(독서) Daily Stoic 12월 21일 WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SHOW FOR YOUR YEARS?

"Do you then ponder how the supreme of human evils, the surest mark of the base and cowardly, is not death, but the fear of death? I urge you to discipline yourself against such fear, direct all your thinking, exercises, and reading this way-and you will know the only path to human freedom."-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.26.38-39 (“그러면 인간의 악 중 가장 극악무도하고, 비열하고 비겁한 자의 가장 확실한 표식은 죽음이 아니라 죽음에 대한 두려움이라는 것을 깊이 생각해 보셨나요? 나는 당신이 이런 두려움에 맞서 자신을 훈련하도록 권합니다. 당신의 모든 사고, 연습, 독서를 이 방향으로 이끌어가십시오. 그러면 인간의 자유로 가는 유일한 길을 알게 될 것입니다.” - 에픽테토스, 《담화》, 3.26.38-39)     To steel himself before he committed suicide rather than submit to Julius Caesar's destruction of the Roman Republic, the great Stoic philosopher Cato read a bit of Plato's Phaedo. In it, Plato writes, "It is the child within us that trembles before death." Death is scary because it is such an unknown. No one can come back and ...

"Think of the whole universe of matter and how small your share. Think about the expanse of time and how brief-almost momentary-the part marked for you. Think of the workings of fate and how infinitesimal your role."-MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.24 ("우주의 모든 물질을 생각해 보십시오. 그 중 당신의 몫이 얼마나 작은지요. 시간의 광대한 범위를 생각해 보십시오. 그리고 그 중에서 당신에게 주어진 시간이 얼마나 짧고, 거의 순간적인지 떠올려 보십시오. 운명의 작용을 생각해 보십시오. 그리고 그 안에서 당신의 역할이 얼마나 미미한지요." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 《명상록》 5.24) The amount of ...

"Both Alexander the Great and his mule-keeper were both brought to the same place by death-they were either received into the all-generative reason, or scattered among the atoms." -Marcus AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.24 ("알렉산더 대왕과 그의 노새지기 모두 죽음을 통해 같은 장소로 가게 되었다. 그들은 모두 생성의 이성 안에서 받아들여졌거나, 원자들 사이로 흩어졌을 것이다." - 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스, 명상록 6.24)   In a world that is in many ways becoming more and more unequal, there aren't many truly equalitarian experiences left. When Benjamin Franklin observed that "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes," he couldn't have known how good some people would get at ...

"Death lies heavy upon one who, known exceedingly well by all, dies unknown to himself."-SENECA, THYESTES, 400 ("모든 사람이 너무나 잘 알고 있지만, 자신도 모르는 채 죽는 자에게 죽음은 무겁다."- 세네카, 티에스테스 400)   Some of the most powerful and important people in the world seem to have almost no self-awareness. Although total strangers know endless amounts of trivia about them, celebrities-because they are too busy or because it hurts too much-appear to know very little about themselves.   We can be guilty of the same sin. We ignore Socrates's dictum to "know thyself"-often realizing we have done so at our peril, years later, when we wake up one day and ...

"I tell you, you only have to learn to live like the healthy person does... living with complete confidence. What confidence? The only one worth holding, in what is trustworthy, unhindered, and can't be taken away-your own reasoned choice."-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.26.23b-24 ("나는 여러분에게 말합니다. 여러분은 단지 건강한 사람이 살아가는 방식대로 살아가는 법을 배우기만 하면 됩니다. 완전한 자신감을 가지고 살아가는것입니다. 어떤 자신감일까요? 오직 믿을 만하고 방해받지 않으며 빼앗길 수 없는 것에 대한 자신감입니다. 그것은 바로 여러분 자신의 이성적 선택입니다." - 에픽테토스, <담화집>, 3.26.23b-24)   As the Stoics say repeatedly, it's dangerous to have faith in what you do not control. But your own reasoned choice? Well, for now that is in your control. Therefore it is one of the few things you can have confidence in. It's the one area of health that can't suddenly be given a terminal diagnosis (except for the one we all get the day we're born). It's the only one that remains pristine and never wears down-it's only the user who ...