Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: The whole space of any man's life, is…
The whole space of any man's life, is but little; and as little as it is, with what troubles, with what manner of dispositions, and in the society of how wretched a body must it be passed! Let it be therefore unto thee altogether as a matter of indifferency.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
Life is brief, and much of it is spent in a body with needs, limits, and occasional pain. That sounds bleak only if we think happiness depends on having unlimited time and perfect conditions. Marcus wants us to stop making every discomfort into a referendum on life itself.
The body will be tired some mornings. Other people will be frustrating. Plans will be interrupted. If you expect an easy, frictionless existence, you will be offended all day long. If you see these as normal features of being alive, you can direct your attention toward what is worth doing anyway.
This is not resignation. It is freedom from petty drama. You do not need the commute, the weather, your inbox, and everyone else's personality to cooperate before you can be decent and useful. Your life is short. Spend less of it arguing with the conditions and more of it practicing the virtues available right where you are.
Related passages
- Marcus Aurelius A black or malign disposition, an effeminate disposition; an hard inexorable disposition, a wild inhuman disposition,…
- Marcus Aurelius Be not angry neither with him whose breath, neither with him whose arm holes, are offensive. What can he do? such is…
- Marcus Aurelius Ever consider and think upon the world as being but one living substance, and having but one soul, and how all things…