Lifelong learning. Marcus Aurelius 4.30
Like
Socrates, Marcus is not attached to any particular lesson. He does
not pursue philosophy to achieve stable information (the kind you can
cleave to or abide in, cf. ἐμμένειν here), but to navigate
the world of shifting uncertainty and ignorance that is our mortal
lot.
Ὁ
μὲν χωρὶς χιτῶνος φιλοσοφεῖ, ὁ δὲ
χωρὶς βιβλίου. ἄλλος οὗτος ἡμίγυμνος·
ἄρτους οὐκ ἔχω, φησί, καὶ ἐμμένω τῷ
λόγῳ. ἐγὼ δὲ τροφὰς τὰς ἐκ τῶν
μαθημάτων ἔχω καὶ οὐκ ἐμμένω.
Some
pursue philosophy without clothes, while others avoid books. Here's a
really clever fellow who splits the difference, going half-clad. "No
food for me!" he says. "I cleave only to the Word, to Theory and to rational Law." As
for myself: I have many meals' worth of lessons, and I cleave to none
of them.