Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (August 1, 2021)
Hello there,
For this week’s exercise, let us look at some words from Marcus Aurelius’ meditations XI 1-2:
“These are the characteristics of the rational soul: self-awareness, self-examination, and self-determination. It reaps its own harvest…It succeeds in its own purpose…”
Today’s lesson can essentially be boiled down to this: To be rational right now, it takes only three things:
- Look inward
- Examine yourself critically
- Make your own decisions, uninhibited by biases or popular opinions.
If you can cut through your own B.S.and just be brutally honest with yourself, you can look inwards critically and very easily identify what your objective reality is, what is right in this situation, what should be done, etc…So for this weeks compacted exercise (to be as succinct as Marcus’ quote above) remind yourself that being rational in the present moment is the only way to find true peace, joy, and tranquility, and that anyone (including you) can be rational in the present moment no matter the circumstances if we follow a few simple steps.
Stay thirsty for virtue my friends. As always, I’m rooting for you.
Anderson Silver (Stoicism for a Better Life)