《沉思录·卷八·行事与本分》第21条
Turn it [the body] inside out, and see what kind of thing it is; and when it has grown old, what kind of thing it becomes, and when it is diseased. Short lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and the remembered: and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself: and the whole earth too is a point.
注释摘要
奥勒留在这段札记里做了一种视觉上的练习，他要求自己把目光穿过身体的表面。他不是在表达一种病态的自我厌恶，而是在运用斯多葛派常用的方法：撕裂表象，看到事物内部的物质构造。年轻的身体、健康的光泽，这是一种表象；衰老后松弛的皮肤、病态下的体液与朽坏，这是同一具身体的真相。他不是要去恨身体，而是要撤掉情感对身体的附加意义，让它回到单纯的物理事实。这样一来，对人世声…