Life Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius | Book Insight on The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
发布时间 2023-04-12 14:00:31 来源
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Stoicism teaches its followers that their initial reactions to events are often involuntary. If someone thrust their finger toward our eye, we blink and reflex. We experience automatic emotional reactions in the face of certain situations too, such as being caught in a violent storm. Reactions of this sort are beyond our direct control. They're part of human nature, so we should accept them as inevitable. Some people are more prone to fear than others, just as some people blush easily and others don't.
斯多葛主义教导其追随者，他们对事件的最初反应往往是无意识的。如果有人向我们的眼睛伸出手指，我们会自动眨眼。在某些情况下，我们面对自动感情反应，比如被困在狂暴的风暴中。这种反应超出了我们的直接控制范围。它们是人类本性的一部分，因此我们应该接受它们是不可避免的。有些人比其他人更容易恐惧，就像有些人容易脸红，而其他人则不会。
Today we're looking at one of the all-time classic books on philosophy and self-improvement. We're looking at the meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Written in the 2nd century AD, it consists of 12 chapters recording the Emperor's personal reflections on stoic philosophy. You could describe it as a philosophical work or a spiritual classic, although throughout the centuries readers have used it as a self-help guide because the philosophy it contains is imminently practical.
今天我们来看一本关于哲学和自我提升的经典书籍——马库斯·奥里利乌斯的沉思录。这本书写于公元2世纪，包括12章，记录了这位皇帝对斯多葛哲学的个人反思。您可以将其描述为哲学著作或精神经典，尽管几个世纪以来读者一直将之用作自助指南，因为其中包含的哲学极其实用。
The meditations consist of many short passages and addages, but there's not much sign of an overall structure. Recurring themes do emerge. The four we'll look at today are, first, the doctrine that it's not things in and of themselves that upset us, but our judgments about them. Second, that no person does evil knowingly or willingly, an idea the Stoics adopted from Socrates. Third, the concept of rational love for humanity, which was something of particular importance to Marcus and his role as Emperor. And fourth, the view from above, which is both a contemplative exercise and the essence of the Stoic's grand philosophical vision.
冥想经文由许多短语和格言组成，但并没有明显的总体结构。然而，有些重复的主题确实逐渐浮现出来。今天我们要讨论的四个主题是：首先，学说认为我们被烦恼的不是自然的事物本身，而是我们对它们的判断。其次，没有人有意识或自愿做恶事，这是斯多亚派从苏格拉底那里继承的思想。第三，理性的人类之爱的概念对马克思以及他作为皇帝的角色来说是尤为重要的。第四，从高处观察的视角，既是一个冥想练习，也是斯多亚派伟大哲学愿景的本质。
Let's start with the heart of Marcus's philosophy. Albert Ellis, one of the pioneers of cognitive behavioral therapy, had read the Stoics and taught his clients a famous quote from Epic Titus. It's not things that upset us, but our judgments about them. It encapsulates what psychologists call the cognitive theory of emotions, which holds that our feelings are largely determined by our underlying beliefs.
让我们从马库斯哲学的核心开始。认知行为疗法的先驱之一艾伯特·埃利斯曾经阅读过斯多葛派著作并教导他的客户来自史诗《泰特斯》的一句名言。“困扰我们的不是事情本身，而是我们对它们的判断。” 这个名言概括了心理学家所称的情感认知理论，认为我们的情感主要取决于我们内在的信仰。
People often say, I can't help it, it's just the way I feel. However, once we accept that our emotions are linked to certain underlying beliefs, it becomes possible to question whether those beliefs are true or false, whether they're helpful or unhelpful, and so on. We can then compare them to alternative ways of looking at the same situation. Of emotional problems such as anxiety or depression have a cognitive cause. It follows that there should also be a cognitive cure for them. Cognitive behavioral psychotherapists originally believed that the cure was to dispute our unhealthy or irrational beliefs through the method known as Socratic Questioning. For example, clients would be taught to ask themselves, what's the evidence for that belief being true?
