Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 5 (19-39)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 5 (19-39)

Bonus:

This is dedication right here.

Summary: Listen to smart people from the past.

Commentary:

21. He whose aim in life is not always one and the same cannot himself be one and the same through his whole life. But singleness of aim is not sufficient, unless you consider also what that aim ought to be. For, as there is not agreement of opinion regarding all those things which are reckoned good by the majority, but only as regards some of them such as are of public utility; so your aim should be social and political. For he alone who directs all his personal aims to such an end can reach a uniform course of conduct, and thus be ever the same man.

I don't think it's what he meant, but this definitely sounds like, "commit yourself to being (vaguely) good, and don't change it, ever."

Most of the rest is MA acknowledging smart philosophers from the past. I think T5FSOB selections strike a good balance between listening to smart people in the past, and still acknowledging current advances.

Casually Completing Classics: 1984 Part 19 (3.3)

 A couple important distinctions in this chapter:

1. "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power."

I think we often feel the need to give people/characters a reason to want to be evil, controlling assholes. Sometimes, they're just evil, controlling assholes for its own sake.

2. "The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred."

Being a hater is so much easier than being creative and tolerant and all those other things. Leaves more time for POWER. Also, they want to "abolish the orgasm."

3. "It would have no vitality. It would disintegrate. It would commit suicide."

I think Winston is right. Eventually, the whole miserable pile will collapse. Either because it can't maintain itself any longer (can you really motivate enough people this way to build a long term sustaining society) or because some challenge arrives that (in its diminished capacity) it can't face.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 4 (18)

  Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 4 (18)Bonus:

Bonus: 

1. This is possibly my favorite 4 minutes in any movie (definitely any Transformers property)

2. I needed this for something else earlier today. It has nothing to do with Meditations.

Summary: 4.18 is most of the book compressed into a couple pages.

Commentary:

Secondly: Consider what manner of men they are at table, in bed, or elsewhere; and especially by what principles they hold themselves bound, and with what arrogance they entertain them.

What kind of men they are... in bed!

The rest of point 18 is yet another repetition of a lot of the normal themes. You're not mad at what happened, you're mad about how it made you feel. If someone is a good person, they must have a good reason for what they did. Don't be a hypocrite, you make mistakes too. It'd be a good section to pull out if you were just doing a single excerpt, since it has a lot of of the content in a well organized way.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 3 (8-17)

   Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 3 (8-17)

8. A branch cut off from its adjacent branch must necessarily be severed from the whole tree.

Summary: Be smelly with honesty.

Commentary: 

 A man’s character should shine forth clearly from his eyes; as the beloved sees that he is so in the glances of those that love him. The straightforward, good man should be like one of rank odour who can be recognised by the passer by as soon as he approaches, whether he will or no.

And also have niceness laser eyes.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 2 (2-7)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 2 (2-7)

Bonus: 

Summary: YOU'RE GONNA DIE!

Commentary: I think this is my favorite, even if I disagree with it:

2. You will think little of a pleasing song, a dance, or a gymnastic display, if you analyse the melody into its separate notes, and ask yourself regarding each, “Does this impress me?” You will blush to own it; and so also if you analyse the dance into its single motions and postures, and if you similarly treat the gymnastic display. In general then, except as regards virtue and virtuous action, remember to recur to the constituent parts of things, and by dissecting to despise them; and transfer this practice to life as a whole.

"If you look at anything good and break it down, you can make it seem bad."

That's great, Marc. 

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 1(1)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George W. Chrystal (~180) Book 11 Part 1(1)

Bonus: 

MA would support this happy.

Summary: Do things that make you happy, as long as its for the right reasons.

Commentary:

Trying to wrap up some of the half finished stuff before we get to April, and not feeling 1984 tonight. I feel like part one would've made a decent short story/novella, but most of two drags is kind of repetitive. 

Something I've talked a little about with Meditations before, but still sticks out to me in this part is how Marcus Aurelius wants you to be happy, have goals, etc. I think a lot of Stoicism is often distilled down to "you shouldn't feel things at all." He wants you to feel things, he's just particular about what those things are.

1. These are the characteristics of the rational soul: It beholds itself; it regulates itself in every part; it fashions itself as it wills; the fruit it bears itself enjoys, whereas the products of plants and of the lower animals are enjoyed by others. It reaches its individual end, wheresoever the close of life may overtake it. In a dance or an actor’s part any interruption spoils the completeness of the whole action. Not so with the rational soul. At whatever point in its action, or wheresoever it is overtaken by death, it makes its part complete and all-sufficient; so that it can say, “I have received what is mine.” Also it ranges through the whole universe, and the void around it, and discerns its plan. It stretches forth into limitless eternity, and grasps the periodical regeneration of all things, seeing and comprehending that those who come after us will see nothing new, and that those that went before saw no more than we have seen. Nay, a man of forty, of any tolerable understanding, has, because of the uniformity of things, seen, in a manner, all that has been or will be. Characteristic of the rational soul also are:—Love to all around us, truth, modesty; and respect for itself above all other things, which is characteristic also of the general law. Thus there is no discordance between right reason and the reason of justice.

Casually Completing Classics: 1984 Part 18 (3.2)

 Orwell's writing is a little dry for a torture scene. Thematically it works:

O'Brien held up the fingers of his left hand, with the thumb concealed.

'There are five fingers there. Do you see five fingers?'

'Yes.'

And he did see them, for a fleeting instant, before the scenery of his mind changed. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity. Then everything was normal again, and the old fear, the hatred, and the bewilderment came crowding back again. But there had been a moment -- he did not know how long, thirty seconds, perhaps -- of luminous certainty, when each new suggestion of O'Brien's had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed. It had faded but before O'Brien had dropped his hand; but though he could not recapture it, he could remember it, as one remembers a vivid experience at some period of one's life when one was in effect a different person.

'You see now,' said O'Brien, 'that it is at any rate possible.'

'Yes,' said Winston.

The Party can make you not just "reject the evidence of your eyes and ears," but actually convince you that your reality is different.

There's plenty of fodder for the O'BrienXWinston shippers.

And it gives us this scene: