【每日斯多葛】10月4日

October 4th  

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL

“That which isn’t good for the hive, isn’t good for the bee.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.54

Inherent in the Stoic concept of sympatheia is the notion of an interconnected cosmos in which everything in the universe is part of a larger whole. Marcus Aurelius was one of the first writers to articulate the notion of cosmopolitanism—saying that he was a citizen of the world, not just of Rome.

The idea that you’re a bee in the hive is a reminder of this perspective. Marcus even states the reverse of that idea later in his Meditations, just so he doesn’t forget: “That which doesn’t harm the community can’t harm the individual.”

Just because something is bad for you doesn’t mean it’s bad for everyone. Just because something is good for you definitely doesn’t mean it’s good for everyone. Think of the hedge fund managers who bet massively against the economy—they profited by rooting for essentially everyone and everything else to fail. Is that who you want to be? A good Stoic understands that proper impulses, and the right actions that arise from them, naturally carry the good of the whole, which is the wise person’s only good. Conversely, good and wise actions by the whole are what’s good for the individual.

10月4日  

人人为我，我为人人

“对蜂巢不好的事情，也不会对蜜蜂有好处。”

——马可·奥勒留，《沉思录》，6.54

斯多葛主义中的 sympatheia（万物相感、相互关联）这一概念，本身就包含着这样一种观念：宇宙是一个彼此相连的整体，其中每一样事物都是更大整体的一部分。马可·奥勒留是最早明确表达“世界主义”观念的作家之一——他说，自己是世界的公民，而不仅仅是罗马的公民。

把自己想象成蜂巢里的一只蜜蜂，就是在提醒自己保持这种视角。为了不忘记这一点，马可甚至在《沉思录》后面又从反面表达了同一个道理：“不会伤害共同体的事情，也不会伤害个人。”

某件事对你不好，并不意味着它对所有人都不好。某件事对你有好处，也绝不意味着它对所有人都有好处。想想那些大规模做空整个经济的对冲基金经理——他们之所以获利，实际上是因为他们希望几乎所有其他人、所有其他事物都失败。你真的想成为那样的人吗？

一个好的斯多葛主义者明白，正确的冲动，以及由这些冲动产生的正确行动，自然而然会承载整体的利益，而这正是智者唯一真正的善。反过来，整个共同体所作出的善良而明智的行动，也正是对个人真正有益的事情。