Marcus Aurelius: He is a true fugitive, that flies from…

To abandon reason and our duty to one another is to become alienated from our own nature. Marcus calls that a kind of blindness and poverty. We may have money, credentials, followers, or a crowded social life, yet still be poor if we need constant external validation to know how to live. The inner resources he values are judgment, self-command, courage, and a sense of connection with other people. These cannot be bought or outsourced. Build them before crisis makes their absence obvious. Today, consider one thing you rely on to feel secure: approval, a title, a relationship, a number in an account. Appreciate it without making it your foundation. Practice one inner resource that would remain if the external support changed.