공황 상태에서도 이성 유지

### 사람들이 패닉에 빠졌을 때 대처하는 방법: 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스의 교훈
* 🧘 집단 히스테리의 시기에 스스로 당황하지 않으려면 **당황하는 상황의 본질과 당황의 원인**을 이해하는 것이 중요합니다.
* 🔄 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스는 우리가 경험하는 모든 것은 이전에 일어났던 일이며, 인생은 **동일한 전형적 스토리의 반복**이라고 가르칩니다.
* 🌍 "무슨 일이 있어도 이 점을 명심하세요: **지구의 한쪽 끝에서 다른 쪽 끝까지 똑같은 오래된 일**이라는 것을요. 고대와 현대의 역사책, 도시와 집에도 이런 이야기가 가득합니다. 전혀 새로운 것은 없습니다. 익숙하고 일시적인 것입니다."
* 🧠 급변하는 상황에 직면했을 때는 있는 그대로를 보고 **두려움이 아닌 이성을 바탕으로 행동**하는 것이 중요합니다.
* 🏠 우리가 통제할 수 없는 상황을 바꾸려고 노력하는 대신, **당면한 환경에 집중**하고 긍정적인 일을 하는 것이 더 유익합니다.
* 💪 "우리 자신의 능력이 강하면 **무리 속에서 침착함을 유지하는 것**이 훨씬 쉬워집니다."
* 🗣 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스는 주변 사람들이 당황하고 있다면 **그들의 비이성적인 행동에 관여하지 말고 상황에 필요한 것에 집중**하라고 조언합니다.
* 🕊 "남의 말에 신경 쓰지 않을 때 찾아오는 평온함. 생각도, 행동도. **오직 자신이 하는 일에만 집중하세요. 어둠에 방해받지 않고. 흔들림 없이 결승선을 향해 똑바로 달리는 것입니다.**"

마르쿠스 아우렐리우스가 조언한 대로 합리성을 유지하고 공동선에 집중하면 위기 상황에서 공황을 예방하고 대처하는 데 도움이 됩니다.

How should we act when people around us are panicking? And how can we avoid panicking ourselves? Panic gets us nowhere, as it is a state of emotional turmoil during which our rationality is thrown overboard. So when we’re faced with a wide variety of opinions, the strong language of influencers, and decisions based on fear and greed, it can be difficult to find direction and maintain course. But during times of mass hysteria, it’s essential to use our capacity for rationality. From a Stoic point of view, our decisions should be based on facts and logic, and our actions have to be in the interest of the common good. In times of hardship, it’s not an unnecessary exercise to fortify our minds with philosophical ideas, so we don’t slip into the trap of panic. Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius had some valuable insights on how to strengthen the mind, so we don’t deviate from the right path.

Now, let’s start with the second question, as it paves the way to answering the first one: How can we avoid panicking ourselves? To navigate our minds back into tranquility, it is important to become aware of the nature of what we are panicking about, and also the reasons why we panic. In his meditations, Marcus Aurelius mentions that no matter what happens, it is something that has happened before. When we are ruled by the issues of the day, we lose sight of the bigger picture. So, what unfolds in the moment may seem totally new and alien. In a way, this is true, because nothing that happens now takes place in the past. However, when we look at historical accounts, we see that they are filled with the same old, same old. Marcus Aurelius shifts the paradigm by pointing out that life is simply history repeating itself. So, we could say that we experience the same archetypal storylines over and over again.

just with different characters and in different
formats. Lost all your money? Your job? Millions of people are going through the same
thing as we speak, and have been in the past. Is the world ravaged by the plague? We had the Spanish Flu, the Black Death, SARS,
MERS. Humanity has gone through many different crises,
individual people have faced a lot of hardship in their lives, there have been good times
and bad times, and we have gone through peace and war. History taught us that this mechanism never
changes as long as we exist. It is simply life manifesting the same patterns. Everything is transient, like yin and yang. So, why do we panic when it’s just another
manifestation of the same? Probably because the thing we panic about
disguised itself as something unprecedented, it triggers our fear of the unknown. While, in reality, it has happened many times
before. What’s new and scary now, will be old and
familiar tomorrow.

That’s because we are adaptable creatures
who can change along with the transient nature of the universe. So, to keep a cool head when things around
us start to change quickly, we might want to repeat the following quote by Marcus Aurelius: “No matter what happens, keep this in mind:
It’s the same old thing, from one end of the world to the other. It fills the history books, ancient and modern,
and the cities, and the houses too. Nothing new at all. Familiar, transient.” End quote. All comes down to seeing things as they are,
as much as possible, and doing the right thing, based on rationality and not based on fear. Thus, in a crisis, we ought to prepare but
not overdo it. Especially when it undermines the community. Marcus Aurelius emphasizes repeatedly that
we should work together, and act conformably to our own nature, and the nature of the whole. Or as he puts it: “to do what the community
needs done.”

