Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.40

Life must be reaped like the ripe ears of corn:

One man is born, another dies.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 7 (tr Long)

The reference here again is to Euripides. One of the  things I have worked toward in my own journey through Stoic philosophy is the joyful acceptance of change as something inherently good in the order of Nature.

I will, unfortunately, still hold on to past wrongs, simply because of the weakness of my own thinking, and that is still a work in progress. I do better with it on some days, exactly when I remember a maxim like this, and I do worse on other days, when I choose to forget it.

At those times when I am forgetful, I find it helpful to insist to myself that change is hardly a harmful thing. I reflect upon the great benefit within it, and seek to recognize that the only hurt within it comes from my own preferences and attachments. It is only bad for me when I permit it to be.

Things come into a specific existence, and they fall out of a specific existence. As foolish as they may sound, I keep a few of my own phrases handy to strengthen my resolve:

Change is action. The very act of doing involves a transformation, in any and every form. Life is not a static state, but a constant motion.

Change is growth. Nothing comes from nothing, but something comes from something else. Things gain in the fullness of existence, and then transfer that fullness onward.

Change is improvement. Where there is growth, there is a struggle to increase in perfection. Yet it will not remain standing still.

Change is rebuilding. Whatever has been strives to be most fully itself, and then is reconstituted into another instance of striving.

Change is renewal. The old is reborn into the new, and this is an expression of the deepest triumph. Nothing is defeated. Everything lives again.

Change is eternal. I do not claim to know how Providence intends for the Universe to play itself out, but I do know that as long as there is life, there will be action and change.

I choose to embrace, and not to fear, any sort of reaping. 

Written in 12/2007