(독서) Daily Stoic-11월28일 IT'S NOT ON THEM, IT'S ON YOU

"How satisfying it is to dismiss and block out any upsetting or foreign impression, and immediately to have peace in all things." -MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.2 ("어떤 마음을 불편하게 하거나 외부로부터 영향을 주는 인상을 차단하고 무시해버릴 수 있다면, 얼마나 만족스러울까요? 그리고 즉시 모든 것에 평화를 얻을 수 있습니다." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 5.2)   The Stoics were mercifully spared the information overload endemic to today’s society. They had no social media, no newspapers, no television chatter to rile them up. But even back then, an undisciplined person would have found plenty to be distracted and upset by.   Part of the Stoic mindset then was a sort of a cultivated ignorance. Publilius Syrus's epigram expresses it well: "Always shun that which makes you angry." Meaning: turn your mind away from the things that provoke it. If you find that discussing politics at the dinner table leads to fighting, why do you keep bringing it up? If your sibling's life choices bother you, why don't you stop picking at them and making them your concern? The same goes for so many other sources ...

"We are like many pellets of incense falling on the same altar. Some collapse sooner, others later, but it makes no difference." -MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.15 (“우리는 한 제단 위에 떨어지는 여러 향의 알갱이와 같습니다. 어떤 것은 먼저 무너지고, 어떤 것은 나중에 무너지지만, 그 차이는 없습니다.”– 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상록 4.15) What's the difference between you and the richest person in the world? One has a little more money than the other. What's the difference between you and the oldest person in the world? One has been around a little longer than the other. Same goes for the tallest, smartest, fastest, and on down the line. Measuring ourselves against other people makes acceptance difficult, because we want what they have, or we want how things could have gone, not what we happen to have. But that makes no ...

"As for me, I would choose being sick over living in luxury, for being sick only harms the body, whereas luxury destroys both the body and the soul, causing weakness and incapacity in the body, and lack of control and cowardice in the soul. What's more, luxury breeds injustice because it also breeds greediness." -MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 20.95.14-17 ("저라면 사치 속에서 사는 것보다는 아프기를 선택하겠습니다. 병에 걸리는 것은 몸만 해칠 뿐이지만, 사치는 몸과 영혼 모두를 파괴하기 때문입니다. 사치는 몸을 약화시키고 무능하게 만들며, 영혼에는 절제력 상실과 비겁함을 불러일으킵니다. 게다가 사치는 탐욕을 키우기 때문에 불의 또한 만들어냅니다."  - 무소니우스 루푸스, 「강연」 20.95.14-17)   Stories about lottery winners tend to share one lesson: suddenly coming into a great deal of money is a curse, not a blessing. Just a few years after they get their big check, many lottery winners are actually in worse financial shape. They've lost friends, they've gotten divorced. Their whole lives have been turned into a nightmare as a result of their obscenely good fortune.   It's like that Metallica lyric (fittingly from a song called "No ...

"Whenever you experience the pangs of losing something, don't treat it like a part of yourself but as a breakable glass, so when it falls you will remember that and won't be troubled. So too, whenever you kiss your child, sibling, or friend, don't layer on top of the experience all the things you might wish, but hold them back and stop them, just as those who ride behind triumphant generals remind them they are mortal. In the same way, remind yourself that your precious one isn't one of your possessions, but something given for now, not forever..."-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.24.84-86a ("무언가를 잃는 고통을 느낄 때, 그것을 자신의 일부로 대하지 말고 깨지기 쉬운 유리로 여겨야 하며, 그것이 떨어졌을 때도 그 사실을 기억하고 괴로워하지 않아야 합니다. 마찬가지로, 아이, 형제, 혹은 친구를 껴안을 때, 그 경험 위에 자신이 바라는 모든 것을 덧붙이지 말고 그것을 억누르고 멈추어야 합니다. 이는 승리한 장군 뒤에 타고 가며 그가 언젠가 죽는 존재임을 상기시키는 이와 같다고 할 수 있습니다. 이와 같은 방식으로, 소중한 사람이 당신의 소유물이 아니라 지금 잠시 주어진 것이며 영원하지 않음을 스스로 상기해야 합니다." -에픽테토스, 담화집, 3.24.84-86a)    At a Roman triumph, the majority of the public would have their eyes glued to the ...

"In short, you must remember this-that if you hold anything dear outside of your own reasoned choice, you will have destroyed your capacity for choice."-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.4.23 (“간단히 말하자면, 당신이 자신의 이성적 선택 이외에 다른 어떤 것을 소중히 여긴다면, 당신의 선택 능력을 스스로 파괴한 것이 됩니다."- 에픽테토스, 담화집 4.4.23)   According to Anthony de Mello, "there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is Attachment." Attachments to an image you have of a person, attachments to wealth and status, attachments to a certain place or time, attachments to a job or to a lifestyle. All of those things are dangerous for one reason: they are outside of our reasoned choice. How long we keep them is not in our control.   As Epictetus realized some two thousand years before de Mello, our attachments are what make it so hard to accept change. Once we have them, we don't want to let go. We become slaves to maintaining the status quo. We are like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland-running faster and faster to stay in the same place.   But everything is in a constant state of change. We have certain things for a while and then ...