TO live happily is an inward power of the soul, when she is affected with indifference, towards those things that are by their nature indifferent.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book xi. 15.
IT is in thy power absolutely to exclude all manner of conceit and opinion, as concerning this matter; and by the same means, to exclude all grief and joy from thy soul. For as for the things and objects themselves, they of themselves have no such power, whereby to beget and force upon us any opinion at all.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book vi. 47.
DOST thou grieve that thou dost weigh but so many pounds, and not 300 rather? Just as much reason hast thou to grieve that thou must live but so many years, and not longer. For as for bulk and substance thou dost content thyself with that proportion of it that is allotted unto thee, so shouldst thou for time.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book vi. 45.
The main thing that seems to unify these sayings is the matter of appearance. The appearance of things is not what is important. It is how we allow our perception of this appearance to affect how we live our lives. The things themselves have no power to change our moral code but we often allow them to. We derive our happiness in life on whether the appearance is good rather than focusing on the actual substance of things. The most beautiful person in the world could be a horrible individual, vain, mean and immoral, but we worship them in the cult of celebrity and wish that we were beautiful like them.
ReplyDeleteBeauty is more than skin deep. Beauty is a true depth of soul, a kind person, not Hollywood's cult of personality's latest icon.