Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Commentary on Meditations: B4:36

Constantly observe all that comes about through change, and habituate yourself to the thought that the nature of the Whole loves nothing so much as to change one form of existence into another, similar but new. All that exists is in a sense the seed of its successor: but your concept of 'seed' is simply what is put into the earth or the womb - that is very unphilosophic thinking.

Change is constant.  I used to really hate it when people would say, "the one thing that never changes is change."  But it is so true and the more quickly we embrace the idea, the better off we are mentally.  We are born, live our infancy, start school, graduate from elementary to middle to high school to college.  We work, play, get married, have a family, go to funerals, see our own children grow, see them have children and before we know it, we die.  Grass, leaves, trees, mountains, buildings, cities - all go through a similar metamorphosis.  Some change we embrace, other changes we lament.  We ought to embrace all change and be prepared for it.

Our attitude and our striving to attain arete and living the virtuous life should be the constant.  While all else changes before us, we can be un-movable in our resolve to live a life of virtue.

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