Originally Posted by
freshstart57 
“You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.”
― Marcus Aurelius
The emperor learned a lot from the ex-slave, eh? What's most enjoyable for me about "Meditations" is that it was never meant to be read. It's a self-help book in the most literal sense—notes that Aurelius wrote to himself on how to stay true to his principles. He was keenly aware that being emperor made that even harder, so he left all these grim posts like the one you quoted, reminding himself of his ordinariness. Pretty impressive considering how many of his predecessors became so swept up in their power, they fancied themselves gods.
Good to see another fan here, FS. I think the stoics mesh neatly with AVRT. Check this:
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
That also goes for certain forms of internal distress, no? As in jibber-jabber from the beast?