人们常说：“我无能为力，我只是这样感觉的。” 然而，一旦我们接受我们的情绪与某些根本信念相关，就有可能质疑这些信念是真还是假，是否有帮助，等等。我们可以将它们与同样情况的其他看法进行比较。焦虑或抑郁等情绪问题可能有认知原因。因此，也应该有认知治疗方法来治疗它们。认知行为心理治疗师最初认为，通过所谓的苏格拉底质问法来质疑我们不健康或非理性的信念，治愈是可能的。例如，客户将被教导自问：“该信念成立的证据是什么？”
In order to question our own thoughts and beliefs, though, we have to be able to take a step back from them and view them with detachment as hypotheses. We have to see the beliefs are being potentially either true or false, rather than simply assuming them to be synonymous with objective reality. Psychologists call this knack of separating our thoughts from reality, cognitive distancing. More recently, researchers have discovered that cognitive distancing is more than just a precursor for therapy. It can be a powerful tool for dealing with emotional distress in all sorts of situations.
然而，要质疑我们自己的想法和信仰，我们必须能够退一步并将它们作为假设观察并保持客观。我们必须把信仰看作是可能为真或假的，而不是仅仅将它们视为客观现实的同义词。心理学家称之为认知疏离的技巧。最近，研究者发现，认知疏离不仅仅是治疗的先导，它可以是处理各种情况下情感困扰的强大工具。
For stoics like Marcus, it's not just any beliefs that matter, but primarily certain types of value judgments. The stoics believed that virtue is the only true good. The word ret, in Greece, is traditionally rendered as virtue in English, but most scholars think that excellence, excellence of character, is a more accurate translation. The stoics adopted a famous fourfold classification which later became known as the Cardinal Virtues, namely wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. Although the majority of people believe that there are lots of different good things and bad things in the world, the stoics argued that in fact only wisdom and excellence of character are truly good.
对于像马库斯这样的斯多葛主义者来说，重要的并不是任何信仰，而是特定类型的价值判断。斯多葛主义者认为美德是唯一真正的善。在希腊，ret 这个词在英语中通常被传统地翻译成“美德”，但大多数学者认为“卓越、品德的卓越”更准确。斯多葛主义者采用了一个著名的四分法，后来成为所谓的基本美德，即智慧、公正、勇气和节制。虽然大多数人认为世界上有很多不同的好事和坏事，但斯多葛主义者认为，实际上只有智慧和品德的卓越是真正的好。
So-called external goods such as health, wealth, and reputation are more like opportunities which the foolish use badly and the wise use well. But these things are not actually good in and of themselves. The stoics believed that when we fail to grasp this and see external things as intrinsically good or bad, we make ourselves prone to irrational and unhealthy emotions such as anger, fear, and depression.
所谓的外在物质，如健康，财富和名誉，更像是机遇，愚蠢的人用不好，智者用得好，但这些东西本身并不是真正的好。斯多亚派相信，当我们未能领悟这一点，视外在事物为本质上的好或坏时，我们就容易产生不理性和不健康的情绪，如愤怒，恐惧和沮丧。
Some initial feelings of anxiety or irritation are natural and inevitable. Stoics accept these, but they refuse to amplify or perpetuate them by imposing strong value judgments on external events and indulging in negative thinking. You can help yourself gain this sort of detachment by remembering that as Markis himself put it in the book. If you suffer distress because of some external cause, it is not the thing itself that troubles you, but your judgment about it. And it is within your power to cancel that judgment at any moment.
最初的焦虑或烦躁感是自然而必然的。斯多葛主义者接受这些情感，但他们拒绝通过对外部事件施加强烈的价值判断和纵容负面思维来加剧或延续它们。你可以通过记住马可·奥里利乌斯在他的书中所说的话来帮助自己获得这种超然的态度。如果你因为某个外部原因而遭受痛苦，那不是事物本身困扰着你，而是你对它的判断。而你可以在任何时候取消那个判断。
Before we go, let's recap what we've learned. We're analyzing the meditations by Markis Arelius. We considered the fundamental stoic doctrine that it's not things that upset you, but your judgments about them. Remembering this can help you to weaken the grip of unhealthy emotions. Next we'll go over how nobody does evil knowingly.
