Meditation I

Chapter 13

Plato said: A person with a high level sees all time and all matter. Do you think he will regard human life as an exceptionally great thing?Impossible, he said. ——A person with such a high realm will not regard death as a kind of evil. — Absolutely not.

Antisthenes once said: It is the fate of emperors to do good and be slandered.

There is a basic common sense: the organization and adjustment of facial expressions should be subject to the control of the mind, and not vice versa.

It's wrong to worry about things outside your body, because they have nothing to do with you. 12
Give joy to the immortal gods and to us.

Life is like the process of harvesting the ripe ears of wheat.One is born, another dies. 13
If the gods don't care about me and my children, there must be a reason for that.

For with me there is good and justice. 14
When others are crying, you have to restrain yourself and not be overly emotional.

Plato once said: I will give this person a satisfactory answer, that is, you are wrong, if you think that a person who is outstanding in all aspects should care about personal life and death, and do not need to pay attention to whether what he is doing is legitimate , and whether it is what a good person should do.

So it is, O Athenian: wherever he is, he sees it as the best place for him, or the Lord has put him there on purpose.It seemed to me that he ought indeed to be there, face his lowly duties, and take risks, without any regard for his own gain or loss, or fear of death or anything else.

But, my dear friend, please reflect that the so-called noble and good deeds are tantamount to saving others and being redeemed by others; He is a real person.Come to think of it, this should not be a thing to be dismissed from the mind: there certainly is no love of life there.But regarding these things, one must believe in God and believe in the words of the goddess of fate: no one can escape the arrangement of his own fate.The next question is how he can best spend this period of his life.

Look up at the trajectory of the stars, as if you are walking with them; always keep in mind the transformation and evolution between various elements; because, only by thinking in this way can you wash away the filth you have been polluted in secular life.

Plato said it well: those who comment on others should also learn to observe the world condescendingly; they should comprehensively examine from the following perspectives, such as people's gatherings, armies, farming, marriages, negotiations, life and death, the hustle and bustle of the court, Desolate places, barbarian groups, festive feasts, sacrificial funerals, bustling cities, mixed affairs, and orderly unions of nations.

Looking back at history, the great changes in political hegemony, and looking back at the present from history, you can also predict the future.Because they are similar in form, it is impossible to deviate from the order track of existing things.Therefore, thinking about 40 years of human life is no different from thinking about 1 years of human life.Is there anything newer you can see?

Things born in the land must return to the embrace of the land.And what sprouts from the divine seed will also return to Paradise. 15
This is either the disintegration or recombination of atoms, or the dissolution of insensible elements.

Armed with rations, drink, and cunning magic, you take a sharp turn down the passage of death to escape. 16 And the breeze of heaven comes quietly, and we bear it patiently, and toil without complaint.

A person who is good at defeating opponents who disagree with him may be neither gregarious nor humble; he is not fully prepared to meet what is about to happen, and he will not understand the mistakes of those around him. .

If any of our work is fully in line with divine and human reason, then we have nothing to fear, because we can succeed by acting on our own mechanism and benefit greatly from continuing activities, when, of course, Will not cause any harm.

Everything is within your grasp

These are within your power, whenever and wherever: to accept the present moment religiously; to be just and kind to those around you; to perfect the present craft of thought; to keep the unfiltered from entering your thoughts.

Don't try your best to find out the rules of other people's words and deeds, but pay more attention to your own nature, including the nature of the universe reflected by the things that happen to you and the nature of yourself manifested by the things you personally do.But every rational being is supposed to do what is in keeping with its own mechanics; everything else is so shaped for the purposes of rational beings.Among the irrational things, the lower things exist to serve the higher things, but the rational animals exist for each other, equally.

In the constitution of human beings, sociality is the first principle.And the second principle is not to give in to the temptations of the flesh.For the human body is like a special place in which rational action and intellectual activity determine its limits; do not be overwhelmed by sensual stimulation or inner desire, for both are animal natures; and rational activity should have a dignified place above all, Should not be overwhelmed by other factors.Try to maintain a good rational state, because the natural purpose of its existence is to use everything, not the other way around.The third principle of rational constitution is to free oneself from error and deceit.So, keep these principles in mind and go forward, and you can get what it has.

Think about your imminent death, or the end of your life at some point in the present; then, spend the rest of the time God has left for you according to your nature.

Is there anything better for you than to love what happens to you and the threads that fate weaves for you?
How troubled, how astonished, how excited they were by all that had happened, which had happened to them, and where were they now?I can't find it anywhere.So why do you still choose to treat them in the wrong way?Why don't you leave these unnatural restlessness to those who caused it and those who are led by it?Why don't you concentrate on making the right use of what's happening to you?Only then can you make the most of them, and they are the best material for all your work.Only by focusing on yourself can you be resolutely a good person in all your actions, remembering...

