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Daily Advice
Nov. 9th, 2020 08:16 pmWhile I wait for myself to start talking about Plotinus again, which may be a while, I'm going to start something different here: A bit of daily advice from one of the old sages. Today, we have Marcus Aurelius. From the Meditations, Book 9, Meditation 3:
But if you need a good reason not to be afraid of death-- the Emperor says-- consider this: After death, you'll be free of everyone who currently annoys you!
Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills. For such as it is to be young and to grow old, and to increase and to reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and grey hairs, and to beget, and to be pregnant and to bring forth, and all the other natural operations which the seasons of thy life bring, such also is dissolution.
This, then, is consistent with the character of a reflecting man: to be neither careless, nor impatient, nor contemptuous with respect to death, but to wait for it as one of the operations of nature.
As thou now waitest for the time when the child shall come out of thy wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy soul shall fall out of this envelope. But if thou requirest also a vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which thou art going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom thy soul will no longer be mingled. For it is no way right to be offended with men, but it is thy duty to care for them and to bear them gently; and yet to remember that thy departure will not be from men who have the same principles as thyself.
For this is the only thing, if there be any, which could draw us the contrary way and attach us to life, to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourselves. But now thou seest how great is the trouble arising from the discordance of those who live together, so that thou mayest say, Come quick, O death, lest perchance I, too, should forget myself.
Death comes in its season, just as winter follows Autumn. It isn't our job to hurry it along, but we should also not fear it, nor despise it. We should simply be aware that our sojourn in this world will end, just as it began.This, then, is consistent with the character of a reflecting man: to be neither careless, nor impatient, nor contemptuous with respect to death, but to wait for it as one of the operations of nature.
As thou now waitest for the time when the child shall come out of thy wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy soul shall fall out of this envelope. But if thou requirest also a vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which thou art going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom thy soul will no longer be mingled. For it is no way right to be offended with men, but it is thy duty to care for them and to bear them gently; and yet to remember that thy departure will not be from men who have the same principles as thyself.
For this is the only thing, if there be any, which could draw us the contrary way and attach us to life, to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourselves. But now thou seest how great is the trouble arising from the discordance of those who live together, so that thou mayest say, Come quick, O death, lest perchance I, too, should forget myself.
But if you need a good reason not to be afraid of death-- the Emperor says-- consider this: After death, you'll be free of everyone who currently annoys you!
