《沉思录·卷六·宇宙即变化》第15条
Some things are hurrying into existence, and others are hurrying out of it; and of that which is coming into existence part is already extinguished. Motions and changes are continually renewing the world, just as the uninterrupted course of time is always renewing the infinite duration of ages. In this flowing stream then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of sight. Something of this kind is the very life of every man, like the exhalation of the blood and the respiration of the air. For such as it is to have once drawn in the air and to have given it back, which we do every moment, just the same is it with the whole respiratory power, which thou didst receive at thy birth yesterday and the day before, to give it back to the element from which thou didst first draw it.
注释摘要
这一段将目光直接投向了宇宙万物的根本状态：持续不断的流变。奥勒留在军营中反复对自己说，事物急匆匆地进入存在，又急匆匆地离开存在，甚至在进入的那一瞬间，一部分已经消逝了。这不是在描述一种灾难或不幸，而是在陈述宇宙的日常运作。运动和变化并非某种需要哀叹的短暂性缺陷，它们本身就是世界得以持续更新的方式，正如永不中断的时间在更新着无尽纪元的绵延。 他将这种整体图景…