Today's Meditation(s): Meditations, 4.11 (Hicks and Hicks) Do what reason and Nature command for the common good. Accept correction when I'm wrong, being swayed solely by argument, not emotion, instinct, or impulse. It's just two things, right? Studying Haidt's The Righteous Mind,  and reading about the Elephant and the Rider, however, makes me doubt the efficacy of the instruction. I can want to be persuaded only by logic and facts, but my human mind doesn't usually work that way. The Elephant makes the move and the Rider yells, 'That way!', pointing wherever the Elephant is already heading. But there is room for improvement. I can become closer to this ideal by keeping it at the forefront of my mind. If I can catch them in act, explicitly identifying potential errors, labeling them, I may more often choose the better path. Now to work on corraling my fickle focus into helping me actually do  that.

Today's Meditation(s): Meditations, 4.11 (Waterfield) Meditations, 4.11 (Hammond) Hammond's translation is so much better at getting the point across. I can see why Waterfield turned it out that way, but it's a definite reach cf Hammond's plain prose. When I have been wronged, I need to guard against mentally accepting the narrative the other side is using: their hidden assumptions, omissions, and shading. Judge the situation as it is. Without their baggage, but without my own as well. Look at things honestly and plainly, doing my best to see through illusions, internal and external, which block my ability to reason with all the facts. I can't follow Nature if someone blinds me nor if I blind myself.

Today's Meditation(s): Meditations , 4.10 (Hicks and Hicks) Another section on Providence.... I can either just reject this or allow it as play-acting to further my pursuit of virtue and oikeiosis . I choose to adopt it as an attitude, a actor's costume for verisimilitude, a conceit that can help me be pursue virtue more easily, even if not reality in fact.

Today's Meditation(s): Meditations , 4.9 (Hicks and Hicks) The main part of Stoicism I reject: a providential universe is a step too far. The universe is a machine. It exists. It operates. It flows. It interacts from point to point in space and time, but it doesn't mean it. It's not pointed at anything. There's no need to bring intentionality or telos into it. I choose Stoicism because it makes the most sense. It helps the most. It's effective . It treats people like people, promotes personal and social growth and progress, and a focuses on beliefs useful in both the short- and long-term. Rights are a convenient fiction we use to control impulses in ourselves and others. Providence, likewise, is a story we tell to make us feel less afraid in the face of an uncaring, immutable void. Fine. But recognize the crutch and use it purposefully. Don't mistake a tool for reality.

Today's Meditation(s): Medea, in Ovid's Metamorphosis, Book VII

Today's Meditation(s): Meditations , 4.8 (Hicks and Hicks) What a timely reminder of first principles. If it doesn't touch my inner self, if there's no connection to virtue and morality, then it is incidental, accidental; perhaps worth accounting for in my life, but not at the cost of my virtue. Stay true to my reason and follow Nature. Thus will I know what (general) moral path to take to achieve my (by best chance at) desired results while ensuring I remain true to (my pursuit of) virtue. If it takes me off my path, that is the only true harm. Whether I achieve that path, is another matter. It is enough that I know how to do the best I can with what I have, where I am. My struggle is generally one of performance, not perception:  I see the right path, but do not choose it.

Today's Meditation(s): Money is tighter. Work is changing for the worse. Kids are growing, changing, making me adapt. Body is aging, failing, failing faster. Friends and family have health issues, too. Cars need repair. House needs repair. Clothes need buying. Food needs buying. Bill need paying. And that's just my immediate world..... I don't know who said it: "A man who has only my troubles must count himself lucky indeed." I could bitch and moan about it. I could get drunk and make it worse. I could take it out on those I love. Or I could be thankful I have more than so many. I could plan ahead in case things get worse. I could recognize that what I have now is what I used to wish for. I could look inside myself and find the source of my unrest that makes these things seem important and worth losing sleep. I could get busy in my own salvation.

Today's Meditation(s): Meditations , 4.7 (Hicks and Hicks) (Waterfield) Waterfield's version is closer to how I've usually seen and heard this Meditation quoted — sometimes shortened even to just the first and final phrases — but the Hicks' translation adds that bit at the end that just makes me giddy. "Overcome your hurt feelings or injured pride." Adding the specific sources of feelings of harm makes the passage much more meaningful. Now it sounds like Marcus reminding himself of a time he let his pride or anger or slight or embarrassment made him to act viciously. Or, at least, lead him to poor decisions by acceding his impulses, disregarding his reason, and not following Nature. Gee. Why would I see that, get it intuitively, and have it resonate so well with me? Aside: so what's in the original? I'll need to look it up.