When we panic, we are often inclined to act unintelligently and in ways that only make things worse, or overlook the things that actually need to be done. That’s why it’s essential to keep calm in the face of adversity because if we don’t, we can screw things up. In the case of a virus outbreak, for example, instead of trying to be the hero of the day, it’s probably much better to simply stay at home. Also, we may want to keep in mind that the media are companies motivated by profit, so they recreate and inflate reality by constantly focusing on certain topics that attract attention. When we expose ourselves to the media all day, we become deluded because we start to believe that there’s nothing else going on in the world besides disaster. And this is not true. So instead, it’s better to focus on our direct environment (something that we can actually influence) and see how we can do something beneficial.

Thus, don’t try to change the things you cannot change. Instead, give your grandmother a call. Now, when it comes to dealing with panicking people, staying calm in the herd is much easier when our own faculties are strong. If we are determined and don’t let ourselves be carried away by our irrational thoughts and emotions, we become towers of strength that are immune to all compulsion, like, for example, the cravings for toilet paper. Even when world leaders act irrationally, and the things they say don’t make any sense, or when hostility and violence dominate the streets, and people scream bloody murder, Marcus Aurelius would probably advise us to not engage, and to calmly do what the situation asks of us. I quote: Let them scream whatever they want. Let animals dismember this soft flesh that covers you. How would any of that stop you from keeping your mind calm—reliably sizing up what’s around you—and ready to make good use of whatever happens?

End quote. At the end of the day, what the people around
us are doing is not up to us. If they feel that panic is the answer, we
can only change their minds if they’re open to alternatives. But when they aren’t, we’ll only waste
time trying. In such cases, we are better off preventing
ourselves to go along with their panic, so we maintain our inner peace. I quote: The tranquillity that comes when you stop
caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what you do. Not to be distracted by their darkness. To run straight for the finish line, unswerving. Thank you for watching and be kind to each
other.

“Let Them Scream Whatever They Want” | Marcus Aurelius on Panic

Einzelgänger

공황 상태는 특히 공포가 만연하고 영향력 있는 사람들의 의견이 팽배한 상황에서 비합리적인 의사 결정으로 이어질 수 있는 감정적 혼란의 상태입니다.

이럴 때일수록 공동선을 위해 결정을 내린다는 스토아 철학에 따라 이성, 사실, 논리에 의존하는 것이 중요합니다.

당황하지 않으려면 역사적 사건의 반복적인 성격과 더 큰 그림에 집중하는 것의 중요성을 강조한 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스의 명상에서 강조한 것처럼 상황의 본질과 공황의 원인을 파악하는 것이 중요합니다.

인류는 역사를 통해 다양한 위기와 고난에 직면해 왔으며, 투쟁과 적응이라는 동일한 패턴을 보여 왔습니다.

전례 없는 사건에 당황하는 것은 당연한 일이지만, 역사적 패턴은 미래에 대한 안심과 지침을 제공할 수 있습니다.

마르쿠스 아우렐리우스는 위기 상황에서 합리성과 협력, 그리고 자신의 본성에 충실하는 것이 중요하다고 강조합니다.

공황 상태에서도 침착함 유지하기

위기 상황에서 침착함을 유지하는 것은 상황을 악화시키지 않고 바이러스 발생 시 집에 머무르는 것과 같이 진정으로 중요한 일에 집중하는 데 매우 중요합니다.

미디어의 재난에 대한 초점은 현실을 왜곡할 수 있으므로, 당면한 환경에 집중하고 긍정적인 행동을 취하는 것이 좋습니다.

우리 자신의 의지를 강화하면 공황 상태에 빠진 군중과 비이성적인 지도자 앞에서도 비이성적인 충동에 저항하고 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스의 조언에 따라 상황에 합리적으로 대응할 수 있습니다.

타인의 공황에 맞서 내면의 평화 유지하기

다른 사람들이 공황에 대해 마음을 열지 않는다면 이를 변화시키는 것은 우리의 책임이 아니므로, 내면의 평화를 유지하는 데 집중하는 것이 좋습니다.

우리 자신의 행동에 우선순위를 두고 주변 사람들의 부정적인 반응에 주의를 분산시키지 말아야 합니다.

궁극적으로 핵심은 다른 사람들의 공황에 흔들리지 않고 자신의 길에 집중하는 것입니다.