在我们继续前进之前，让我们回顾一下我们所学。我们正在分析马可·奥利略斯的冥想。我们考虑了基本的斯多亚学说，即不是事物让你烦恼，而是你对它们的判断。记住这一点可以帮助你削弱不健康情绪的掌控力。接下来，我们将讨论没有人会故意做恶之事。
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If you've seen the movie Gladiator, you might remember Russell Crowe's character Maximus speaking those lines. Maximus was talking about Marcus Arelius played in the film by Richard Harris. Russell often said that Marcus is the closest thing history has to offer to Plato's ancient ideal of the philosopher king, that is a ruler who's both supremely powerful and supremely wise.
如果你看过电影《角斗士》，你可能记得 Russell Crowe 饰演的角色 Maximus 所说的那番话。Maximus 是在谈论电影中 Richard Harris 扮演的 Marcus Arelius。Russell 常常说，Marcus 是历史上最接近柏拉图古老理想的哲王的人物，即一个既拥有至高无上的权力，又极为智慧的统治者。
Of course the real Marcus never said those words above, but they're fairly close to some of the things he wrote in the meditations. Marcus Arelius was trained in philosophy from an unusually early age, just 12 years old. He gradually became a follower of the Stoic school.
当然，马尔库斯本人从未说过上述话，但这些话与他在冥想中写过的一些话非常接近。马尔库斯·奥勒留从非常年轻的时候开始接受哲学训练，仅12岁。他逐渐成为斯多葛学派的追随者。
Marcus's training and stoicism would be put to the test as soon as he was made emperor. The Roman army was still recovering from the Parthian War, and the empire was beset with plague outbreaks from the returning soldiers. Then a massive coalition of enemy tribes overran the northern provinces, looting and pillaging right up to the front door of Rome herself.
马库斯的训练和坚忍将很快在他成为皇帝后得到考验。罗马军队仍在从帕提亚战争中恢复过来，帝国也受到了由归来士兵引起的瘟疫暴发的困扰。然后，一支庞大的敌对部落联盟占领了北部省份，一直抢劫和掠夺到罗马的前门。
Marcus was forced to leave Rome for the first time and take charge of the counteroffensive. Despite having no military experience whatsoever, he soon found himself at the head of the largest army ever assembled on a Roman frontier, consisting of roughly 140,000 men. The Marco Manic Wars, as they were known, lasted nearly ten years until around the time of Marcus's death in 180 AD.
马库斯第一次被迫离开罗马，负责进行反攻。尽管他没有任何军事经验，但很快就发现自己领导着古罗马边境上最大的军队，大约有14万人。这场被称为马科曼尼克战争的战争持续了近十年，直到公元180年马库斯去世。
So yeah, the legendary emperor had some time to learn to smile in the face of death.
所以，传说中的皇帝有点时间学会在面对死亡时微笑。
We're continuing our look into the meditations by Marcus Arelius. Last time we covered how nothing can upset you, it's only your judgments about things that can actually cause those negative emotions. Now we're going to look at the lesson Arelius learned from Socrates, that no person does evil willingly.
我们将继续探讨马库斯·奥列里乌斯的冥想。上一次我们讲述了如何不被事物所困扰，只有自己对事物的判断才能导致负面情绪。现在我们要看看奥列里乌斯从苏格拉底那里学到的一课，即没有人是有意为之做坏事的。
The meditations state that no man does evil knowingly. Whereas modern psychotherapists typically work more with anxiety and depression, the ancient Stoics appear to have focused mainly on using their philosophy as therapy for anger. In the very first sentence of the meditations, Marcus praises his grandfather, in whose care he was raised after the death of his father, for showing him how to conduct himself with dignity and freedom from anger.
