(독서) Daily Stoic-12월24일 MEANINGLESS... LIKE A FINE WINE

"You are afraid of dying. But, come now, how is this life of yours anything but death?"-SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 77.18 ("당신은 죽음을 두려워합니다. 하지만, 가만히 생각해보십시오. 지금의 당신의 삶이 죽음과 무엇이 다릅니까?"-세네카, 도덕적 편지 77.18)   Seneca tells an amazing story about an obscenely wealthy Roman Senec who was carried around by slaves on a litter. On one occasion, after being lifted out of a bath, the Roman asked, "Am I sitting down yet?" Seneca's point was essentially: What kind of sad ...

"For it's disgraceful for an old person, or one in sight of old age, to have only the knowledge carried in their notebooks. Zeno said this... what do you say? Cleanthes said that... what do you say? How long will you be compelled by the claims of another? Take charge and stake your own claim-something posterity will carry in its notebook."-SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 33.7 (“노년이 되었거나 노년이 가까운 사람이 자기 필기장에 적힌 지식만 가지고 있다면 그것은 수치스러운 일이다. 제노는 이렇게 말했다고 한다… 클레안테스는 저렇게 말했다고 한다… 그렇다면 당신은 무엇을 말할 것인가? 언제까지 남의 말에 의존할 것인가? 주도권을 잡고 당신만의 주장을 세워라. 후세 사람들이 그들의 필기장에 남길 그런 주장을 말이다.” - 세네카, 도덕 서한 33.7) Musing in his notebook ...

"Many times an old man has no other evidence besides his age to prove he has lived a long time."-SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 3.8b (“많은 경우에, 나이 든 사람이 자신이 오래 살았다는 증거로 제시할 수 있는 것은 나이밖에 없다.”- 세네카, 《마음의 평정에 관하여》, 3.8b) How long have you been alive? Take the years, multiply them by 365, and then by 24. How many hours have you lived? What do you have to show for all of them? The answer for many people is: not enough. We had so many hours that we took them for granted. All we have to show for our time on this planet are rounds of golf, years spent at the office, time spent watching mediocre movies, a stack of mindless books we hardly remember reading, and maybe a garage full of toys. We're like the character in Ray- mond Chandler's The Long Goodbye: "Mostly, I just kill time," he says, "and it dies hard." One day, our hours will begin to run out. It would be nice ...

"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 ...