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Read/Book VI/6.15
MED. 6.15Discipline of desire
George Long · 1862EN · Long

Some things are hurrying into existence, and others are hurrying out of it; and of that which is coming into existence part is already extinguished. Motions and changes are continually renewing the world, just as the uninterrupted course of time is always renewing the infinite duration of ages. In MOTIFthis flowing stream then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of sight. Something of this kind is the very life of every man, like the exhalation of the blood and the respiration of the air. For such as it is to have once drawn in the air and to have given it back, which we do every moment, just the same is it with the whole respiratory power, which thou didst receive at thy birth yesterday and the day before, EXERCISEto give it back to the element from which thou didst first draw it.

Original · ancient Greek

Τὰ μὲν σπεύδει γίνεσθαι, τὰ δὲ σπεύδει γεγονέναι, καὶ τοῦ γινομένου δὲ ἤδη τι ἀπέσβη· ῥύσεις καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις ἀνανεοῦσι τὸν κόσμον διηνεκῶς, ὥσπερ τὸν ἄπειρον αἰῶνα ἡ τοῦ χρόνου ἀδιάλειπτος φορὰ νέον ἀεὶ παρέχεται. ἐν δὴ τούτῳ τῷ ποταμῷ τί ἄν τις τούτων τῶν παραθεόντων ἐκτιμήσειεν, ἐφ’ οὗ στῆναι οὐκ ἔξεστιν; ὥσπερ εἴ τίς τι τῶν παραπετομένων στρουθαρίων φιλεῖν ἄρχοιτο, τὸ δ’ ἤδη ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν ἀπελήλυθεν. τοιοῦτον δή τι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ζωὴ ἑκάστου, οἷον ἡ ἀφ’ αἵματος ἀναθυμίασις καὶ ἡ ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀνάπνευσις· ὁποῖον γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἅπαξ ἑλκύσαι τὸν ἀέρα καὶ ἀποδοῦναι, ὅπερ παρέκαστον ποιοῦμεν, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ τὴν πᾶσαν ἀναπνευστικὴν δύναμιν, ἣν χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἀποτεχθεὶς ἐκτήσω, ἀποδοῦναι ἐκεῖ ὅθεν τὸ πρῶτον ἔσπασας.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

Genre and place in the book. A passage of universal flux — the image of the MOTIFriver of time. After the disjunction of 6.10, the book returns to the physics of impermanence: since all is swept along by the current, clinging to the transient is senseless. The principal discipline is desire (non-attachment to the passing). A kin-passage to 06-04 (universal change).

Universal flux (ῥύσεις καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις). "Some things hurry to come to be, others to be gone; and of what has come to be, part is already quenched." "Flows and alterations (ῥύσεις καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις) renew the world without ceasing" — the Heraclitean flux applied to time: the unbroken course of time forever makes the boundless age (αἰών) young. Nothing abides. Cf. 04-43 (time a river of what comes to pass, a violent stream) and 05-23 (substance a river).

What to prize in the stream? "In this MOTIFriver, where there is no standing, what among the things racing past is to be prized high?" The therapeutic point: to cling to the passing is like "falling in love with a sparrow flitting by" (στρουθάριον, a diminutive — a homely, almost tender image) — and it is already gone from sight. Hence the discipline of desire: not to attach oneself to what by nature does not stay.

Life as breath. "Such too is each one's life — like the exhalation of blood (ἀναθυμίασις) and the breathing-in of air." Life is reduced to a breath: as it is to draw in once and breathe out — which we do every moment — so the whole respiratory power, received at birth "yesterday or the day before" (χθὲς καὶ πρῴην — that is, only just now; life is short), will have to be EXERCISEgiven back to the source from which it was first drawn. DOGMADeath is not a loss but the return of a loan; cf. the body-as-river and 06-04 (exhalation / dispersion).

Disciplines and parallels. The principal one is desire (contemplating the stream teaches non-attachment and a calm giving-back). Parallels: 04-43 (a river of what comes to pass); 05-23 (substance a river); 06-04 (all things change fast); Med. 2.17 (the body a river); the Heraclitean background — Heraclitus, fr. 12 DK. Doctrinally the image rests on the doctrine of transformation and feeds the acceptance of the flow.