这段话讲到冥想指出没有人会有意为之犯下邪恶行为。相较于现代心理治疗师主要治疗焦虑和抑郁，古代的斯多葛学派似乎主要专注于将哲学作为治疗愤怒的方式。在冥想的第一句话中，马尔库斯赞扬了他的祖父——他的父亲去世后由他抚养长大——教会他如何保持庄严，远离愤怒。
This is where Marcus thanks the gods that, despite being prone to feelings of anger at times, he was able to master his emotions and never did anything that he might have regretted. So he effectively tells us that he had to learn to control his temper.
这里是马库斯感谢众神的地方，尽管有时容易生气，但他能够控制情绪，从未做过会后悔的事情。因此，他告诉我们，他不得不学会控制自己的脾气。
Perhaps it's no surprise then that there are references to ways of coping with anger scattered throughout the meditations. What's quite striking though is that at one point, Marcus actually combines these to form a list of ten Stoic anger management techniques. He calls them the ten gifts from Apollo, the god of healing. One of them is make a decision to quit thinking of things as insulting and your anger immediately disappears. It's not people's behavior that upsets us, but our judgments about those behaviors.
也许这并不令人惊讶，因为在冥想中散布着应对愤怒的方式的参考资料。然而，令人震惊的是，马可斯实际上将这些方法结合起来，形成了10个史多洛派的愤怒管理技巧清单。他将它们称为阿波罗的十个礼物，阿波罗是治愈之神。其中一个是决定不再将某些事情看作是侮辱，你的愤怒立即消失了。让我们心烦的不是人的行为，而是我们对这些行为的判断。
The Stoics believe that our own anger hurts us more than whatever upsets us. Why is this? Because anger damages your moral character, whereas other people's actions can't affect you that deeply unless you allow them to. Marcus combines this advice about anger with a barrage of other therapeutic concepts and techniques.
斯多葛派信奉，我们自己的愤怒会比任何使我们烦恼的事情更加伤害我们。为什么呢？因为愤怒会损害我们的道德品性，而其他人的行为除非你自己允许，否则不会对你产生深刻影响。马库斯将这种关于愤怒的忠告与其他许多心理疗法的概念和技巧相结合。
In particular, he adopts a famous paradox from Socrates, which says that no man does evil knowingly. And because of this, no man does evil willingly. Of course people appear to do bad things on purpose all the time, and in a sense, they may even believe themselves to be doing so. However, Socrates and the Stoics believe that we're mistaken to take this at face value.
特别是，他采用了苏格拉底的一个著名悖论，即没有人有意做恶。因此，没有人是故意做恶的。当然，人们看起来总是故意做一些坏事，甚至在某种程度上，他们可能认为自己正在这样做。然而，苏格拉底和斯多亚派认为，我们错了，不能直接相信这一点。
When questioned, people who do terrible things will almost always try to justify their actions by saying that they believed what they did was right, or at least acceptable at the time. They may realize that most other people disagree with them, but still believe that what they're doing is somehow morally justifiable. At Big Titus, the Stoic whose teachings Marcus seemed mainly to have followed, used to tell his students that when offended by another person's behavior, they should tell themselves, it seemed right to him.
当被询问时，做出可怕事情的人几乎总是试图通过说自己相信自己的行为是正确的，或至少在当时是可以接受的来为自己的行为辩护。他们可能意识到大多数其他人不同意他们的行为，但仍然认为他们所做的事情在道德上是可行的。在“大提特斯”，斯多亚派的教导似乎是马库斯主要遵循的，提特斯曾告诉他的学生，当受到另一个人的行为冒犯时，他们应该告诉自己：“在他看来，这似乎是正确的。”
Even murderous tyrants like Hitler and Stalin seemed to believe in their own minds that what they were doing was right. When someone says or does something that offends him, Marcus tells himself that either they're right or they're wrong. If they're right, he has no reason to complain. If they're wrong, then it must have been unintentional. Why? Because just as nobody is deliberately misled about the truth in general, nobody wants to make errors of moral judgment, and this is why people are usually so insulted if we accuse them of acting immorally.
