【每日斯多葛】9月13日

September 13th

PROTECTING OUR INNER FORTRESS FROM FEAR

“No, it is events that give rise to fear—when another has power over them or can prevent them, that person becomes able to inspire fear. How is the fortress destroyed? Not by iron or fire, but by judgments . . . here is where we must begin, and it is from this front that we must seize the fortress and throw out the tyrants.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.85–86; 87a

The Stoics give us a marvelous concept: the Inner Citadel. It is this fortress, they believed, that protects our soul. Though we might be physically vulnerable, though we might be at the mercy of fate in many ways, our inner domain is impenetrable. As Marcus Aurelius put it (repeatedly, in fact), “stuff cannot touch the soul.”

But history teaches us that impenetrable fortresses can still be breached, if betrayed from the inside. The citizens inside the walls—if they fall prey to fear or greed or avarice—can open the gates and let the enemy in. This is what many of us do when we lose our nerve and give in to fear.

You’ve been granted a strong fortress. Don’t betray it.

9月13日

保护我们内心的堡垒免受恐惧侵袭

“不，是事情本身引起了恐惧——当另一个人拥有支配这些事情的力量，或者能够阻止它们发生时，那个人便有能力使人产生恐惧。堡垒是怎样被摧毁的？不是靠铁器，也不是靠烈火，而是靠我们的判断……我们必须从这里开始，也必须从这一战线夺回堡垒，把暴君赶出去。”

——爱比克泰德，《论说集》，4.1.85–86；87a

斯多葛主义给了我们一个极其精彩的概念：内在城堡。他们相信，正是这座堡垒保护着我们的灵魂。尽管我们的身体可能很脆弱，尽管在很多方面我们可能任由命运摆布，但我们的内在领域却坚不可摧。正如马可·奥勒留反复说过的那样：“外在的东西无法触及灵魂。”

然而，历史告诉我们，即使是坚不可摧的堡垒，如果从内部遭到背叛，也仍然可能被攻破。城墙里面的居民——如果他们屈服于恐惧、贪婪或贪欲——就可能自己打开城门，把敌人放进来。当我们失去勇气、向恐惧屈服时，我们很多人做的其实正是这件事。

你已经被赋予了一座坚固的堡垒。不要背叛它。