如何像斯多葛派一样写日记
摘要
本文以马库斯·奥勒留的《沉思录》为灵感，探讨如何像斯多葛派哲学家一样进行每日日记写作。作者强调日记应当是私密的个人反思工具，无需昂贵的文具或应用，只需一张纸和一支铅笔即可开始。核心在于通过持续的写作习惯培养深度思考能力，与伟大思想家进行精神对话，最终实现自我提升与内心平和。
核心概念及解读
斯多葛主义（Stoicism）——古希腊罗马哲学流派，主张通过理性自制与内在修养获得平和，不依赖外部事物寻求幸福：
沉思录（Meditations）——罗马皇帝马库斯·奥勒留的私人哲学笔记，记录其对人生、美德与自我管理的反思，从未打算公开发表：
习惯化美德（Habituation of Virtue）——源自亚里士多德的伦理学观点，认为美德并非天生而是通过反复实践正确行为逐渐内化为习惯：
晨间写作（Morning Writing）——在外界干扰介入之前进行写作的实践方式，旨在保持思维的纯粹性和专注力：
私密日记（Private Journaling）——强调日记仅为自己而写，不以他人阅读为目的，从而消除写作焦虑并创造真正属于自我的思考空间：
How to Journal Like a Stoic
内容梗概
这段文本的概述如下：
早晨的日常和灵感：
- 作者描述了他们的早晨日常，包括泡咖啡、到厨房桌旁拿着日记本和一本书进行写作。
- 这个例行公事使作者在世界苏醒之前能够独处于他们的思考和伟大思想家的思想中。
《沉思录》的影响：
- 作者一直在阅读马库斯·奥勒留的《沉思录》，认为它令人印象深刻和鼓舞人心。
- 打算重新阅读这本书，制作有关斯多伊主义的视频，并讨论从马库斯·奥勒留那里汲取的具体实践。
鼓励每日写作：
- 重点是每日写作的实践，从马库斯·奥勒留的个人反思中获取经验。
- 强调为自己而写，减轻对他人阅读日记的焦虑，因为这些思想是极为私密的。
简单的写作工具：
- 写作并不需要昂贵的工具；一张纸和一支铅笔就足够了。
- 写作成功的标志在于思考和反思，而不是所使用的工具。
写作的一致性和习惯：
- 使写作成为一种一致的习惯，即使不是每天，也是有益的。
- 引用亚里士多德有关德行习惯化的观点，强调一致性的重要性。
写作的好处：
- 将写作视为与历史上伟大思想家互动和形成智力活动习惯的一种方式。
- 这是一种个人实践，不是为了他人阅读，提供了一个私人思考和反思的空间。
鼓励阅读和写作：
- 结论是一种劝告，要阅读伟大的书籍并写下感想，使写作成为一种一致而个人的实践。
作者写日记的方法包括以下要点：
每日写作： 作者强调每天都进行写作，尽量在早晨醒来之后，世界醒来之前进行。这被视为一个可以独处于思想和历史思想家思想中的时机。
个人思考和反思： 作者鼓励将日记作为个人思考和反思的工具，强调写作是为了个人提升和寻找内心平和。他强调马库斯·奥勒留的例子，说明写作不是为了他人而是为了自己。
私密性： 作者强调日记是私人的，不是为了他人的阅读。即使作者制作关于哲学和文学的YouTube视频，其中包含了他日记中的一些思想，实际上日记的文字仍然是完全为作者个人所用，其他人不会阅读。
简朴工具： 作者反对将写日记视为需要昂贵工具的活动。他认为只需一张纸和一支2号铅笔就足够了，强调写作的关键是思考和反思，而不是工具的质量。
形成习惯： 作者认为将写日记变成一种习惯对个人发展有益。通过一贯性的写作，可以培养思考和反思的习惯，促进个人成长和思想深度。
综合来看，作者的写日记方法强调个人性、思考和反思，同时注重简朴工具和将写作视为一种习惯。
视频与文稿翻译
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDVmxSB5V9M&t=46s&ab_channel=JaredHenderson
每天早晨醒来时，我都会去做咖啡。我来到厨房桌前，带上我的日记本，携带一本书，然后开始写作。
