Childish squabbles, childish games, 'petty breaths supporting corpses' - why, the ghosts in Homer have more evident reality!
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Nine
This almost feels more like a Marcus Aurelius rant than a studied reflection on the nature of all things. That said, it's still spot on. I was talking to my sister yesterday and she referenced the constant internecine struggles that have torn my family apart since the passing of my mother; the last time we were ever in the same shared space was at her funeral, and I suspect the next, and last, will be at my father's. Oddly, the only person who gets along with all of them is me, the one who has traditionally been the most distant (and doubtless there's a lesson to be learned there, in both directions). I also refuse to be drawn into the nonsense, stopping each and every one of them as they begin to launch into a complaint or an investigation into the failings of the others. Part of this relates to what MA is getting at here: why do we focus so much time on the absolute transient foolishness of life, the "ghosts in Homer"? Maybe because it distracts us from the deeper, more unknowable facts - or maybe we're just easily amused - or we're simply not that nice of a species.
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