Essay Questions

Summarize Aurelius’ ideology about life in Book III.

Aurelius remarks, “We ought to consider not only that our life is daily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left, but also that if man should live longer, it is quite uncertain whether the understanding will still continue sufficient for the comprehension of things and retain the power of contemplation that strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine and the human. For if he shall begin to fall into dotage, perspiration and nutrition and imagination and appetite and whatever else there is of the kind will not fail.” Life shrinks sequentially considering that man’s lifespan is restricted. It is imperative for humans to endeavor for divine knowledge while they still exist. Knowledge is wide-ranging; hence , prospects of depleting it are marginal.

Deconstruct Aurelius’ views about death in Book IV.

Aurelius expounds, “Death, like generation, is a mystery of nature; a composition out of the same elements, and decomposition into the same; and altogether not a thing of which any man should be ashamed, for it is not contrary to the nature of a reasonable animal, and not contrary to the reason of our constitution.” Mortals cannot conclusively deconstruct the phenomenon of mortality. Nonetheless, they should recognize it as an ultimate module of reality. Impermanence is ordinary; so, all humans ought to cope with it no matter how unbearable. Denial cannot transmute the reality and inexorableness of passing for all the living.