Meditation I

Chapter 7

The philosopher taught us: If you want peace, don't worry about it.But please consider whether it is more reasonable to say that we still need to do certain things when necessary, because human beings are social animals by nature, and this is also a part of their inevitable requirements. an essential characteristic.This kind of sociality not only brings inner peace because of people's good deeds, but also brings another kind of peace of mind.In fact, most of our words and deeds are useless, so if a person can abandon unnecessary superfluous actions, then he can have more leisure time and less inner anxiety.Therefore, a person should ask himself before doing anything: Is what you are doing necessary?One should not only avoid unnecessary things, but also abandon unnecessary thoughts.Only in this way can redundant words and deeds stop here.

Why not try to live the life of a good person, maybe it is suitable for you.Only he who is content with that part of the universe which is given to him by the whole of the universe can be equally satisfied with his acts of justice and charity.

Do you see these things now?At the same time, please also examine other aspects by the way.Don't bother yourself; keep everything as simple as possible.Who is innocent?The so-called fault is only relative to the person who committed it himself.What happened to yourself?At the beginning of the universe, everything that happened to you was assigned to you by the gods, bound you like fate.In a word, life is short!Therefore, you must rely on reason and justice to benefit the present, and when you have leisure, you might as well reflect on yourself.

Whether it is a pre-arranged structure or a crowded chaos, the universe is still the universe itself.But if the universe itself is a mess, can you maintain the original order in your heart?You are in it when all things remain isolated and separate but in harmony.

Depressed, impotent, obstinate, brutal, childish, vulgar, stupid, hypocritical, slanderous, deceitful, and tyrannical, these are the kinds of people in the world.

Those who do not understand the universe, the universe does not understand him; the same is true for those who do not understand the mysteries of the universe.Such a man has an evasive attitude towards social reason; such a man is a blind man who has closed his eyes of understanding; he is truly poor, because he knows how to depend on others instead of getting his life out of himself. everything you need.He is a harmful and unhelpful cancer in the universe, who only knows how to complain about everything in front of him, breaking away from our common nature, human reason.The same natural world, which created not only these, but also you; he is a loner, because he is cut off from the country to which he belongs, and although he is a rational animal by nature, he puts his own rationality Animal souls shredded.

One is a philosopher who doesn't pay attention to clothing, and the other is not a philosopher who never leaves his books; here is another naked: this person said, I would rather eat without meat, but I can't live without bamboo! ——Although I can't get the means of my own life from learning, I will stick to my rational path.

Be zealous and uncomplaining about the art you have studied, though it is not rich in itself; and live the rest of your life in peace by the example of those who have entrusted all their souls to the gods But be neither a tyrant nor anyone's slave.

everything will be annihilated

For example, you can take the era of Emperor Weberxiang as an example. You can see people marrying and having children, dying of illness, fighting for years, holding banquets, trading, hard work, flattery, arrogance, suspicion, conspiracy, and misconduct. Aspects of beings who are dead, cynical, in love with each other, amassing wealth, ruling one party and even the imperial power.But these days, all of that is gone.Going back to Trajan's time, the world is also in this scene, and their lives have ended.If we look at it with the same eyes, how many people in other nations and epochs in the history of the world fell quickly after arduous struggle, and were finally decomposed into the basic elements of nature after death.But your first concern is with those around you who are not only going astray by being busy with trivial matters, but are leaving behind what their conventional nature should be doing.In addition, these people are obsessed with obsession and never get tired of it.So, what must be kept in mind is that the allocation of energy to everything should be in line with its value, and in appropriate proportions.If you put all your energy into the little things, you won't be able to do serious business, and you won't be satisfied with yourself.

Words that were unusually familiar before are now antiques.So are those who were once famous.Camilles, Caesar, Wallaces, Leolatus, and later Scipio, Cato, then Augustus, and Hadrian and Antony are all examples of this.Everything will become a thing of the past, leaving at most one story and legend, but it has been almost forgotten, and it is impossible to escape the ending of being completely obliterated.The examples I have given here are all strange people who were once brilliant.After the other little-known little people died, no one mentioned them anymore.To sum up, is there any eternal memorial?Not at all.So how should we deal with the heavy pain that this negative answer has brought us?There is only one answer, you have to think justly, act kindly, not lie and accept everything as a necessity and a custom, and come from exactly the same principle, law and source.

Give your whole body and mind to Clotho, one of the goddesses of fate, and let her weave the yarn of your fate as she pleases.

Everything exists for only one day, both for the rememberer and for the remembered.

Persevere in the observation of things that change, and get used to accepting that it is the only nature of the universe to love to change what is already there, and to create new things like it.For what exists in some form now is the seed of what will be shaped in the future.Don't think that only those things that are scattered into the earth and womb are "seeds", that is a crude view in the bumpkin's mind.

Although you are about to face death, you still haven't achieved the purity of your heart, your heart is disturbed by the mundane world, and you will be hurt by things outside your mind, and you have not managed to treat everything with a kind attitude; finally, You have not used wisdom to act in righteousness.

Deeply observe the principles of doing things in everyone's heart, even those with very bright minds, and understand what they are running away from and what they are pursuing.

