Epictetus, Golden Sayings 188

If a man has this peace—not the peace proclaimed by Caesar (how indeed should he have it to proclaim?), nay, but the peace proclaimed by God through reason, will not that suffice him when alone, when he beholds and reflects: 

"Now can no evil happen unto me; for me there is no robber, for me no earthquake; all things are full of peace, full of tranquillity; neither highway nor city nor gathering of men, neither neighbor nor comrade can do me hurt. 

"Another supplies my food, whose care it is; another my raiment; another has given me perceptions of sense and primary conceptions. 

"And when He supplies my necessities no more, it is that He is sounding the retreat, that He has opened the door, and is saying to you, Come!—Wither? 

"To nought that you need fear, but to the friendly kindred elements whence you did spring. 

"Whatsoever of fire is in you, unto fire shall return; whatsoever of earth, unto earth; of spirit, unto spirit; of water, unto water. 

"There is no Hades, no fabled rivers of Sighs, of Lamentation, or of Fire: but all things are full of Beings spiritual and divine." 

With thoughts like these, beholding the Sun, Moon, and Stars, enjoying earth and sea, a man is neither helpless nor alone! 

IMAGE: Abraham Janssens, The Four Elements (c. 1615)