"Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux. . ."

"Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux, and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, and fame a thing devoid of judgement.

"And, to say all in a word, everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapor, and life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after fame is oblivion. What then is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and only one, philosophy.

"But this consists in keeping the spirit within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to pains and pleasures, doing nothing without purpose, nor yet falsely and with hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing or not doing anything; and besides, accepting all that happens, and all that is allotted, as coming from there, wherever it is, from where he himself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living being is compounded."

---Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2 (tr Long)

To recognize the weak, fleeting, and vulnerable aspects of ourselves and of our world should never be grounds for despair; only the man who lives merely for those passing things would really worry about losing them.

Instead, I can recognize that power, fortune, fame, and pleasure are indeed as nothing, and thereby that recognition points me to what matters. To be a philosopher is not to be a pompous, self-serving 'scholar'. That misunderstanding of philosophy is still grounded in the love of lower things. The philosopher measures his life not by his circumstances, but by the merits of his own wisdom and character, finding joy in nothing but ruling himself in harmony with Nature.

The drag and pull of the things beyond our power are indeed tempting. This is, I think, primarily because a consumer society absorbed only with success and status, and with appearances above all else, repeatedly hammers us, day and night, with idle promises. These lies don't become any more true because they are repeated so often.

I recently saw a very slick and serious ad on TV promising me that this or that company understood what was most important to me, my financial security. I choose instead to live with character, simply for its own sake, and recognize the Stoic wisdom that even if my financial security was something
 within my power, something so shallow could never fulfill my human need for happiness.

Written on 2/21/2005

Image: Marinus van Roejmerswaelen, The Banker and his Wife, 1538