“We are like many pellets of incense falling on the same altar. Some collapse sooner, others later, but it makes no difference.”
MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.15
What a picturesque quote about humanity by Marcus Aurelius today in The Daily Stoic. It brings to mind a few other famous sayings, which I’ve added below. If you can think of any more, please add them in the comments.
“All we are is dust in the wind.”
KANSAS
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”
DAYS OF OUR LIVES
What Marcus was trying to say is that we are not so different, you and I. One of us will die sooner than the other, but aside from that we’re all essentially the same.
You might be taller, shorter, richer, poorer, smarter, or slower than me. In the end, it makes no difference. We are all just pellets of incense, grains of rice, sands through the hourglass, dust in the wind. We’ll leave our mark, and then we’ll be gone.
We spend so much time focusing on our differences, trying to stand out, trying to out-do each other. We key in on those differences and magnify them as though they really matter. As though they’re worth fighting over, worth fighting for. They’re not. We’re more alike than we’re different.
Ok, one more quote:
“We are more alike, my friends,
MAYA ANGELOU, “Human Family”
than we are unalike.”
(Lyrics) (In her voice)