即使像希特勒和斯大林这样的凶残暴君，也似乎相信他们自己所做的事是正确的。当别人说或做一些令马库斯感到冒犯的事情时，他告诉自己，要么他们是对的，要么他们是错的。如果他们是对的，他没有理由抱怨。如果他们是错的，那么他们的做法必定是无意的。为什么？因为就像没有人会故意误导真相一样，在道德判断上没有人希望犯错误，这就是为什么人们通常会感到受到侮辱，如果我们指责他们的行为不道德。
Marcus learned that motives aren't always what they seem. There's usually a lot to learn before any sure-footed moral judgments can be made about other people's character or actions. Instead, Marcus says in the meditations that you should pause to remind yourself that you have the same fundamental flaws that you criticize in others when you're angry with them. No one is perfect.
马库斯学到了动机并不总是表面所见。在对他人的性格或行为做出坚定的道德判断之前，通常需要学习很多。相反，马库斯在冥想中说，你应该暂停一下，提醒自己当你对别人感到生气时，你也有与他们批评的同样根本的缺陷。没有人是完美的。
According to the Stoics, we should view moral blindness as a condition more serious than physical blindness, something more deserving of pity than anger. The cornerstone of this attitude, though, is the socratic paradox that no man does evil voluntarily. As Marcus says, if they are acting wrongly, it is plain that they're doing so involuntarily and through ignorance. For as no soul is ever willingly deprived of the truth, so neither is it willingly deprived of the capacity to deal with each person as he deserves.
斯多亚学派认为，道德失明是比肉体失明更为严重的一种情况，更值得我们怜悯而非愤怒。这种态度的基石是苏格拉底的悖论：没有人是自愿做恶的。正如马库斯所说，如果他们的行为是错误的，那么很明显，他们是出于不自觉和无知而这样做的。因为正如没有灵魂愿意被剥夺真相一样，也没有一个人愿意失去以正确应对每个人的能力。
Let's break for now, but before we do, let's go over our lesson. We discuss the socratic paradox that no man does evil knowingly or willingly. Stoics say you should remember this in order to avoid succumbing to excessive anger toward others. We'll conclude our discussion on the meditations next time. We'll cover the two final points. We'll look at love and forgiveness, and then we'll consider the view from above.
让我们暂时休息一下，但在此之前，让我们回顾一下我们的教训。我们讨论了苏格拉底的悖论，认为没有人会有意识地或自愿地做出邪恶的行为。斯多蒂克派则认为你应该记住这一点，以避免陷入对他人的过度愤怒中。下次我们将结束对冥想的讨论。我们将涵盖最后两个要点。我们将研究爱和宽恕，然后再考虑从上方来看的视角。
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Marcus wrote the meditations while stationed with the troops along the northern frontier. It's extraordinary to be able to read the private journal of such a powerful ruler written from the front line of what Roman historians called a War of Many Nations. We can see Marcus applying his stoic philosophy through psychological strategies. These would later inspire the founders of modern cognitive behavioral therapy. Here's a definition of CBT from Pinnacle of Man that also touts its effectiveness. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is the bread and butter of all psychotherapeutic modalities. This is because it's one of the few empirically valid talk therapeutic practices proven in clinical trials to effectively treat depression and anxiety.
马库斯(Marcus)在北部边境部队驻扎期间写下了冥想。能够阅读这位如此强有力的统治者的私人日记，从罗马历史学家所称的一场"多民族之战"的前线上，这是非常卓越的。我们可以看到马库斯通过心理策略来应用他的斯多葛哲学。这后来也启发了现代认知行为疗法的创始人。以下是对于CBT的定义，它也强调了其有效性。认知行为疗法（CBT）是所有心理治疗模式的核心。这是因为它是少数几种在临床试验中已被证实有效治疗抑郁症和焦虑症的经验有效谈话治疗实践之一。
We're concluding our look into the meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Last time we covered a lesson from Socrates that no person does evil willingly. We'll go over the final two lessons from the ancient book on philosophy. First, we'll consider the importance of love and forgiveness. One will look at the view from above, which is an exercise and the thesis of the ancient Roman Emperor's way of life.
