Candles Of Reason

A commonplace journal of a Christian and Stoic disciple. 

[candlesofreason]

All things are drawn toward what is like them, if such a thing exists. All earthly things feel the earth's tug, All wet things flow together. And airy things as well, so they to be forcibly prevented from mixing. Fire is naturally drawn upward by that higher fire, but ready to ignite at the slightest touch of other, earthly flame. So that anything drier than usual makes good fuel, because less of what hinders combustion is mixed in with it.

And things that share an intelligent nature are just as prone to seek out what is like them. If not more so. Because their superiority in other ways is matched by their greater readiness to mix and mingle with their counterparts.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

Blot out your imagination. Turn your desire to stone. Quench your appetites. Keep your mind centered on itself.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

You can also commit injustice by doing nothing.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

Don't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don't try to picture everything and that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask "Why is this so unbearable? Why can't I endure it?" You'll be embarrassed to answer.

Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present-- and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

You've given aid and they've received it. And yet, like an idiot, you keep holding out for more: to be credited with a good deed, to be repaid in kind. Why?

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

Look at who they really are, the people whose approval you long for, and what their minds are really like. Then you won't blame the ones who make mistakes they can't help. and you won't feel a need for their approval. You will have seen the sources of both-- their judgments and their actions.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

You can live here as you expect to live there.

And if they won't let you, you can depart life now and forfeit nothing. If the smoke makes me cough, I can leave. What's so hard about that?

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

So other people hurt me? That's their problem, their character and actions are not mine. What is done to me is ordained by nature, what I do by my own.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone-- those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the "what" is in constant flux, the "why" has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what's right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us-- a chasm whose depths we cannot see. So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation either. As if the things that irritate us lasted.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our job is to do them good and put up with them.

But when they obstruct our proper tasks, they become irrelevant to us-- like sun, wind, animals. Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

Not to feel exasperated or defeated, or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human-- however imperfectly-- and fully embrace the pursuit that you've embarked on.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

If an action or utterance is appropriate, then it's appropriate for you. Don't be put off by other people's comments and criticism. If it's right to say or do, then it's the right thing for you to say or do.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

To expect bad people not to injure others is crazy. It's to ask the impossible. And to let them behave like that to other people but expect them to exempt you is arrogant-- the act of a tyrant.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

Beautiful things of any kind are beautiful in themselves and sufficient to themselves. Praise is extraneous. The object of praise remains what it was-- no better and no worse.

Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? No more than justice does-- or truth, or kindness or humility. Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it?

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[candlesofreason]

People try to get away from it all-- to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like-- by going within. An instant's recollection and there it is: complete tranquility. So keep getting away from it all. Renew yourself. But keep it brief and basic. A quick visit is enough and send you back ready to face what awaits you.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations