F

December    14th

WHAT    WE  SHOULD  KNOW    BY  THE END

“Soon   you will    die,    and still   you aren’t  sincere,    undisturbed,    or  free    from    suspicion   that    external

things  can harm    you,    nor are you gracious    to  all,    knowing that    wisdom  and acting  justly  are one

and the same.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS,   MEDITATIONS,    4.37

rom what we understand, Marcus wrote many of his meditations later in life, when he was suffering
from serious illnesses. So when he says, “Soon you will die,” he was speaking frankly to himself
about his own mortality. How scary that must have been. He was staring at the real possibility of death
and not liking what he saw in these last minutes.
Sure, he’d accomplished many things in his life, but his emotions were still the cause of discomfort,
pain, and frustration. He knew that with his limited time left, better choices would provide relief.
Hopefully, you have a lot more time left—but that makes it even more important to make headway
while you still can. We are unfinished products up until the end, as Marcus knew very well. But the
earlier we learn it, the more we can enjoy the fruits of the labor on our character—and the sooner we can
be free (or freer) of insincerity, anxiety, ungraciousness, and un-Stoic-ness.