我们正在结束对马库斯·奥勒留冥想的探究。上次我们谈到了苏格拉底的一课，认为没有人会心甘情愿地去做坏事。我们将讨论哲学古书中的最后两个教训。首先，我们将考虑爱和宽恕的重要性。我们将通过远离常态的视角来探讨这个问题，这是古罗马帝国皇帝的生活方式的一项练习和主题。
If stoics don't indulge in anger, then what sort of feelings do they have toward other people? For one thing, they seek to cultivate a kind of rational love for mankind. Some people think of stoicism as being an unemotional philosophy, but that's a misunderstanding. It probably stems from people confusing capital-esque stoicism, which is the ancient Greek school of philosophy. With lowercase stoicism, the modern idea of a tough-minded personality trait or coping style, like having a stiff upper lip. However, Seneca, an earlier stoic author, wrote of the philosophy, ".No school has more goodness and gentleness, none has more love for human beings, nor more attention to the common good."
如果斯多葛派不沉溺于愤怒，那么他们对他人有什么样的情感呢？首先，他们试图培养一种理性的人类爱。有些人认为斯多葛派是一种没有情感的哲学，但这是一个误解。这可能源于人们将大写的斯多葛哲学与古希腊的一派哲学混淆了。而小写的stoicism则是现代的一种强韧心态或应对风格，就像硬挺着上嘴唇。然而，早期斯多葛派作家塞内加写道：“没有哪一派学派比斯多葛派更有善良和温和，没有哪一派学派比他们更爱人类，对公共利益更关注。”
At the beginning of the meditations, Marcus, likewise, describes one of his stoic teachers as being free from unhealthy passions and yet full of love. Marcus took this quality very seriously, and in fact, he tells himself to love other people, not just superficially, but from the very bottom of your heart. In some ways, stoicism was a precursor to Christianity, especially with regard to the shared view that we're all part of a brotherhood of mankind and that we should treat our neighbors with good will and compassion.
在冥想开始时，马库斯也描述了他的一个斯多林老师没有不健康的情感，同时充满爱。马库斯非常认真地接受了这种品质，并且实际上告诉自己要深深地爱他人，不仅仅是表面上的，而是要从内心深处。在某些方面，斯多林主义是基督教的先导，特别是关于我们都是人类兄弟会的共同观点，我们应该以善意和同情对待我们的邻居。
A famous French scholar Pierre Hadot wrote, ".It cannot then be said that loving one's neighbor as oneself is a specifically Christian invention. Rather, it could be maintained that the motivation of stoic love is the same as that of Christian love. Even the love of one's enemies is not lacking in stoicism." Indeed, these themes are found throughout the meditations. For example, Marcus wrote to himself, ".It is a man's special privilege to love even those who stumble, and this love follows as soon as you reflect that they are akin to you and that they do wrong involuntarily and through ignorance." Marcus repeatedly tells himself to view each individual as his brother or sister, and the whole of mankind is if they were limbs of a single organism. As our left and right hands are formed to help and complement one another, humans are meant to form communities and live in harmony together.
著名法国学者皮埃尔·哈多特写道：“因此，不能说以邻为友是专门的基督教发明。相反，可以认为stoic爱的动机与基督教爱的动机相同。甚至在stoicism中也不乏对敌人的爱。”事实上，这些主题贯穿于冥想中。例如，马库斯写道：“爱甚至那些犯错的人是人类的特殊特权。你可以反思他们与你的亲缘关系，以及他们犯错是不自觉的和出于无知。”马库斯不断告诉自己要视每个个体为他的兄弟或姐妹，整个人类就像一个单一有机体的组成部分。就像我们的左右手被形成为互相帮助和补充一样，人类注定要形成社区并共同和谐生活。
Even our enemies, those who stumble, as Marcus puts it, provide us with an opportunity to improve ourselves, which gives us a chance to exercise virtue in the way we respond to them. The Logium on Marcus Aurelius, an 18th century work on his life in philosophy, expresses this idea in a very striking way. Where are wicked men? They are useful to thee. Without them, what need would there be for virtues? Moreover, stoic love is unusual in that it doesn't demand reciprocation. Loving others is more important than being loved by them. That's because stoics make it their supreme goal in life to develop their character. Being loved or treated well by other people is described as something that the wise man may prefer, but doesn't need in life.
