Viewing others with compassion (Meditations 2.1)

Practical Stoicism

Evergreen Podcasts

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this first episode of Season 2, we dive into one of my favorite meditations from Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1. I’ll be using the Farquharson translation throughout this season, and today, I’m excited to get started. Meditation Quoted: "Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today inquisitive, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill. But I, because I have seen that the nature of good is the right, and of ill the wrong, and that the nature of the man himself who does wrong is akin to my own (not of the same blood and seed, but partaking with me in mind, that is in a portion of divinity), I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. To work against one another therefore is to oppose Nature, and to be vexed with another or to turn away from him is to tend to antagonism." -- (Meditations, 2.1) In this episode, I explore how Marcus’s reflection captures the essence of Stoicism by reminding us of the importance of viewing others with compassion, even when they act out of ignorance. We are all striving toward Virtue, and acknowledging our shared imperfections can foster a deeper sense of unity and purpose. I also discuss the Stoic concepts of Virtue, the Unity of Virtue, and the idea that no one does wrong knowingly. These ideas challenge us to reconsider our judgments of others and ourselves, recognizing that everyone is acting from their own perceived understanding of what is right—even if that understanding is flawed. Finally, I leave you with two questions to ponder and discuss in the comments: How well do you balance your service to the greater good with your own personal well-being? And how do you manage the conflict between your higher ideals and the distractions of daily life? -- Go ad-free : https://stoicismpod.com/members Follow the print publication : https://stoicismpod.com/print Take the free course : https://understandingstoicism.com Order my book : https://stoicismpod.com/book Source Text : https://stoicismpod.com/far Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most of our media are owned by a handful of tech billionaires, but there's one place that still operates like the internet was never invented.
0:10.4	On the new season of the divided dial from On the Media, we're exploring shortwave radio, where prayer and propaganda coexist with news and conspiracy theories, and where an existential battle for the public airwaves is playing out right now.
0:26.2	Listen to On the Media actual episode of season two.
0:50.7	If you've missed the technically first episode, please go back and listen to it as it lays
0:55.5	out a lot of vocabulary words in terms, which, if you're new to learning about stoicism,
1:00.8	will be important for you to hear. Otherwise, we're going to get started with Meditations 2.1,
1:06.5	which is my personal favorite, as I feel it sums up so many important parts of the philosophy
1:11.5	in remarkably few words. So that you are aware, the translation I'm going to be using
1:17.5	for the entirety of Season 2 is Farquessens, which is from 1944. Why this one, and not George
1:25.1	Long's or Gregory Hayes? Well, in the case of George Long,
1:28.9	the copy is from the 1800s, which can make it kind of challenging to listen to. It can also
1:34.6	be challenging to read. Stoicism is a complicated enough subject to study without mixing in
1:41.2	old-timey sounding language for effect. And in the case of Gregory Hayes,
1:46.7	his translation is from the early 2000s, and so it isn't in the public domain yet. I could probably
1:52.9	still use it, but as a content creator, I prefer to play it safe when it comes to trademarks
1:58.8	and potential copyright infringement. While Farquison's
2:02.2	translation isn't my favorite, I like George Long's, if you're interested, it is a good one,
2:07.4	and where I feel it falls short, I will protect you from misunderstanding anything. That's why I'm here,
2:13.3	to guide you through these texts, not to simply read them to you as if they were bedtime stories
2:18.2	and then leave you alone with your thoughts. Also, we are starting with book two of meditations
2:23.7	and not book one, because book one is a series of thank yous to individuals in Marcus's life
2:29.9	to whom he feels grateful. We are skipping it not because I think those things are boring,
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