【每日斯多葛】10月28日

October 28th 

WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER

“You’ll more quickly find an earthly thing kept from the earth than you will a person cut off from other human beings.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.9.3

Naturally, Marcus Aurelius and the rest of the Stoics were not familiar with Newtonian physics. But they knew that what went up must come down. That’s the analogy he’s using here: our mutual interdependence with our fellow human beings is stronger than the law of gravity.

Philosophy attracts introverts. The study of human nature can make you aware of other people’s faults and can breed contempt for others. So do struggle and difficulty—they isolate us from the world.

But none of that changes that we are, as Aristotle put it, social animals. We need each other. We must be there for each other. We must take care of each other (and to allow others to care for us in return). To pretend otherwise is to violate our nature, to be more or less than what it means to be a human being.

10月28日 

我们生来就彼此相依

“你更有可能找到某种脱离大地而存在的地上之物，也不大可能找到一个能够与其他人彻底隔绝的人。”

——马可·奥勒留，《沉思录》，9.9.3

当然，马可·奥勒留和其他斯多葛学派的哲学家并不了解牛顿物理学。但他们知道，凡是升上去的东西，终究会落下来。这正是马可·奥勒留在这里使用的类比：人与人之间相互依存的关系，甚至比万有引力定律更加牢不可破。

哲学往往吸引性格内向的人。研究人性会让你更加敏锐地察觉他人的缺点，也可能由此滋生对他人的轻蔑。挣扎与困境同样如此——它们会使我们与外部世界疏离。

但这一切都无法改变一个事实：正如亚里士多德所说，人是社会性动物。我们彼此需要。我们必须相互扶持，彼此照顾，同时也要允许他人反过来关心和照顾我们。假装我们不需要彼此，就是违背人的天性，偏离作为一个真正的人所应有的存在方式。