即使是我们的敌人，那些会绊倒的人，就像马库斯所说的那样，也为我们提供了一个改进自己的机会，这让我们有机会通过我们的反应来行使美德。马库斯·奥列里乌斯的一部18世纪哲学著作《马库斯·奥列里乌斯的言行录》非常生动地表达了这个想法。哪里有邪恶的人？他们有用处。没有他们，有什么必要去追求美德呢？此外，斯多亚派的爱与众不同之处在于它不要求回报。爱他人比被他人爱更重要。这是因为斯多亚派人将发展自己的品质作为一生中最高目标。被他人爱或受到好的对待被描述为智者可能会偏爱，但在生活中并不需要。
Loving to cultivate an attitude of rational love for humanity can help you to feel more at one with others, unless alienated from them in life. The fourth and final concept from the meditations is called the View from Above by Modern Scholars. It involves several ideas brought together into a single grand vision of the cosmos, and in stoicism is used as a contemplative exercise. For instance, one of Marcus's ten gifts from Apollo was to tell himself when beginning to feel angry that human life is transient and only lasts a moment. It won't be long before will all have been laid to rest.
喜欢培养理性的人类爱的态度可以帮助你更加接纳和融入他人，除非在生活中被他们疏远。冥想中的第四个概念被现代学者称为“从上方看”。它将几个思想融合成一个宏大的宇宙愿景，并在斯多葛主义中用作冥想练习。例如，马尔库斯从阿波罗那里得到的十个礼物之一，就是在开始感到愤怒时告诉自己，人生短暂只有一瞬间，不久我们都将长眠。
Contemplating our own mortality and that of other people is a recurring theme in the meditations. It's part of a larger technique which involves meditating on the transience of all material things. Contemplating our mortality is part of the larger vision of the view from above, in which we view the whole pageant of human life as though from high overhead, a bit like the gods looking down from Mount Olympus. For example, Marcus wrote, One who would converse about human beings should look on all things earthly as though from some point far above, upon herds, armies, and agriculture, marriages and divorces, births and deaths. The clamor of law courts, deserted wastes, alien peoples of every kind, festivals, lamentations and markets, this intermixture of everything and ordered combination of opposites.
冥想中经常出现的主题是思考我们自己和他人的死亡。这是一种更大的技巧的一部分，涉及冥想所有物质事物的短暂性。思考我们的死亡是俯瞰全局视角的一部分，我们从高处俯视人类生活的整个景象，有点像众神从奥林匹斯山俯视。例如，马库斯写道：“想要谈论人类，应该把地上的所有事情看作来自远方的某个点，候群、军队、农业、婚姻和离婚、出生和死亡。法庭的喧嚣、荒芜的荒原、各种异族、节日、哀悼和市场、这个万物混杂和对立的有序组合。”
Elsewhere this vision expands even further into a meditation on the smallness of our body in relation to the vastness of the whole cosmos, and how fleeting the present moment is compared to time as a whole and the history of the entire universe. By placing things in a wider context like this, and recalling how minute a part of the universe they really are, the Stoics believed you can reduce the intensity of certain unhealthy desires and irrational emotions about external things.
在其他地方，这个视野甚至进一步扩展成为一种冥想，关于我们的身体相对于整个宇宙的广阔性，以及与整个宇宙历史相比，现在的瞬间是多么短暂。通过将事物放置在更广泛的背景下，并回想起它们实际上是宇宙中微小的一部分，斯多葛学派认为，您可以减少特定不健康欲望和关于外部事物的不合理情绪的强度。
As you can imagine, this can be a very powerful exercise, and indeed, the view from above has become a popular exercise with modern followers of stoicism. The Stoics believed that we should carefully distinguish between things that are up to us, or under our direct control, and things that are not. Some of our feelings are automatic and involuntary and have to be accepted, whereas others are perpetuated by valued judgments and ways of thinking that we can potentially change.
