Marcus Aurelius vs Confucius on Presence
Marcus Aurelius and Confucius on presence, side by side — 5 passages against 6, and what the disagreement is actually about.
Marcus Aurelius and Confucius both have a great deal to say about presence — 5 passages and 6 respectively in thinkr's library — and they do not say the same thing. Setting them side by side is more useful than reading either alone, because the disagreement shows you what each position is actually giving up.
Marcus Aurelius on presence
Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. His Meditations — private notes in Greek, never meant for publication — are the most beloved Stoic text in the modern world.
“Confine yourself to the present.”
“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.”
“Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal.”
“Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. (Hays translation)”
“Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there early and another late, but it makes no difference.”
Confucius on presence
Kong Fuzi — Chinese teacher whose sayings, gathered in the Analects, shape East Asian thought on ethics, ritual, and learning.
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
“I am not concerned that I have no place; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known; I seek to be worthy to be known.”
“There is no body but eats and drinks. But they are few who can distinguish flavors.”
“Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.”
“Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing. On this account, the superior man regards the attainment of sincerity as the most excellent thing.”
“Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.”
Where they part
Rome, 121–180 CE and China, 551–479 BCE are not the same world, and the difference is not only historical. Marcus Aurelius treats presence as something to be confine yourself to the present… — a matter of practice. Confucius approaches it from another side entirely. Neither is refuting the other; they are answering slightly different questions, and noticing which question you are actually asking is most of the work.