Greetings Readers!
Here is the next volume of our series โ Letters to a Young Seeker (Catch up on previous volumes: Donโt Forget to Live, Break Bread with the Dead, Live an Examined Life, Carry the Fire, The Art of Optimism, Think Like a Mortal, Trust Thyself, and The Art of Being).
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Dear Fellow Traveler,
Do you ever have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? If so, youโre in good company; so did the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. In his Meditations (or notes to himself), he wrote, โAt dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: โI have to go to workโas a human being.โ
Because we have freedomโwe also have responsibility. Many of the questions we ponder only arise because we are free. As the existentialist Jean-Paul Sarte put it, โWe are condemned to be free.โ
Marcus Aurelius wrestled with several questions,
โAt dawn when youโre reluctant to get up, have this thought readily available. I have work to do as a human being, and thatโs why Iโm getting up. Do I still resent it if Iโm on my way to do the work for which I was born and for the sake of which I was brought into the world? Or is this what I was made for, to lie in bed and keep myself warm?โ
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