《沉思录·卷五·天未亮就起身》第16条
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series of such thoughts as these: for instance, that where a man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live in a palace; well then, he can also live well in a palace. And again, consider that for whatever purpose each thing has been constituted, for this it has been constituted, and towards this it is carried; and its end is in that towards which it is carried; and where the end is, there also is the advantage and the good of each thing. Now the good for the reasonable animal is society; for that we are made for society has been shown above. Is it not plain that the inferior exists for the sake of the superior? But the things which have life are superior to those which have not life, and of those which have life the superior are those which have reason.
注释摘要
他在这里做了一个极其重要的断言：灵魂的质地，是由反复出现的思想染成的。这个比喻不能轻轻放过。“染色”意味着一种缓慢的、逐层的渗透——不是一次顿悟就永远改变了灵魂的颜色，而是每一次念头都是浸入染料的一次漂洗。在斯多葛派的灵魂学说中，这个被染色的部分正是“主宰能力”，那种能够形成判断、给出同意或拒绝同意的内在支配力。他们不认为人可以直接控制外部事件，也不认为人…