Sheeing sharp
Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", Book 8, Passage 38.
If you can see sharp, look and judge wisely.
I like the implications of this passage. There are a lot of lectures I can do. How do I even start to interpret it?
My initial impulse is to devote all my attention to the second part of the phrase. Look and judge wisely. However it doesn't feel fair, I pompously assume I can see sharp. I mean, I am reading "Meditations", I must be of enough intellect to see sharp right?
I don't know, I don't know. The first part troubles me. It feels that I would have to spend my whole life just to be able to scratch the surface of seeing sharp, and perhaps in my 80's I will be able to see the world for what it really is. Perhaps in my 80's (or hell, 90's if I get there) I will be able to see the shapes and shadows that conform human nature. But in the meantime, there is an unsurmountable ocean of knowledge and wisdom to even feel confident to kinda-sorta say the first part of the sentence confidently.
It would take two lifetimes or more to bear the strength to hold both ends of the passage, arms lifted palms-up, and not falter.
Does reading even make a difference? travelling? what can I do to see sharp? I keep making the same mistakes over and over, and although I definitely learn from them after happening and promise to myself I won't act the same next time something similar happens, when the situation arises, all the knowledge, wisdom and self-control I hoped to guide me, disappear like dust.
I will keep sharpening my sight, I will keep trying to judge wisely, even if I half-ass both ends.