"I travel along nature’s way until I fall down and take my rest, breathing out my last into
the air, from which I draw my daily breath, and falling down to that earth from which
my father drew his seed, my mother her blood and my nurse her milk, and from which
for so many years I have taken my daily food and drink, the earth which carries my
footsteps and which I have used to the full in so many ways."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.4
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Sunday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"The works of the gods are full of providence, and the works of fortune are not
separate from nature or the interweaving and intertwining of the things governed by
providence. Everything flows from there. Further factors are necessity and the benefit
of the whole universe, of which you are a part. What is brought by the nature of the
whole and what maintains that nature is good for each part of nature. Just as the
changes in the elements maintain the universe so too do the changes in the
compounds."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.3
separate from nature or the interweaving and intertwining of the things governed by
providence. Everything flows from there. Further factors are necessity and the benefit
of the whole universe, of which you are a part. What is brought by the nature of the
whole and what maintains that nature is good for each part of nature. Just as the
changes in the elements maintain the universe so too do the changes in the
compounds."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.3
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Saturday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
"At every hour give your full concentration, as a Roman and a man, to carrying out the
task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity and affectionate concern for
others and freedom and justice, and give yourself space from other concerns. You will
give yourself this if you carry out each act as if it were the last of your life, freed from
all randomness and passionate deviation from the rule of reason and from pretense
and self-love and dissatisfaction with what has been allotted to you. You see how few
things you need to master to be able to live a smoothly flowing life: the gods will ask
no more from someone who maintains these principles."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.5
task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity and affectionate concern for
others and freedom and justice, and give yourself space from other concerns. You will
give yourself this if you carry out each act as if it were the last of your life, freed from
all randomness and passionate deviation from the rule of reason and from pretense
and self-love and dissatisfaction with what has been allotted to you. You see how few
things you need to master to be able to live a smoothly flowing life: the gods will ask
no more from someone who maintains these principles."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.5
Saturday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"Be like the headland on which the waves break constantly, which still stands firm
while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has
happened to me!’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has
happened to me, I can bear it without getting upset, neither crushed by the present
nor afraid of the future'."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.49
while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has
happened to me!’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has
happened to me, I can bear it without getting upset, neither crushed by the present
nor afraid of the future'."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.49
Friday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
I didn't get to post this last night because I was in the hospital (AGAIN!). Talk about a test of Stoic resilience! Anyway, here was last night's text for reflection:
"One type of person, whenever he does someone else a good turn, is quick in
calculating the favor done to him. Another is not so quick to do this; but in himself he
thinks about the other person as owing him something and is conscious of what he
has done. A third is in a sense not even conscious of what he has done, but is like a
vine which has produced grapes and looks for nothing more once it has produced its
own fruit, like a horse which has run a race, a dog which has followed the scent, or a
bee which has made its honey. A person who has done something good does not
make a big fuss about it, but goes on to the next action, as a vine goes on to produce
grapes again in season. So you should be one of those who do this without in a sense
being aware of doing so."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.6
"One type of person, whenever he does someone else a good turn, is quick in
calculating the favor done to him. Another is not so quick to do this; but in himself he
thinks about the other person as owing him something and is conscious of what he
has done. A third is in a sense not even conscious of what he has done, but is like a
vine which has produced grapes and looks for nothing more once it has produced its
own fruit, like a horse which has run a race, a dog which has followed the scent, or a
bee which has made its honey. A person who has done something good does not
make a big fuss about it, but goes on to the next action, as a vine goes on to produce
grapes again in season. So you should be one of those who do this without in a sense
being aware of doing so."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.6
Friday, October 21, 2016
Friday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
This one is actually part of my morning meditation every single day, so it was nice to see it show up in the Stoic Week 2016 Handbook!
"Say to yourself first thing in the morning: I shall meet with people who are meddling,
ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable. They are subject to these
faults because of their ignorance of what is good and bad. But I have recognized the
nature of the good and seen that it is the right, and the nature of the bad and seen
that it is the wrong, and the nature of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that he is
related to me, not because he has the same blood or seed, but because he shares in
the same mind and portion of divinity. So I cannot be harmed by any of them, as no
one will involve me in what is wrong. Nor can I be angry with my relative or hate him.
We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper
and lower teeth. So to work against each other is contrary to nature; and resentment
and rejection count as working against someone."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1
"Say to yourself first thing in the morning: I shall meet with people who are meddling,
ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable. They are subject to these
faults because of their ignorance of what is good and bad. But I have recognized the
nature of the good and seen that it is the right, and the nature of the bad and seen
that it is the wrong, and the nature of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that he is
related to me, not because he has the same blood or seed, but because he shares in
the same mind and portion of divinity. So I cannot be harmed by any of them, as no
one will involve me in what is wrong. Nor can I be angry with my relative or hate him.
We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper
and lower teeth. So to work against each other is contrary to nature; and resentment
and rejection count as working against someone."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Thursday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
"Every habit and faculty is formed or strengthened by the corresponding act – walking
makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate,
read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with
something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten
days, when you get up and try to talk any distance, you’ll find your legs barely able to
support you. So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don’t like doing
something, make a habit of doing something different. The same goes for the affairs
of the mind… So if you don’t want to be hot-tempered, don’t feed your temper, or
multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count
the days on which you don’t get angry. ‘I used to be angry every day, then only every
other day, then every third…’ If you resist it a whole month, offer God a sacrifice,
because the vice begins to weaken from day one, until it is wiped out altogether. ‘I
didn’t lose my temper this day, or the next, and not for two, then three months in
succession.’ If you can say that, you are now in excellent health, believe me."
– Epictetus, Discourses, 2.18
makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate,
read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with
something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten
days, when you get up and try to talk any distance, you’ll find your legs barely able to
support you. So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don’t like doing
something, make a habit of doing something different. The same goes for the affairs
of the mind… So if you don’t want to be hot-tempered, don’t feed your temper, or
multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count
the days on which you don’t get angry. ‘I used to be angry every day, then only every
other day, then every third…’ If you resist it a whole month, offer God a sacrifice,
because the vice begins to weaken from day one, until it is wiped out altogether. ‘I
didn’t lose my temper this day, or the next, and not for two, then three months in
succession.’ If you can say that, you are now in excellent health, believe me."
– Epictetus, Discourses, 2.18
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