Plain
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

If pain is truly evil, it must harm either the body or the soul. But the body itself feels nothing — it's just matter. And the soul has the power to keep its peace and refuse to call pain evil. All our judgments and choices come from within. The sense that something is evil cannot reach us there unless we let it in through our own opinions.

Meditations, Book 8, Section 26 Book 8 · 30 of 67
Freedom & Control Facing Hardship
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

If pain be an evil, either it is in regard of the body; (and that cannot be, because the body of itself is altogether insensible:) or in regard of the soul But it is in the power of the soul, to preserve her own peace and tranquillity, and not to suppose that pain is evil. For all judgment and deliberation; all prosecution, or aversation is from within, whither the sense of evil (except it be let in by opinion) cannot penetrate.

Meditations, Book 8, Section 26 Book 8 · 30 of 67
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

A person's true joy comes from doing what humans are meant to do. What belongs to us most is this: be kind to other people, ignore bodily desires, see through false thoughts, and think about the universe and what happens in it. When you think this way, notice three things. First, look at what seems to cause events. Second, remember the original cause - God, who starts everything that happens. Third, think about the people around you and how this knowledge can help them.

Meditations, Book 8, Section 25 Book 8 · 29 of 67
Doing The Right Thing What Matters Most
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

The true joy of a man, is to do that which properly belongs unto a man. That which is most proper unto a man, is, first, to be kindly affected towards them that are of the same kind and nature as he is himself to contemn all sensual motions and appetites, to discern rightly all plausible fancies and imaginations, to contemplate the nature of the universe; both it, and things that are done in it. In which kind of contemplation three several relations are to be observed The first, to the apparent secondary cause. The Second to the first original cause, God, from whom originally proceeds whatsoever doth happen in the world. The third and last, to them that we live and converse with: what use may be made of it, to their use and benefit.

Meditations, Book 8, Section 25 Book 8 · 29 of 67
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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