Meditations Flashcards
“Your experience of life is determined by how you look at it…”
To change your experience, change your opinion. If you’re upset by something outside you, it’s not the thing itself that upsets you, but your opinion of it. And it’s in your power to wipe away that opinion immediately.
“Retreat into your inner sanctuary…”
Here, away from strain and distraction, you are free to observe the world and your reactions objectively. Nothing touches the soul; it cannot be harmed by anything external. . . .
What truly hurts you is what makes you a worse person. Don’t say you’ve been harmed if your reason and character are untouched. And no one can muddy your reason and mar your character but yourself.
“Today I will meet people who are nosy, ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, and unsocial…”
They can’t help it—they are ignorant of the difference between good and bad. But I, who know the difference, also know that I share the same human nature with them.
I can’t be angry with my fellow humans. To hate each other is against the laws of nature.
“No one can hurt me but myself…”
…for no one else can make me forsake the
good and embrace the bad.
“All I am is a little flesh and breath, plus mind…”
Put away entertainments, set aside distractions, and look at yourself as you truly are: blood and bones, a network of nerves and veins. Your breath is only air, sucked in one moment and blown out the next.
The mind, then, is the ruling part.
“You’re an old man now…”
It’s time to stop being a slave; to no longer be pulled along like a puppet on strings; to stop being dissatisfied with today and afraid of tomorrow.
“Nature and Fate are woven together by providence…”
All things flow from one Source. Everything that exists has its place in the cosmos—including
you. That which serves the whole is good.
“Every moment, focus your attention and perform the task at hand with simplicity, efficiency, and dignity…”
Fill your mind with thoughts of love, freedom, and justice, leaving no room for negative and destructive thoughts.
“If you live every moment as if it were your last…”
…putting aside all carelessness, fear, anger, unreason, hypocrisy, selfishness, and
dissatisfaction—you will find salvation.
“Mind what you think…”
Watch the movements of your mind, and focus your thoughts on something worthy.
“Sins committed from desire are worse than sins committed from anger…”
Anger is a temporary lapse from reason, usually in reaction to pain—someone hurts you, so you
become angry and strike back.
But desire is self-generated and its appetite for pleasure is insatiable.
“Your life may end at any time, so think and act accordingly…”
Death itself is nothing to fear. If there are gods, they will take care of you. If there are no gods, or if they have nothing to do with human affairs, what difference does it make?
Live as best you can, regardless.
“Reason allows humanity to view the universe from the perspective of the gods…”
Consider all those things which attract by pleasure, repel by pain, or are famous the world over—how fleeting, fragile, and vaporous they
are.
Reason sees right through them.
“Few things are worse than nosy people…”
…who try to conjecture what’s in their neighbors’ minds, instead of tending to their own.
“It’s enough to know ourselves and reverence the light within…”
Our task is to clear away apathy, dissatisfaction, and the extremes of passion. We should reverence our inner light—reason—because it’s a gift from the gods.
