From Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations":
“Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are, such will thy mind be in time. For the soul doth as it were receive its tincture from the fancies, and imaginations. Dye it therefore and thoroughly soak it with the assiduity of these cogitations.”
This is like the intellectual spin on Aristotle's concept of virtue. If you recall, Aristotle said, in his Ethics, that actions lead to habits, which form a character, which defines a destiny. Marcus Aurelius is saying that thoughts lead to habits of the mind, which forms and defines the soul. This is why it is so important to guard carefully what you expose yourself to intellectually. One who regularly "soaks" his mind (what a great image!) in rich, wise, discerning, clear thoughts, will have their character stamped on his soul. This ties in really well with what Father Chaminade called "Silence of the Mind". More on that in an upcoming series...
“Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are, such will thy mind be in time. For the soul doth as it were receive its tincture from the fancies, and imaginations. Dye it therefore and thoroughly soak it with the assiduity of these cogitations.”
This is like the intellectual spin on Aristotle's concept of virtue. If you recall, Aristotle said, in his Ethics, that actions lead to habits, which form a character, which defines a destiny. Marcus Aurelius is saying that thoughts lead to habits of the mind, which forms and defines the soul. This is why it is so important to guard carefully what you expose yourself to intellectually. One who regularly "soaks" his mind (what a great image!) in rich, wise, discerning, clear thoughts, will have their character stamped on his soul. This ties in really well with what Father Chaminade called "Silence of the Mind". More on that in an upcoming series...
No comments:
Post a Comment