Comment by hbt | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hbt | Hacker News Reader

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I read the book "meditations" from Marcus Aurelius recently. It's very interesting to note that the human condition hasn't changed that much. Here are a couple of quotes related to the article.

1. "How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks." -- Marcus Aurelius

2. Work will always be considered a waste of time when you think about it later if you don't enjoy doing it now.

Who thinks those hours debugging + testing X piece of software in language Y about 10 years ago which is now replaced by code Z wasn't a waste of time? It was fun then though.

3. "If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now." -- Marcus Aurelius

4. No comments. True friends are amazing human beings to have around. Often better than your own blood.

5. "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. " -- Marcus

We could all use some philosophy, it helps when things go to shit.

> Who thinks those hours debugging + testing X piece of software in language Y about 10 years ago which is now replaced by code Z wasn't a waste of time? It was fun then though.

Indeed, and things that build your skills and character always have some value.

> "If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now." -- Marcus Aurelius

This is one of my favorite quotes from Meditations. It can really be used to hack your mental state anywhere.

Hong Kong, massive crowds and people dart in front of each other, bump into each other, kind of rudely by the standards I was raised. I was getting frustrated. Then I said - ah, let me make this into a game, I will see how quickly I can get through the crowds without being bumped into. I will play like this like a video game.

BAM - frustration gone. It became fun, entertaining, and almost relaxing, actually.

Hah, I did that while I was in Hong Kong too. It was quite fun.

"How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks." -- Marcus Aurelius

Y'see, this is the problem I have with Marcus Aurelius. It must have been relatively easy for him to not care what other people think. For those of us who aren't the goddamn Emperor of Rome, well, we occasionally have the sorts of practical issues which didn't affect him so much.

I was also recently reading some of the letters of Seneca. He spends nine tenths of his time talking about how awesome it is to be a stoic emotionally detached from material posessions as well as the ups and downs of life, but the remainder letting slip his day-to-day concerns overseeing his vast estates, huge wealth and thousands of slaves.

Are there any good stoic philosophers who weren't fabulously wealthy?

Though he predates Stoicism by a bit, I think Diogenes of Sinope [1] did a fine job of practicing what he preached. Also, while Stoicism might be difficult to accept through the conduit of someone like Marcus Aurelius, he was strongly influenced by and frequently quoted Epictetus [2], who also fits your criteria to a tee.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus

Emperors often died at the end of their terms, often only a few years, and often because they did something to piss someone off.

His saying that from his position is a lot more difficult than you saying it from yours I can assure you.

And not caring what people think (or limiting how their thoughts affect your actions) is probably the biggest secret in life, period.

"It must have been relatively easy for him to not care what other people think."

I don't think you understand how difficult it was to be an Emperor! An Emperor who was unpopular could be assassinated. An average Joe Soap who is unpopular may have rows with his family or work colleagues but is not usually murdered. Being an Emperor raised the stakes and the paranoia.

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