What you think is evil is not necessarily accepted by other people's thinking principles; this concept of evil has nothing to do with changes in your physical body.So where is it?In fact, it is in a certain part of your body, and it is the power of this body part that makes you have the concept of right and wrong, good and evil.You just need to let this power no longer form such ideas and opinions, and everything will be fine.If the poor carcass nearest to it were burned, filled with ichor and putrefaction, still your preconceived opinions about these things should remain calm.In other words, let it make the following judgments: what happens to good people and bad people is fair, and it doesn't matter whether it is good or bad.The reason is that what happens justly to those who live according to nature and to those who do not live according to nature neither violates nor obeys the laws of nature.

Believe in the universe as a living entity.It has both a body and a soul; to see how all things point to the same idea, and how they relate to the idea of ​​the Universal Being; to see how all these things make the same action; to see how all these things And how to become the common contributing factor of the existing things; observe how the lines of the web of fate are continuously woven.

As Epictetus once said, you are nothing more than a soul with a smudge.

It is not evil that things change, nor is it good that they remain the same after they have changed.

Time is like a river, and its currents are as if the world's events; At the same time, this new thing is still taken away.

Everything that has happened is familiar to us, recurring like roses in spring and fruit in autumn; and to the fools it is disease, death, slander, treachery, and sometimes They are alive and kicking, and sometimes become angry.

The series of things that follow can always be just right and completely coincide with the things that have passed away; because the things that belong to the new series are not a bunch of random and simple lists, not only have a necessary sequence, but have a corresponding Rational inner connection: everything that exists in the world is harmoniously arranged.Similarly, the things that exist in the world not only reflect the continuity of the front and back, but also have other mysterious connections in the mutual relationship.

Never forget the famous saying of Heraclitus: Earth can become water, water can become air, air can become fire, and vice versa.Think of the man who doesn't know where his life is leading, who argues with a confidant with whom he often talks earnestly about the rationality that governs the universe, who also discusses how they meet every day but are still strangers things.On reflection again, none of us can speak or act in a drowsy state, although we seem to be able to speak and act even in sleep; we should not be like those who learn everything from their parents. Like a child, he does things without brains, and speaks like a parrot.

If the gods tell you that you will die tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, then you will definitely not continue to ask whether it is the day after tomorrow or tomorrow.If you do ask, then prove that you are the meanest and most shameless guy in the world.Because at this time the difference between tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is so small!So, even if you live a long life, so be it, don't make it a big deal.

Think about it from time to time: how many doctors have set foot on the road to the West after they have frowned on their patients all their lives; how many fortune tellers, after predicting the death of others in advance, they themselves cannot escape the fate of sudden death; How many philosophers have passed away quietly after discussing life and death for a lifetime; how many "heroes" have taken away the heads of thousands of people, and their lives have been taken away by death; how many tyrants have ignored human lives And having made himself the only one who is immortal, dies likewise; and how many other cities perished, such as Hellis, Pompeii, Herculeinian, and countless others .You can add random people you know, one by one.Today is your death for others, and tomorrow may be someone else's death for you.Things in the world are nothing but a passing moment.The conclusion is, always keep in mind that ordinary people live and die at night, life is so insignificant, yesterday's slug child may be a shriveled old man or even a handful of ashes tomorrow.Let's spend our short life in accordance with the laws of nature, and try to die with peace of mind when the journey of life reaches the end.Think of yourself as a ripe olive that just fell naturally from the branch, be grateful to Mother Nature who gave birth, and say thank you to the branch from which the leaves grew.

Learn the spirit of the cape, keep a proud and upright posture in the constant beating of the waves, and let the tyrannical sea water around you admire it.

Why did this kind of thing happen to me, I am really unlucky. —but that's not the case.In fact, I am very happy. Although these things happened to me, I can continue to be unrestrained without being tortured by pain.I was neither overwhelmed by the status quo nor intimidated by the future.While this kind of thing can happen to everyone, not everyone can achieve the state of being pain-free in this situation.So why is this great misfortune not a kind of luck?Would you call this misfortune, which in no case deviates from human nature?If a thing does not compete with the will of human nature, do you still think it is a departure from human nature?Oh, you know very well the will of nature.Has this event, then, diverted you from the good sense of integrity, tolerance, gentleness, prudence, and safety, and thereby guarded against hasty judgment and error?Does it take your humility and liberty away, or even everything else?Remember this, then, when you are wondering whether you should adopt this principle, namely: This is no misfortune at all, face it with head held high, because it is a great fortune.

We must investigate and examine those who persist in life tenaciously, which will help us establish an attitude of contempt for death, although it seems very rustic to do so.What more do they have to gain than those who died early?Chedizalus, Fabius, Julian, Lepidus, and other famous people now lie in their tombs.Although they have buried many people in the past, they were buried by others in the end.There is not much time between life and death. Just imagine how many hardships we have in the short life we ​​survived with such a fragile body and what kind of people we meet!Therefore, don't feel that life has much value.Whether it is the infinite time and space before you or the infinite time and space after you, in front of this infinite time and space, what is the difference between you living for three days and living for three generations?
Insist on taking shortcuts, because it is human nature to choose shortcuts: the most reliable rationality that we must conform to in everything we say and do.This method frees one from strife, conflict, and all kinds of scheming and ostentation.

(End of this chapter)