Wednesday, December 13, 2017

December 13th Reading from The Dail Stoic - It's Just A Number


"You aren't bothered, are you, because you weigh a certain amount and not twice as much? So why get worked up that you've been given a certain lifespan and not more? Just as you are satisfied with your normal weight, so you should be with the time you've been given."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.49

I can see a number of people out there thinking that Marcus is underestimating just how many people actually are dissatisfied with their weight. He doesn't really mean weight in terms of body shape and physical fitness, though, he's talking physics. Just as you probably don't give too much thought to the measure of the Earth's gravitation on objects (it is just a way that the physical laws of the universe work), so we should not give too much thought to the way the laws of physics have arranged the lifespans of human beings. The important thing is what you do with the time you have. That's the point.






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