Reading : Compassion and Self belief - Marcus Aurelius - Meditations # 1

Hello Steemers, LazyFrog is back after a long hiatus. I am glad to be back. LazyFrog traveled to a place or two during this time as well as did some thinking. But those topics are for some other time. Today, LazyFrog is going to talk about what he read in the book Meditations

Stoicism

Stoicism was a school of philosophy during 3rd century AD in Roman and Greek world. It was especially made popular by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Stoics believed that all beings human and animals alike are material but there are immaterial things in this world. The stoics believed that with the use of reason you can achieve truth, even if it is an approximation.

LazyFrog got wrapped into these ideas because Stoicism gives him a new vantage point to see the everyday life. It is a perspective of self reflection with humility. As it happened, some friends of LazyFrog gifted him the perfect entry book to Stoicism: Marcus Aurelius - Meditations.

Marcus Aurelius and Meditations

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor from 161AD to 180AD. His work, meditations is considered good concise summary of Stoicism. The book meditations is a collection of Marcus Aurelius's thoughts and daily reflection. He used it as a guide for himself and reflection post. Of course, like any other work of philosophy, the book and the theory of Stoicism were criticized.

As LazyFrog is a relaxed creature, it is not his intentions to go through the debates and merits of the book or the Stoicism. Since Lazy Frog started reading the book, he thought he would share what he took from it every few days as a way of sharing and also as a way of reflection for himself.

Book 2: Obstruction and Belief in oneself

Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness - all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of good and evil. But for my part I have an understanding of the nature of good and evil. Therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading neither can I be angry with the person as we were all born humans. To obstruct each other is against Nature's law - and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction

LazyFrog does not believe in the idea of pure good or evil. Coming from India, there are always gray areas. The few lines above appealed to LazyFrog for two reasons:

• Do not let others' action affect your actions.
• Practice compassion even when dealing with ignorance.

The first idea is simple but it is deeper. On the surface it sounds like indifference. The way LazyFrog interprets it is non-reactiveness and belief in oneself. In today's world we are conditioned to react even to the smallest things like a photo on social media or a little buzz on smart watch. So the focus is a prime commodity and focus on a larger mission is even more valuable. All the ill actions and our immediate thoughtless reaction to them can be a detractor from the original goal. This is why don't let others' action affect yours. Now, this takes practice in real-life. The lazyfrog has started a simple practice of just smiling at people when then run into him on a bike path or they stop in the middle of it to check their phones. This practice leaves lazyfrog in much better place for rest of the day.

The second idea is straightforward. Compassion does not mean you let the person do same thing over and over to you. Compassion means you do not judge a person for what they have done and carry on with your mission. The bigger part of compassion is we need to apply it to ourselves as well. This does not mean ego and false confidence but it means trying to let go oh guilty and self pity after making a mistake.

These are things LazyFrog took from today's reading. Of course, LazyFrog would like to listen to ideas and your thoughts.

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