9781945186240

Or are you complaining about the things the world assigns you? But
consider the two options: Providence or atoms. And all the arguments for
seeing the world as a city.
Or is it your body? Keep in mind that when the mind detaches itself and
realizes its own nature, it no longer has anything to do with ordinary life—
the rough and the smooth, either one. And remember all you’ve been taught
—and accepted—about pain and pleasure.
Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon
we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The
emptiness of all those applauding hands. The people who praise us—how
capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region in which it all takes
place. The whole earth a point in space—and most of it uninhabited. How
many people there will be to admire you, and who they are.
So keep this refuge in mind: the back roads of your self. Above all, no
strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a
human being, like a citizen, like a mortal. And among the things you turn
to, these two:
i. That things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving,
outside it. Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions.
ii. That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of
how many changes you’ve already seen.
“The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.”
4. If thought is something we share, then so is reason—what makes us
reasoning beings.
If so, then the reason that tells us what to do and what not to do is also
shared.
And if so, we share a common law.
And thus, are fellow citizens.
And fellow citizens of something.
And in that case, our state must be the world. What other entity could
all of humanity belong to? And from it—from this state that we share—
come thought and reason and law.
Where else could they come from? The earth that composes me derives
from earth, the water from some other element, the air from its own source,