Life according to Nature. Marcus Aurelius 4.1

Many think of life in terms of fixed positions: a healthy diet that never changes, healthy relationships with no passion, jobs that are never finished or left, careers that proceed from known to known without deviation, states run by strict adherence to inalterable rules. But that is not what Marcus recommends: life according to nature is movement, change, evolution. Be fire, not some lump of inert earth. Change with the seasons. Commit yourself to the dance. Leave no trace behind, as your soul ascends in smoke.

Τὸ ἔνδον κυριεῦον, ὅταν κατὰ φύσιν ἔχῃ, οὕτως ἕστηκε πρὸς τὰ συμβαίνοντα, ὥστε ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ δυνατὸν καὶ διδόμενον μετατίθεσθαι ῥᾳδίως. ὕλην γὰρ ἀποτεταγμένην οὐδεμίαν φιλεῖ, ἀλλὰ ὁρμᾷ μὲν πρὸς τὰ προηγούμενα μεθ̓ ὑπεξαιρέσεως, τὸ δὲ ἀντεισαγόμενον ὕλην ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ τὸ πῦρ, ὅταν ἐπικρατῇ τῶν ἐπεμπιπτόντων, ὑφ' ὧν ἂν μικρός τις λύχνος ἐσβέσθη· τὸ δὲ λαμπρὸν πῦρ τάχιστα ἐξῳκείωσεν ἑαυτῷ τὰ ἐπιφορούμενα καὶ κατηνάλωσε καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ἐπὶ μεῖζον ἤρθη.

Whenever our inner ruling principle holds itself in accordance with nature, it adopts toward events an attitude that allows us always to orient easily toward achieving what is possible with whatever is given. We feel no strong affection for the material status quo, which we are prepared to relinquish completely on the way to new things we anticipate. Whatever our mind encounters en route it will convert into matter for itself, just as fire does, when it takes possession of chance drippings from which some small lamp has been kindled. A bright fire swiftly assimilates everything brought against it, devouring obstacles so that it climbs even higher.