DisciplineDiscipline of desire
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished
Read·Book VI
Discipline of desire

George Long · 1862· EN · Long

Some things are hurrying into existence, and others are hurrying out of it; and of that which is coming into existence part is already extinguished. Motions and changes are continually renewing the world, just as the uninterrupted course of time is always renewing the infinite duration of ages. In MOTIFthis flowing stream then, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of sight. Something of this kind is the very life of every man, like the exhalation of the blood and the respiration of the air. For such as it is to have once drawn in the air and to have given it back, which we do every moment, just the same is it with the whole respiratory power, which thou didst receive at thy birth yesterday and the day before, EXERCISEto give it back to the element from which thou didst first draw it.

Original · ancient Greek

Τὰ μὲν σπεύδει γίνεσθαι, τὰ δὲ σπεύδει γεγονέναι, καὶ τοῦ γινομένου δὲ ἤδη τι ἀπέσβη· ῥύσεις καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις ἀνανεοῦσι τὸν κόσμον διηνεκῶς, ὥσπερ τὸν ἄπειρον αἰῶνα ἡ τοῦ χρόνου ἀδιάλειπτος φορὰ νέον ἀεὶ παρέχεται. ἐν δὴ τούτῳ τῷ ποταμῷ τί ἄν τις τούτων τῶν παραθεόντων ἐκτιμήσειεν, ἐφ’ οὗ στῆναι οὐκ ἔξεστιν; ὥσπερ εἴ τίς τι τῶν παραπετομένων στρουθαρίων φιλεῖν ἄρχοιτο, τὸ δ’ ἤδη ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν ἀπελήλυθεν. τοιοῦτον δή τι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ζωὴ ἑκάστου, οἷον ἡ ἀφ’ αἵματος ἀναθυμίασις καὶ ἡ ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀνάπνευσις· ὁποῖον γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἅπαξ ἑλκύσαι τὸν ἀέρα καὶ ἀποδοῦναι, ὅπερ παρέκαστον ποιοῦμεν, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ τὴν πᾶσαν ἀναπνευστικὴν δύναμιν, ἣν χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἀποτεχθεὶς ἐκτήσω, ἀποδοῦναι ἐκεῖ ὅθεν τὸ πρῶτον ἔσπασας.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Related4
DOGMANothing is ours — externals are lent and are to be given backEXERCISEContemplation of nature — φυσική as a spiritual exerciseEXERCISEMeditatio mortis — living under the sign of "as one already dying"MOTIFThe river of time — the stream of becoming
Commentary

Genre and place in the book. A passage of universal flux — the image of the MOTIFriver of time. After the disjunction of 6.10, the book returns to the physics of impermanence: since all is swept along by the current, clinging to the transient is senseless. The principal discipline is desire (non-attachment to the passing). A kin-passage to 06-04 (universal change).

Universal flux (ῥύσεις καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις). "Some things hurry to come to be, others to be gone; and of what has come to be, part is already quenched." "Flows and alterations (ῥύσεις καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις) renew the world without ceasing" — the Heraclitean flux applied to time: the unbroken course of time forever makes the boundless age (αἰών) young. Nothing abides. Cf. 04-43 (time a river of what comes to pass, a violent stream) and 05-23 (substance a river).

What to prize in the stream? "In this MOTIFriver, where there is no standing, what among the things racing past is to be prized high?" The therapeutic point: to cling to the passing is like "falling in love with a sparrow flitting by" (στρουθάριον, a diminutive — a homely, almost tender image) — and it is already gone from sight. Hence the discipline of desire: not to attach oneself to what by nature does not stay.

Life as breath. "Such too is each one's life — like the exhalation of blood (ἀναθυμίασις) and the breathing-in of air." Life is reduced to a breath: as it is to draw in once and breathe out — which we do every moment — so the whole respiratory power, received at birth "yesterday or the day before" (χθὲς καὶ πρῴην — that is, only just now; life is short), will have to be EXERCISEgiven back to the source from which it was first drawn. DOGMADeath is not a loss but the return of a loan; cf. the body-as-river and 06-04 (exhalation / dispersion).

Disciplines and parallels. The principal one is desire (contemplating the stream teaches non-attachment and a calm giving-back). Parallels: 04-43 (a river of what comes to pass); 05-23 (substance a river); 06-04 (all things change fast); Med. 2.17 (the body a river); the Heraclitean background — Heraclitus, fr. 12 DK. Doctrinally the image rests on the doctrine of transformation and feeds the acceptance of the flow.

DisciplineDiscipline of desire
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished