How To Tell Someone They Smell Bad

Have you ever had a friend that smelled really bad but you just didn't have the nerve to tell them? Have you ever been talking with someone and their breath just wreaked? Have you ever been playing basketball and your teammates pits just kill you? Well, what do you say? What do you do? And is there a nice way to do it? Here's what Marcus Aurelius once said (I must say, its quite a joy to stumble across passages like this when reading ancient literature!!!):

"Are you irritated with one whose arm-pits smell? Are you angry with one whose mouth has a foul odor? What good will your anger do you? He has this mouth, he has these arm-pits. Such emanations must come from such things. 'But the man has reason,' you will say, 'and he could, if he took pains, discover wherein he offends.' I wish you well of your discovery. Now you too have reason; by your rational faculty, stir up his rational faculty; show him his fault, admonish him. For if he listens, you will cure him, and have no need of anger--you are not a ranter or a whore." (Meditations, 5.28)

So, I guess the way to do it is to ask him some trick, self-reflective questions and or take him through some trick, self-reflective activity, so that he will soon realize that he stinks. How have you handled this problem?

Mondays Are For Meditating (With Marcus Aurelius), Pt. 3

Here's another fascinating snippet from Marcus Aurelius (a day late, I might add): "How quickly things disappear, bodies into the universe, memories of them in time" (Meditations, II.12). Meditate on these things!

Mondays Are For Meditating (With Marcus Aurelius), Pt. 3

In II.7 of his work Meditations, Marcus Aurelius comments: "Do things external which happen to you distract you? Give yourself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then you must also avoid going astray the other way. For those too are triflers who have worn themselves out by activity, and yet have no goal to which they direct their movements or their thoughts."

Once again, I find some similarities of what Aurelius says here, to things the Apostle Paul said. I am thinking of the passage where Paul uses nautical imagery in Ephesians 4.14-7: "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming...So, I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking."

Meditate on these things.

Mondays Are For Meditating (With Marcus Aurelius), Pt. 2

Today, I want to offer two entries from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. Both are from II.2. I will mention the first one only in passing and then comment on the second one.

* "Throw away your books; no longer distract yourself; it is not allowed."

* "Consider thus: You are an old man; no longer let this part be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet by self-seeking impulse, no longer either be dissatisfied with your present lot, or shrink from the future."

In the second quote (the first one's just crazy!!!) I think Aurelius sounds, once again, quite like the Apostle Paul. Actually, the first portion of the sentence sounds much like 1 Thess. 4.3-5, which says: "It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him." The second half of the sentence sounds a little like what Paul says in Phil. 4.12.-3: "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Of course, the difference between Marcus and Paul is that Paul places trust in and reliance on Christ and Marcus doesn't. Perhaps this is a good illustration of where two philosophies with similar concepts arrive at two totally different conclusions!

Mondays Are For Meditating (With Marcus Aurelius), Pt. 1

Here's a portion from chapter 2 of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. I'm citing it here because it sounds uncannily familiar, kind of like, oh, let's say, Paul of Tarsus. Here's the text: "For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away."

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations II.2

I like here, how Aurelius goes a step further than Paul in a passage like the one located in 1 Cor. 12 and talks about how, when the parts are not working together, it is not only self-defeating but contrary to nature. In other words, had Paul gone a bit further, he could have suggested that the "nature" of the Body of Christ has to do with both unity and diversity. That implication may be buried in Paul's metaphor but because it is not explicity, it may often be overlooked. Good stuff!!!