【每日斯多葛】10月1日

October 1st  

LET VIRTUE SHINE BRIGHT

“Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn’t your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 12.15

Seneca, repeating Heraclitus, writes that “we mortals are lighted and extinguished.” The light of reason suffuses the universe. Whether the wick of your lamp is being lit for the first time, after a long period of darkness, or even right before the proverbial big sleep, it makes no difference.

Here is where you are right now, and it’s as good a place as any to let virtue shine and continue to shine for as long as you exist.

10月1日  

让美德熠熠生辉

“灯火难道不会一直发光、保持它的光亮，直到燃料耗尽吗？那么，为什么你的真实、正义和自制不能一直闪耀，直到你的生命熄灭呢？”

——马可·奥勒留，《沉思录》，12.15

塞内卡在转述赫拉克利特时写道：“我们这些凡人被点亮，也被熄灭。”理性的光芒遍布整个宇宙。无论你这盏灯的灯芯是第一次被点燃，是在经历了漫长的黑暗之后重新点燃，还是甚至就在那场寓意中的“长眠”之前才亮起，都没有什么区别。

你此刻就在这里，而这里和任何地方一样，都是让美德开始发光、并在你存在的整个过程中持续闪耀的好地方。