(독서) Daily Stoic-12월3일 THE PHILOSOPHER AS AN ARTISAN OF LIFE AND DEATH

"Let each thing you would do, say or intend be like that of a dying person."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 2.11.1 (“당신이 하고자 하는 일, 말하거나 의도하는 모든 것이 죽음을 앞둔 사람의 것처럼 하라.”-마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 『명상록』 2.11.1)   Have you ever heard some ask: "What would you do if you found out tomorrow that you had cancer?" The question is designed to make you consider how different life might be if you were suddenly given just a few months or weeks to live. There's nothing like a terminal illness to wake people up.   But here's the thing: you already have a terminal diagnosis. We all do! As the writer Edmund Wilson put it, "Death is one prophecy that never fails." Every person is born with a death sentence. Each second that passes by is one you'll never get back.   Once you realize this, it will have a profound impact on what you do, say, and ...

"Let us prepare our minds as if we'd come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's books each day.... The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time."-SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 101.7b-8a (“마치 우리가 삶의 끝자락에 도달한 것처럼 마음을 준비합시다. 아무것도 미루지 맙시다. 매일 삶의 장부를 정산합시다. … 매일 삶의 마지막을 완성하는 이는 결코 시간이 부족하지 않습니다.”-세네카, 『도덕 편지』, 101.7b-8a) "Live each day as if it were your last" is a cliché. Plenty say it, few actually do it. How reasonable would that be anyway? Surely Seneca isn't saying to forsake laws and considerations-to find some orgy to join because the world is ending. A better analogy would be a soldier about to leave on deployment. Not knowing whether they'll return or not, what do they do? They get their affairs in order. They handle their business. They tell their children or their family that they love them. They don't have time for quarreling or petty matters. And then in the ...

"The person who follows reason in all things will have both leisure and a readiness to act-they are at once both cheerful and self- composed."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 10.12b ("모든 일에서 이성을 따르는 사람은 여가와 행동의 준비성을 동시에 갖추게 되며, 그는 언제나 밝고 침착할 것입니다."  - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 10.12b )   The guiding reason of the world-the Stoics called this the logos- works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, the logos gives us what we want, other times it gives us precisely what we do not want. In either case, they believed that the logos was an all-powerful force that governed the universe.   There is a helpful analogy to explain the logos: We are like a dog leashed to a moving cart. The direction of the cart will determine where we go. Depending on the length of the leash, we also have a fair amount of room to explore and determine the pace, but ultimately what each of us must choose is ...

"Don't lament this and don't get agitated." -MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.43 ("이것에 대해 한탄하지 말고 흥분하지도 마십시오."-마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상록 7.43)   There's that feeling we get when something happens: It's all over now. All is lost. What follows are complaints and pity and misery- the impotent struggle against something that's already occurred.   Why bother? We have no idea what the future holds. We have no idea what's coming up around the bend. It could be more problems, or this could be the darkness before the dawn.   If we're Stoic, there is one thing we can be sure of: whatever happens, we're going to be OK. 어떤 일이 발생했을 때 우리는 이런 느낌을 받습니다. "이제 다 끝났어. 모든 게 망가졌어." 그 뒤로 이어지는 것은 불평과 연민, 그리고 이미 일어난 일에 대한 무력한 몸부림입니다. 왜 애써야 하겠습니까? 우리는 미래가 어떻게 될지 전혀 알지 못합니다. 어떤 ...

"If someone is slipping up, kindly correct them and point out what they missed. But if you can't, blame yourself-or no one." -MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 10.4 ("누군가가 실수를 하고 있다면, 친절하게 바로잡아 주고 그들이 놓친 점을 알려주십시오. 하지만 그럴 수 없다면, 자신을 탓하거나 아무도 탓하지 마십시오."  - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 『명상록』 10.4  )   A good teacher knows that when a student is failing, the blame falls on the instructor, not the pupil. How much more generous and tolerant would we be if we could extend this understanding to other spheres in our life? To be able to see that if a friend is unreliable, maybe it's because they don't know what's wrong or because we haven't tried to help them fix their flaw. If an employee is underperforming, just talk to them or figure out if they're lacking in support. ...