STOIC MIND

"When philosophy is wielded with arrogance and stubbornly, it is the cause for the ruin of many. Let philosophy scrape off your own faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others." -SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 103.4b-5a (“철학이 오만하고 고집스럽게 휘두르면 많은 사람을 파멸로 이끄는 원인이 됩니다. 철학이 다른 사람의 잘못에 대항하는 수단이 되기보다는 자신의 잘못을 긁어내는 도구가 되게 하라.” -세네카, 도덕서, 103.4b-5a)   Remember, the proper direction of philosophy-of all the things we're doing here-is focused inward. To make ourselves better and to leave other people to that task for themselves and their own journey. Our faults are in our control, and so we turn to philosophy to help scrape them off like barnacles from the hull of a ship. Other people's faults? Not so much. That's for them to do.   Leave other people to their faults. Nothing in Stoic philosophy empowers you to judge them-only to accept them. Especially when we have so many of our own. 우리가 여기서 하고 있는 모든 일의 올바른 철학의 방향은 내면에 초점을 맞추고 있다는 점을 기억하세요. 우리 자신을 더 나은 ...

"Hecato says, 'cease to hope and you will cease to fear.'... The primary cause of both these ills is that instead of adapting ourselves to present circumstances we send out thoughts too far ahead." -SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 5.7b-8 (“헤카토는 '희망을 멈추면 두려움도 멈출 수 있다'고 말합니다.... 이 두 가지 병의 주된 원인은 우리가 현재 상황에 적응하는 대신 너무 멀리 내다보는 생각을 하기 때문입니다.” -세네카, 도덕편지, 5.7b-8) Hope is generally regarded as good. Fear is generally regarded as bad. To a Stoic like Hecato (known as Hecato of Rhodes), they are the same-both are projections into the future about things we do not control. Both are the enemy of this present moment that you are actually in. Both mean you're living a life in opposition to amor fati.   It's not about overcoming our fears but understanding that both hope and fear contain a dangerous amount of want and worry in them. ...

"Meditate often on the swiftness with which all that exists and is coming into being is swept by us and carried away. For substance is like a river's unending flow, its activities continually changing and causes infinitely shifting so that almost nothing at all stands still."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.23 (“모든 존재와 생성되고 있는 것들이 얼마나 빠르게 우리를 지나가고 사라지는지를 자주 명상하십시오. 실체는 마치 끝없이 흐르는 강물과 같으며, 그 활동은 끊임없이 변화하고 원인들은 무한히 이동하기 때문에 거의 아무것도 고정되어 있지 않습니다.”-마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상록, 5.23) Marcus borrows this wonderful metaphor from Heraclitus, who said, "No man steps in the same river twice." Because the river has changed, and so has the man. Life is in a constant state of change. And so are we. To get upset by things is to wrongly assume that they will last. To kick ourselves ...

"He was sent to prison. But the observation 'he has suffered evil,' is an addition coming from you."-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.8.5b-6a (“그는 감옥에 보내졌습니다. 그러나 '그는 악을 겪었다'는 관찰은 여러분이 덧붙인 것입니다."- 에픽테토스, 《담화집》, 3.8.5b–6a)   This is classic Stoic thinking, as you've gathered by now. An event itself is objective. How we describe it – that it was unfair, or it’s a great calamity, or that they did it on purpose-is on us.   Malcolm X (then Malcolm Little) went into prison a criminal, but he left as an educated, religious, and motivated man who would help in the struggle for civil rights. Did he suffer an evil? Or did he choose to make his experience a positive one?   Acceptance isn't passive. It's the first step in an active process toward self-improvement. 이것은 지금쯤 익숙해졌을 스토아 철학의 고전적인 사고 방식입니다. 사건 자체는 객관적입니다. 우리가 그것을 ‘부당하다’고 하거나 ‘큰 재난’이라고 묘사하는 것은 우리의 ...

"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 ...