Plain
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

Remember two things. First, all things in the world have always followed the same patterns forever. The same cycles repeat endlessly. So it doesn't matter much whether you see these patterns for a hundred years, two hundred years, or forever — they're always the same. Second, the life that the longest-lived person loses at death is exactly the same length as the life the shortest-lived person loses. Both lose only the present moment. That's all anyone ever has. You can't lose what you never had.

Meditations, Book 2, Section 12 Book 2 · 15 of 20
Death & Mortality What Matters Most
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

These two things therefore thou must remember. First, that all things in the world from all eternity, by a perpetual revolution of the same times and things ever continued and renewed, are of one kind and nature; so that whether for a hundred or two hundred years only, or for an infinite space of time, a man see those things which are still the same, it can be no matter of great moment. And secondly, that that life which any the longest liver, or the shortest liver parts with, is for length and duration the very same, for that only which is present, is that, which either of them can lose, as being that only which they have; for that which he hath not, no man can truly be said to lose.

Meditations, Book 2, Section 12 Book 2 · 15 of 20
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor

If you lived three thousand years, or even ten thousand, remember this: you can only lose the life you are living right now. The life you live is nothing more than what you lose moment by moment. So the longest life and the shortest life come to the same thing. The past may differ between people, but the present moment is equal for everyone. This present moment is what we lose when we die. So clearly, we only lose an instant. You cannot lose what is past or future. How can you lose what you do not have?

Meditations, Book 2, Section 12 Book 2 · 14 of 20
Death & Mortality What Matters Most
Marcus Aurelius — The Emperor Original

If thou shouldst live three thousand, or as many as ten thousands of years, yet remember this, that man can part with no life properly, save with that little part of life, which he now lives: and that which he lives, is no other, than that which at every instant he parts with. That then which is longest of duration, and that which is shortest, come both to one effect. For although in regard of that which is already past there may be some inequality, yet that time which is now present and in being, is equal unto all men. And that being it which we part with whensoever we die, it doth manifestly appear, that it can be but a moment of time, that we then part with. For as for that which is either past or to come, a man cannot be said properly to part with it. For how should a man part with that which he hath not?

Meditations, Book 2, Section 12 Book 2 · 14 of 20
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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