Simple Stoic Advice
Life fleeting
Life fleeting
The beautiful thing about Stoic philosophy is the advice contained within it is just as applicable today as it was when it was first written all those many years ago. We can learn a great deal from interpreting the advice provided and using it to our advantage as we go throughout our own lives.
Today’s quote comes to us courtesy of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.17:
Quote
“Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you — Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able — be good.”
Advice
Perhaps one of the greatest themes running throughout Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is the theme of death. Written toward the end of his life, Marcus’ reflections often come back to the idea of one’s own life ending.
Marcus knew that no matter how much we wished it, no matter how much we wanted it, we could not control time. As the early Greek philosopher once said:
“Everything’s destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So that new things can be born.”
Life is a constant state of change. We as individuals are ever evolving, our cultures, countries, and ourselves.
The Stoics focused on the present because they knew that was all we ever have. The past is gone and the future is undetermined, so all we have is the present moment. This forced them to reflect upon their time and utilizing it to the fullest.
Seneca once described the fleeting motion of time as:
“The present time is extremely short, so much so that some people are unaware of it. For it is always on the move, flowing on in a rush; it ceases before it has come, and does not suffer delay any more than the firmament or the stars, whose unceasing movement never pauses in the same place. And so the preoccupied are concerned only with the present, and it is so short that it cannot be grasped, and even this is stolen from them while they are involved in their many distractions.”
Focus on the present. Reflect about the life you have and what you’re doing with it and learn to apply that to what you are doing here and now.
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