我试图在世界醒来之前写作，醒来之前，我不查看手机消息或分析数据。我写作是因为这是我能独处于我的思想和历史上伟大思想家思想的时间。我承认，我这样做也是因为我试图无耻地模仿一些那些伟大的思想家。
所以，最近我一直在阅读这本书，《沉思录》马库斯·奥勒留。这是一本非凡的书，我确实没有花足够的时间阅读。但最近，我一直在尝试再次阅读它，部分原因是我想制作一些关于它的视频。我想与你讨论斯多伊主义以及这种对许多人来说被证明非常有帮助的生活方式。然而，今天不是我们深入讨论斯多伊主义的日子。相反，我只想谈论这一实践，我们都可以效仿马库斯·奥勒留的例子。那就是每天写日记。
现在，我实际上不知道马库斯·奥勒留是否是一位每天写作的人，这一点并不重要。然而，重要的是，在《沉思录》中，我们所阅读的是一位伟大思想家的个人反思。我认为，当我们看马库斯·奥勒留如何写作这本书时，我们可以从中提取一些教训。我认为这些教训可以应用于我们自己的日记实践，这是我鼓励大家在2023年尝试的事情。
首先，当你阅读这本书时了解到的一点是，马库斯·奥勒留并不是为其他人而写的。现在，当你了解马库斯·奥勒留对生活的看法时，这就显得很有道理，他不依赖外部事物和世界来寻找自己的幸福。因此，马库斯·奥勒留参与的哲学主要面向其他人并不太有道理。他真的将哲学和他的哲学目标看作是改善自己和找到平和的途径。
我认为，对于许多人来说，当他们试图开始写日记并对此感到一些焦虑时，这是因为他们可能会假设其他人会阅读这些日记。因此，当我鼓励你在未来的一年里写一些日记时，我也想告诉你，没有人会阅读你的日记。即使是我的日记，我现在制作有关哲学和文学的YouTube视频，并将其呈现给你们。因此，这意味着我在一些日记中放入的思想会传递到你们的小手机上或其他地方。但实际上在日记中的文字，那些完全是为了我自己的。没有其他灵魂会阅读它们。我可以向你保证，我永远不会成为一个做日记翻阅视频的YouTuber，因为我的日记非常私人。这并不是因为我在那些日记中揭示了我最深层次或最黑暗的秘密，而是因为我在那里创造了一个属于自己的小空间，我说这只是我，只是我的思想，只是我与真正重要的事物交往的地方。
因此，当我坐下来写作时，也许我带着一本书，所以我正在做书摘，并试图从那些伟大的书中提取出我能得到的东西。或者这是一个让我思考我自己的思想，我自己对某些哲学问题的方法的时间。所有这些都是为了说它只是为了我自己。在写日记方面，有很多人试图向你推销一些东西。因此，他们可能会告诉你需要去购买一个应用程序或购买一支漂亮的钢笔和一本精美的笔记本。我只是认为这一切根本不真实。我说这话是因为我使用这些应用程序，我喜欢漂亮的笔，我喜欢漂亮的笔记本。但事实上，开始写一个好的日记只需要任何一张纸和一支2号铅笔。看，几乎没有巨大的经济门槛可以阻止你进行优秀的日记。但一个优秀的日记的唯一成功标志是你是否在思考和反思。
写日记的最后一个好处，这不是直接来自马库斯·奥勒留而是来自我最喜欢的哲学家亚里士多德的观点，那就是我相信当你把它变成一种习惯时，写日记对你是有好处的。亚里士多德实际上将美德描述为一种某种程度的习惯化，这是一种在正确情况下以正确方式行
事的习惯化。良好的习惯化所需的一件事是一贯性。你必须能够始终如一地做正确的事情。这不仅仅是纪律或意志的行为。相反，我们想要做的是形成我们的习惯，使我们只是出于欲望或毫不思考地做这些事情。
因此，通过将写日记变成一种习惯，也许你每天都这样做，如果你做不到，也许你每周三次或每周五次，逐渐增加次数，通过一贯性地写日记，你正在创造一种思想活动的习惯，一种在其中你正在与历史上的伟大思想家进行交流的习惯。
我想这种视频不太是一个如何做的视频，而更像是一种劝告。它是一种劝告，让你做两件事：阅读伟大的书，然后写下你对它们的看法。
Every morning when I wake up, I go make myself some coffee. I go to my kitchen table. I bring my journal. I bring a book, and I write.
