How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter)
Quote #7
So what is there left to keep us here, if the objects of sense are ever changeable and unstable, if our senses themselves are blurred and easily smudged like wax, if our very soul is a mere exhalation of blood, if success in such a world is vacuous? (5.33)
In his 13th-century Purgatorio, Dante Alighieri promises his guide, Virgil, that he'll make his brain like wax so that he can receive and retain the stamp of impressions from his experiences. He chooses wax as a surface of permanence, something that will help him remember. Yeah, well, Marcus Aurelius doesn't feel the same way about wax. In this passage, he uses the image of wax as an impermanent substance, suitably reflective of human experience. He's actually pretty irritated by the transient nature of everything related to human experience, and he questions the value of human life in the face of it.
Quote #8
Flows and changes are constantly renewing the world, just as the ceaseless passage of time makes eternity ever young. In this river, then, where there can be no foothold, what should anyone prize of all that races past him? (6.15)
Marcus finds a moderately positive aspect to the ever-changing nature of life in our universe: it keeps everything new. On the other hand, it makes no sense to get attached to any of it, since creation is so short lived. It's a real problem for Marcus, who, despite his general disgust at the things of this world, has to remind himself constantly not to value the world.
Quote #9
Is someone afraid of change? Well, what can ever come to be without change? Or what is dearer or closer to the nature of the Whole than change? Can you yourself take your bath, if the wood that heats it is not changed...Can any of the benefits of life be achieved without change? Do you not see then that for you to be changed is equal, and equally necessary to the nature of the Whole? (7.18)
While change can make things unpleasant for us (everything is so ephemeral), it's just a part of life that we all have to accept. And on some level, change is a positive thing. Children can't mature without change, and the universe can't be renewed without it. Moreover, change is a part of life for all things—the Whole doesn't pick and choose who decays. Everybody has to participate in the ebb and flow of the cosmos, like it or not.