Unpopular Opinion Of Marcus Aurelius – And Highly Thought-provoking:
Unpopular opinion of Marcus Aurelius – and highly thought-provoking:
“In comparing sins (the way people do) Theophrastus says that the ones committed out of desire are worse than the ones committed out of anger: which is good philosophy. The angry man seems to turn his back on reason out of a kind of pain and inner convulsion. But the man motivated by desire, who is mastered by pleasure, seems somehow more self-indulgent, less manly in his sins.
Theophrastus is right, and philosophically sound, to say that the sin committed out of pleasure deserves a harsher rebuke than the one committed out of pain. The angry man is more like a victim of wrongdoing, provoked by pain to anger. The other man rushes into wrongdoing on his own, moved to action by desire.” © Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”.
More Posts from Stoicheadaurelius and Others
🌿“This is God’s law and nature’s: ‘Let the best man win.’ But ‘best’ in his area of expertise. One body is stronger than another body, many bodies are stronger than one; a thief has the advantage here over one who is not a thief. This is how I came to lose my lamp: the thief was better than I am in staying awake. But he acquired the lamp at a price: he became a thief for its sake, for its sake, he lost his ability to be trusted, for a lamp he became a brute. And he imagined he came out ahead!
🌿Fine words, you may say – but now I have been seized by the cloak and am being dragged downtown. Bystanders shout, ‘Hey, philosopher, what good did your views do you after all? Look, you’re being hauled of to prison and soon will be beheaded.’
🌿Tell me, what Introduction to Philosophy could I have read that would have saved me from being dragged away if a stronger man grabs me by the cloak; or could have kept me out of prison if I am assaulted by a gang of ten? What philosophy has taught me, though, is to be indifferent to events beyond the will’s control. Haven’t you profited in this respect too? So don’t look for help from philosophy except in areas where you have learned that help from it can be found.”
🌿© Epictetus, “Discourses”.
"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think." (c) Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations".
The Rise of Ancient Greek and Roman Stoicism: A Journey Through Time – @stoicheadaurelius in Stoichead Aurelius on Tumblr
MARCUS AURELIUS Reveals the Meaning of Life: How To "See the Human Life for What It Is”.
While we wait for the next Welcome Home update, here is the music video for "The Nine Neighborly Gifts" commissioned by @nosignalart and @bloomynmoon.
Life-Changing Wisdom From the "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius:
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind and possessing a share of the divine. And so, none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.
Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh and a little spirit and an intelligence. Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now, despise your flesh. A mess of blood, pieces of bone, a woven tangle of nerves, veins, arteries. Consider what the spirit is: air, and never the same air, but vomited out and gulped in again every instant. Finally, the intelligence. Think of it this way: You are an old man. Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future." (c) Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations".
🌿🌿🌿No man fears Caesar himself, but he fears death, banishment, deprivation of his property, prison, and disgrace. Nor does any man love Caesar, unless Caesar is a person of great merit, but he loves wealth, the office of tribune, praetor or consul. When we love, and hate, and fear these things, it must be that those who have the power over them must be our masters.”🌿🌿🌿
© Epictetus, “Discourses”.
WHAT TRULY MATTERS & WHAT DOESN’T: MARCUS AURELIUS
"YOU'RE NOT YOUR WEALTH!" Deep STOIC Thought by EPICTETUS
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