The Stoics believe that grasping this realization and holding onto it is, in a sense, the goal of life. Seneca thought that an excessive fear of dying often leads to an early grave. Marcus advises contemplating death in each action to focus her attention on its true worth. If we dare to lift the bogeyman's scary face as Socrates put it, each one of us may make the discovery that not wealth or reputation but wisdom is thegoal of life.
This is a new audio recording of an article I published on Medium about the Stoic contemplation of death. The photo shows me outside the ruined Temple of Hades at the ancient site of Eleusis near Athens.
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