But Not Sure How - Tumblr Posts

I'm re-reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Before, it'd been a 'rah-rah' stoicism party, "...nothing can be good for a man unless it makes him just, self-disciplined...", which really doesn't come naturally to me at all, but I admire. This time, I'm hit by the humanizing perspective that this is a lonely, isolated person struggling with suffering, unhappiness, meaning, and the question of how to live, writing to himself as he tries to figure it out. All the pain, uncertainty, frustrated desire and fear is just right there, on the page. He says to himself, "your mind remains in a state of confusion, it grows no easier to earn the title of philosopher - your station in life militates constantly against it." It makes this fall like a ton of bricks: "You may break your heart, but men will still go on as before."

This guy, this /emperor/ feels /everything/, as much as he desperately doesn't want to. (Also, can we crowd-fund the VA for Joshua Graham to read this in his voice? You know, as a treat?)