正如你可以想象的那样，这可能是一种非常强大的锻炼方式，事实上，从高处看已成为斯多葛学派现代追随者的流行练习。斯多葛学派认为我们应该仔细区分那些取决于我们，或者受我们直接控制的事物和那些不是的事物。我们的一些感受是自动和无意识的，必须被接受，而其他的感受则是被赋值判断和思维方式所延续的，我们有潜力改变它们。
These people have read the meditations of Marcus Aurelius over the centuries and been left deeply inspired. Part of the reason is that it's a pretty easy read. It's as enjoyable as literature in many ways, and it's an introduction to Stoic philosophy.
这些人阅读了马库斯·奥勒留的冥想经已经几个世纪，受到了深深的启发。部分原因是它很容易阅读。在许多方面，它像文学一样令人愉悦，同时也是斯多葛哲学的入门。
Now a quick recap. We've looked at four of the main ways Marcus challenged his own way of thinking to replace negative emotions with more healthy and rational ones. First, we considered the fundamental Stoic doctrine that it's not things that upset you, but your judgments about them. Remembering this can help you to weaken the grip of unhealthy emotions.
现在让我们快速回顾一下。我们已经研究了Marcus挑战自己思考方式的四种主要方法，以用更健康和理性的情绪代替负面情绪。首先，我们考虑了基本的斯多葛主义理论：不是事物本身使你沮丧，而是你对它们的判断。记住这一点可以帮助你削弱不健康情绪的影响力。
Second, we discussed the Socratic paradox that no man does evil knowingly or willingly. Stoics say you should remember this in order to avoid succumbing to excessive anger toward others. Third, we looked at love for humankind in Marcus Aurelius' thought. How showing friendship, compassion, and kindness toward others was something the Stoic's thought you should view as its own reward. Finally, the fourth technique was a grand metaphysical vision known as the view from above. Events are seen in a much greater context.
其次，我们讨论了苏格拉底悖论：没有人是有意或有知地去做恶。斯多克派则认为你应该牢记这一点，以免被过度的愤怒占据。第三，我们探讨了马克思·奥勒留关于人类之爱的思想。斯多克派认为，向他人表现友谊、同情和仁慈正是其本身的回报。最后，第四个技巧是被称为“上帝视角”的宏大形而上学观点。事件被放在了更大的背景下来看待。
This mental exercise helps you weaken the grip of certain distressing or unhealthy emotions you might be experiencing. These are just a few of the many psychological techniques found in the meditations. Bear in mind that they're all aspects of a much bigger philosophical system and way of life.
这种心理锻炼可以帮助你减弱某些令人困扰或不健康情绪的影响。这些仅仅是冥想中发现的许多心理学技巧中的几个。请记住，它们都是一个更大的哲学体系和生活方式的方面。
However, you've hopefully gained a flavor of some of the challenging ideas that Stoics employed to help people transform themselves, to become more emotionally resilient, and to live more wisely and virtuously. When the universe is in constant flux, when events take their own course, and people do things you can't control, the only thing you can control is yourself.
然而，你应该已经对斯多葛主义者为帮助人们转变自己、变得更有情感韧性、生活更明智和更有道德的一些具有挑战性的思想有所了解。当宇宙不断变化，事件自行发生，人们做出你无法控制的事情时，唯一能控制的就是你自己。
Through the just thought, the unsalphished act, the tongue that utters no falsehood, you play a part in ensuring that the world reflects not chaos, but the principles of wisdom, justice, and love.
通过正义的思想、没有掩盖的行为和不说谎的口才，你在确保世界不反映混乱，而是智慧、正义和爱的原则中扮演着一定的角色。
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