Introspect the mind.The heart is the source of all goodness, once tapped, it can flow like a spring.

The body should be strong and strong, no matter the movements or postures should not be messy.The mind needs to show reason and propriety through external expressions, and it also needs to be expressed through the whole body.But all these things should be done without the slightest affectation.

In this respect the art of living is less akin to a dancer than to a gladiator, for he is supposed to stand upright and ready to meet sudden and unexpected assaults.

For those people whose approval you hope to gain, you have to observe more and know what kind of mind-dominating principles they have.Because only in this way, you will not accuse those who have no intention of offending you, and you will no longer want their compliments, as long as you see their ideas and tastes for what they are.

The philosopher has said that every soul has a time when it inadvertently deviates from the truth; likewise, it also inadvertently deviates from justice, temperance, benevolence, and such good qualities.If you keep this in your mind, you will be able to be kind in all things.

Whatever pain you face, keep it in your heart that although it is painful, it does not dishonor you nor wound your dominant sanity, for both reason and Having social sanity doesn't hurt.In fact, if pain is unbearable for you, then you can also think about what Epicurus said: that pain is not unbearable, and it does not linger forever.So you keep in mind that it has a limit, and you don't exaggerate it in your imagination.You also have to remember that what we don't realize is that many other things that we don't quite enjoy, such as sleepiness, heat, and anorexia, have exactly the same properties as pain.Well, if you are still dissatisfied with these things, just say to yourself, I give in to pain.

Remember: Do not use the way of thinking of barbarians to perceive civilized people.

How do we know Traug's character is inferior to Socrates?For the mere assertion that Socrates died nobler; He flatly refused, thinking it was a noble thing to do; he walked the streets with his head held high—a fact we are deeply skeptical of.However, what we should continue to explore is: what kind of soul does Socrates have, and whether he can be satisfied with his kindness and piety to others, and does not bother himself because of people's sins, and does not allow himself to be subservient to others ignorance, not to regard what the universe has befallen him as monstrous, not to see it as intolerable, and finally not to resonate with his reason and his flesh.

When nature combined your intellect with the structure of your body, it did not deny you the power of self-restraint which would bring everything under your control; for to be a saint is to It is very possible not to be recognized.So be sure to keep in your mind that there are not many things you need to live a happy life.Though there is no hope of becoming an orator and omniscient in the field of natural knowledge, do not for this reason give up the hope of becoming a free, meek, friendly, and god-worshipping man.

Even if people all over the world are condemning you hoarsely, even if wild beasts want to tear your stinky skin into pieces, you should try your best to release all the pressure. Only in this way can you seek the greatest peace of mind.Because, among all these, what really prevents our mind from obtaining its own inner peace, forming a fair judgment on the surrounding things, and making full use of the objects presented to it is the pressure from the heart, so for everything encountered The judgment we can give is: You do exist (an objective fact), although you appear in a different form in people's eyes; : You are exactly what I am looking for; for to me all that comes up is always the good material from which rational and political virtue can be molded.All in all, it can be attributed to the artistic exercises to which people or gods belong.Because, everything that happens will have some kind of connection with God or people, but this is by no means a new thing, nor is it a tricky thing to deal with, but it is very common but convenient to use.

The perfection of moral character is to treat each day as if it were the last before death, without being too excited, insensitive, or hypocritical.

The immortal gods are never troubled by their constant toleration of all kinds of wickedness for a long time; besides, the gods care about them in every way.But, as someone who is destined to die soon, can't you stand those villains, even if you are one of them?
It is an absurd thing, but possible, if one does not know how to escape from the evils one has committed; but it is impossible for one to escape from the evils committed by others.

If a rational or political (social) faculty is not itself rational and social, then we can conclude that it does not deserve its name at all.

You do a good deed and another person benefits from it.Why would you look like a fool for the extra good name and rewards of doing good?
Of course people do not tire of useful things.And acting in accordance with nature is useful in itself.Then don't be weary of doing such things to others and getting something useful.

The unifying movement of nature created the entire universe.But everything that now happens, either as a consequence or gradually in succession; even the principal things to which the sovereign power of the universe, which governs its own motion, is directed, are no longer governed by any principle of reason.If you keep this in mind at all times, you can be calm about a lot of things.

12 From Euripides' Bellerophon.

13 From Euripides' Hypsipylla.

14 See Aristophanes, The Acanians, v.661.

15 From Euripides' Hypsipylla.

16 See Euripides, The Woman Crying for Help, v.1110.

(End of this chapter)