“You can hold your breath until you turn blue, but they’ll still go on doing it.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Don’t you just love a great translation? I’m not sure Marcus Aurelius wrote it exactly as it’s translated above, but the Gregory Hays translation is full of such approachable wisdom nuggets. It’s an easy entry into the mind of a thoughtful Stoic.
We live in a strange world where reality seems obvious but often refuted by those who drink a different color Kool-Aid. They think we’re not seeing the obvious, we think they are delusional. We’re all quite done trying to debate the issue. And we just don’t talk as much anymore.
I think of the zealots as zombies. They’ve been infected by belief that is reinforced by a daily dose of poison and fear. This applies to both sides of the spectrum, and it’s turning the world I once knew into something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Don’t you dare fall asleep!
We must continue to build a life of resilience and truth. Let the rest fall away. Zombies steal our lives away one stupid debate at a time. There is no changing a zombie—they’re already a zombie. Other non-zombies may choose to follow our lead away from the zombie traps, or fall into them. Life is full of choices. The only life to save is our own. While there’s still time.