I’m trying to write before the world has woken up alongside me, before I’m looking at my phone to check my messages or my analytics. I am writing because this is the time when I can be alone with my thoughts and with the thoughts of the great thinkers of history. And I’ll admit I am also doing this because I am trying to shamelessly copy some of those same great thinkers.
So, I’ve been reading this book lately, “The Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. This is a remarkable book and a book that I definitely have not spent enough time with. But lately, I’ve been trying to read it again, in part because I want to make some videos about it. I want to talk to you about stoicism and about this approach to life that, for a lot of people out there, is proving to be remarkably helpful. However, today is not the day for us to go into all the details about stoicism. Instead, I just want to talk about this one practice, this one thing that we all could do, following the example of Marcus Aurelius. And that is doing a Daily Journal.
Now, I actually don’t know if Marcus Aurelius was a daily writer, and that part is not essential. What is essential, however, is that in the “Meditations,” what we are reading are the personal reflections of a great thinker. And I think that when we look at how Marcus Aurelius wrote this book, we can extract a couple of lessons from it. I think those lessons could then be applied to our own practice of journaling, which is something I want to encourage everyone to try to do in 2023.
So first of all, one of the things that you learn when you read this book is that Marcus Aurelius was not writing for anybody else. Now, this makes a lot of sense when you understand Marcus Aurelius’s approach to life, which involves not looking to external things and the world for your own happiness. So it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for Marcus Aurelius to engage in philosophy that was primarily aimed at others. He really sees philosophy and his philosophical goal as the improvement of himself and a way to find peace.
I think that for a lot of people, when they try to start journaling and they feel some anxiety about it, it’s because they kind of assume that someone else is going to be reading those journals. So, as I try to encourage you to do some journaling in the coming year, I also want to tell you no one is ever going to read your journals. Even my journal, I now make YouTube videos about philosophy and literature and bring it all to you. And so that means the thoughts that I put into some of my journals make it onto your little phones or something. But the words themselves that are actually in the journal, those are completely for me. Not a single other soul will ever read them. I can promise you, by the way, I will never be a YouTuber that does a journal flip through because my journals are intensely private. And that’s not because I’m revealing maybe my deepest or my darkest secrets in those journals, but rather it is because I have carved out this little space for myself where I said this is where it’s just me, it’s just my thoughts, and it’s me engaging with things that truly matter.
So as I sit down and I try to write, maybe I have a book with me, so I’m taking book notes and I’m trying to extract what I can out of those great books. Or it’s a time for me to be thinking about my own thoughts, my own approaches to certain philosophical problems. All of that is to say that it’s just for me. There are a lot of people out there who are trying to sell you something when it comes to journaling. So they might tell you that you need to go and pay for an app or you need to go buy a beautiful pen and a great notebook. And I just think all that’s simply untrue. And I say this as someone who uses those apps and I like nice pens and I like nice notebooks. But in truth, all you need to start a good journal is just any piece of paper and a number two pencil. See, there is almost no economic barrier to entry for great journaling. But the only mark of success for a great journal is whether you are being thoughtful and reflective.
One final benefit of journaling, and this is not a point directly from Marcus Aurelius but rather from my favorite philosopher Aristotle, and that is I believe that journaling is good for you when you make it a habit. Aristotle characterizes virtue actually as habituation of a certain kind. It’s the kind of habituation that leads you to act the right way in the right circumstances. One of the things that is required for good habituation is consistency. You have to be able to consistently do the right sorts of things. This is not just an act of discipline or the will. Instead, what we want to do is form our habits so that we just do those things by desire or without thinking.
So by journaling and turning it into a habit, maybe you do it every single day. If you can’t do that, maybe you do it three times a week or five times a week and work your way up. But by journaling consistently, what you are doing is creating a habit of intellectual activity, a habit in which you are engaging with the great thinkers in history.
I suppose that this kind of video is not so much a how-to as an exhortation. And it is an exhortation to do two things: read great books and write about them.