Plain
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

Think about how man is connected to God, and through what part of himself. Think about how that part is affected when it spreads out everywhere. Nothing is more miserable than a soul that circles around all things, searching even the depths of the earth. It tries to guess what other people are thinking by watching for signs. Yet this soul doesn't realize something simple: it's enough for a person to focus completely on tending the spirit within himself, and to truly serve that spirit.

Meditations, Book 2, Section 11 Book 2 · 12 of 20
Knowing Yourself What Matters Most
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

Consider with thyself how man, and by what part of his, is joined unto God, and how that part of man is affected, when it is said to be diffused. There is nothing more wretched than that soul, which in a kind of circuit compasseth all things, searching (as he saith) even the very depths of the earth; and by all signs and conjectures prying into the very thoughts of other men's souls; and yet of this, is not sensible, that it is sufficient for a man to apply himself wholly, and to confine all his thoughts and cares to the tendance of that spirit which is within him, and truly and really to serve him.

Meditations, Book 2, Section 11 Book 2 · 12 of 20
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

A person with good judgment should think about what people really are — the people whose opinions create honor and reputation. They should also think about what it means to die. If you consider death by itself, stripped of all the frightening images we usually attach to it, you see it's just a natural process. Anyone who fears nature's work is like a child. Death is not only natural — it actually helps nature along.

Meditations, Book 2, Section 10 Book 2 · 11 of 20
Death & Mortality Calm Your Mind
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

It is the part of a man endowed with a good understanding faculty, to consider what they themselves are in very deed, from whose bare conceits and voices, honour and credit do proceed: as also what it is to die, and how if a man shall consider this by itself alone, to die, and separate from it in his mind all those things which with it usually represent themselves unto us, he can conceive of it no otherwise, than as of a work of nature, and he that fears any work of nature, is a very child. Now death, it is not only a work of nature, but also conducing to nature.

Meditations, Book 2, Section 10 Book 2 · 11 of 20
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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