【每日斯多葛】9月23日

September 23rd

THE MOST SECURE FORTRESS

“Remember that your ruling reason becomes unconquerable when it rallies and relies on itself, so that it won’t do anything contrary to its own will, even if its position is irrational. How much more unconquerable if its judgments are careful and made rationally? Therefore, the mind freed from passions is an impenetrable fortress—a person has no more secure place of refuge for all time.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.48

Bruce Lee once made an interesting claim: “I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once,” he said, “but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times.” When we repeat an action so often it becomes unconscious behavior, we can default to it without thinking.

Training in the martial arts or combat is a deeply thoughtful study of movement. We sometimes think of soldiers as automatons, but what they’ve actually built is a steady pattern of unconscious behaviors. Any of us can build these.

When Marcus says that a mind can get to a place where “it won’t do anything contrary to its own will, even if its position is irrational,” what he means is that proper training can change your default habits. Train yourself to give up anger, and you won’t be angry at every fresh slight. Train yourself to avoid gossip, and you won’t get pulled into it. Train yourself on any habit, and you’ll be able to unconsciously go to that habit in trying times.

Think about which behaviors you’d like to be able to default to if you could. How many of them have you practiced only once? Let today be twice.

9月23日

最安全的堡垒

“要记住，当你的主导理性重新振作起来、依靠自身时，它就会变得不可征服，以至于即使它所持的立场并不合理，也不会做出违背自身意志的事情。那么，如果它的判断既谨慎又合乎理性，它岂不是更加不可征服吗？因此，一个摆脱激情支配的心灵就是一座坚不可摧的堡垒——一个人永远也找不到比这里更安全的避难所。”

——马可·奥勒留，《沉思录》，8.48

李小龙曾经提出过一个很有意思的说法：“我不怕那个把一万种腿法各练过一次的人，”他说，“我怕的是那个把同一种腿法练了一万次的人。”当我们反复做一个动作，多到它变成无意识的行为时，我们不需要思考，就会自然地回到这个动作上。

武术或格斗训练，其实是一门对动作进行深入思考的学问。我们有时会把士兵想象成自动机器，但他们真正建立起来的，是一套稳定的、近乎无意识的行为模式。我们任何人都能够建立这样的模式。

当马可说，一个人的心灵可以达到这样一种状态——“即使它的立场并不合理，也不会做出违背自身意志的事情”——他的意思是，正确的训练可以改变我们的默认习惯。训练自己放下愤怒，你就不会因为每一次新的冒犯而发怒。训练自己远离流言蜚语，你就不会轻易被卷进去。无论你训练的是哪一种习惯，到了艰难时刻，你都会不假思索地回到这种习惯上。

想一想：如果可以选择，你希望自己在关键时刻默认采取哪些行为？其中有多少，你只练习过一次？那就让今天成为第二次。