y as the dissolution of atoms, while Democritus believed that death was simply objects breaking apart. Aurelius also believed that the fear of death was useless, and that is was ignorant to fear something that one has never experienced before. He considered death only one step of a cycle. Life was short, only a moment in the history of all that has been and all that will be. A person is born, lives a short while, dies, and becomes ashes. Since life is so short, it is important to appreciate what time a person does have, whether it is ten years, or one hundred. In the end, we all die, so it is of little importance how long we live, as long as we live well, in accordance with nature. He says that humans are "daily nearer to death," and that we must never put off living a reasonable life. Even though a person may live a long time, a persons perceptions and understanding of things end first, and all that is left is the inferior senses. Insignificant things such as posthumous fame (which he thought far too many people were concerned with) were worthless, also. The people who would remember a famous ruler or philosopher would soon be dead themselves, therefore completing the cycle. Ones time was better spent on obeying reason than trying to achieve fame at any point.Aurelius outlook on truth was that one should question everything that passes by, try to strip it to its bare minimum, and ask certain questions. Questions such as, what does this consist of? What does it change to? What will it be like when it changes? Will it sustain harm? Once these questions have been answered, one should try to categorize the object. What kind of matter is this? What type of form is it in? What is its purpose in the universe? This is how one attains the truth. This method greatly resembles the dialectic, or the Socratic method, whose basic definition is to question everything. According to Aurelius, knowledge should be used to live the go...
