(독서) Daily Stoic-12월13일 IT'S JUST A NUMBER

"Walk the long gallery of the past, of empires and kingdoms succeeding each other without number. And you can also see the future, for surely it will be exactly the same, unable to deviate from the present rhythm. It's all one whether we've experienced forty years or an aeon. What more is there to see?" -MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.49 ("과거의 긴 회랑을 걸어 보십시오. 수없이 이어지는 제국과 왕국의 흥망성쇠를 볼 수 있습니다. 그리고 미래 또한 볼 수 있습니다. 틀림없이 지금의 리듬에서 벗어나지 않을 것입니다. 40년을 살았든, 영겁의 세월을 살았든, 그 차이는 없습니다. 그 이상 무엇을 더 볼 수 있겠습니까?" - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》, 7.49)   AIl things die. Not just people but companies, kingdoms, religions, and ideas – eventually. The Roman Republic lasted 450 years. The Roman Empire, of which Marcus Aurelius was considered to be one of the "five good emperors," lasted 500 years. The longest recorded life of a human being is 122 years. The average life expectancy in the United States is a little over seventy-eight years. In other ...

"As Cicero says, we hate gladiators if they are quick to save their lives by any means; we favor them if they show contempt for their lives."-SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 11.4b (키케로의 말처럼, 검투사가 목숨을 살리기 위해 수단과 방법을 가리지 않을 때 우리는 그들을 경멸합니다. 그러나 목숨을 경멸하는 모습을 보일 때 우리는 그들을 지지합니다. - 세네카, 마음의 평온에 관하여, 11.4)b   Lyndon Johnson's college classmates used to tell an embarrassing story about him. Johnson apparently had a big mouth and felt he had to constantly dominate and intimidate others. Yet his biographer, Robert Caro, makes it clear that when someone stood up to young Lyndon, he proved himself to be a complete coward. In one instance, during an argument over a poker game, instead of fighting, Johnson threw himself on a bed and "began kicking his feet in the air with a frantic, windmilling motion... like a girl." He shouted, "If you hit me, I'll kick you! If you hit me, I'll kick you!"   Later in his life, Johnson also worked extremely hard to avoid serving in World War II and lived it up in California while other soldiers. fought and died abroad. He later claimed to be a war hero. It was one of his most shameful lies.   We do not need to ...

"I say, let no one rob me of a single day who isn't going to make a full return on the loss."-SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 1.11b ("나는 누구든 나에게 하루를 앗아가려 한다면, 그 손실에 대해 온전히 보상하지 않는다면 허락하지 않을 것이다."-세네카, 마음의 평온에 대하여, 1.11b)   People spend a lot more money when they use credit cards than when they have to pull out actual cash. If you ever wondered why credit card companies and banks push cards so aggressively, this is why. The more credit cards you have, the more you'll spend.   Do we treat the days of our lives like we treat our money? Because we don't exactly know how many days we'll be alive, and because we try our hardest not to think about the fact that someday we'll die, we're pretty liberal with how freely we spend our time. We let people and obligations impose on that time, only rarely asking: What am I getting in return ...

"Were all the geniuses of history to focus on this single theme, they could never fully express their bafflement at the darkness of the human mind. No person would give up even an inch of their estate, and the slightest dispute with a neighbor can mean hell to pay; yet we easily let others encroach on our lives-worse, we often pave the way for those who will take it over. No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We're tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers."-SENECA, ON THE BREVITY OF LIFE, 3.1-2 ("역사 속 모든 천재가 이 단 하나의 주제에 집중한다고 해도, 인간 마음의 어둠에 대한 당혹감을 완전히 표현할 수는 없을 것입니다. 아무도 자신의 재산중 한 치의 땅이라도 내어주는 것을 용납하지 않으며, 이웃과의 작은 다툼도 큰 대가를 치르게 만듭니다. 그런데도 우리는 너무나 쉽게 타인이 우리의 삶에 침범하도록 허용하며, 심지어는 스스로 그 길을 닦아주기도 합니다. 아무도 지나가는 사람에게 자신의 돈을 그냥 내어주지는 않지만, 우리는 얼마나 많은 사람들에게 자신의 삶을 내어주는지 모릅니다. 우리는 재산과 돈에는 인색하지만, 시간에 대해서는 너무 쉽게 낭비합니다. 사실 시간은 우리가 가장인색하게 여겨야 할 것입니다." - 세네카, 『인생의 짧음에 관하여』, 3.1-2)   Today there will be endless interruptions: phone calls, emails, visitors, unexpected events. Booker T. Washington observed that "the number of ...

"Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what's left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?"-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.56-57 ("지금까지 살아온 삶을 이미 끝난 것으로 생각하고, 죽은 사람처럼 남아 있는 삶을 덤으로 여기며 자연에 따라 살아가십시오. 운명이 당신에게 내민 손을 사랑하고 그것을 당신 자신의 것으로 여기십시오. 이보다 더 적합한 일이 무엇이겠습니까?"-마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 7.56-57)   We have an irrational fear of acknowledging our own mortality. We avoid thinking about it because we think it will be depressing. In fact, reflecting on mortality often has the opposite effect- invigorating us more than saddening us. Why? Because it gives us clarity. If you were suddenly told you had but a week to live, what changes would you make? If you died but were resuscitated, how different would ...