In Meditations, Marcus gets into some pretty far-out thoughts about time and what it means. Sometimes, he thinks of time as a "violent stream" that drags all of creation along to its inevitable end. In that case, there's no point in getting attached to anything, since it is gone in the blink of an eye.
But time is also cyclical, which means that human life doesn't need to be all that long for each person to get a solid picture of the human experience. It doesn't matter, Marcus says, if you live 40 years or 300: there's nothing new to be experienced.
Marcus warns himself not to lose the present moment, since that is really all any human being ever has. Only the present is knowable and can be influenced by us. The past is shrouded in darkness, and so is the future.
Questions About Time
- What does Marcus mean when he says that time is a "violent stream"?
- Why is it unwise to concern yourself with fame?
- Why does Marcus privilege the present moment over the past or future?
- In what ways is the cyclical nature of time an annoyance to Marcus? In what ways is it a comfort?
Chew on This
Marcus thinks of time not as an enemy, but as an agent that degrades the value of created things.
Marcus sees the cyclical nature of time as a great help to his philosophical practices.