Journal Entry (Friday February 3, 2023)
I’m not breaking my promise to avoid political references… (see yesterday’s post) the following is much more than a political statement, it is a proposal for how we should all live our lives.
The genius of Marcus Aurelius is that not only as a leader, but also as an individual, he dispensed knowledge that all of us should consider taking to heart. I hope to incorporate the following into my daily practice.
“First thing every morning tell yourself: today I am going to meet a busybody, an ingrate, a bully, a liar, a schemer, and a boor. Ignorance of good and evil has made them what they are. But I know that the good is by nature beautiful and the bad ugly, and I know that these evil-doers are by nature my brothers, not by blood or breeding, but by being similarly endowed with reason and sharing in the divine. None of them can harm me, for none can force me to do wrong against my will, and I cannot be angry with a brother or resent him, for we were born into this world to work together like the feet, hands, eyelids, and upper and lower rows of teeth. To work against one another is contrary to nature, and what could be more like working against someone than resenting or abandoning him?”