The world is change. Life is judgement. — Main view · the work in its setting
Main view · the work in its setting

The Single Maxim · MS-04

The world is change. Life is judgement.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, IV.3. An adapted wording, not a literal translation; the original is usually rendered as the idea that the world is transformation and life is opinion, or judgement.

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Story

The idea behind the work

The work sets the change of the world beside the role of personal perspective. The hourglass suggests flowing time, and Marcus Aurelius reminds us that the way we judge experience gives it meaning.

The meaning in the painting

The hourglass emerges from a stone surface that cracks and comes away in gold-edged layers. Around it the matter changes and the sand flows; only the hourglass keeps its clear form, like the gaze that gives meaning to what passes.

Craft

A finished work

Materials, frame and finish complete the identity of the work.

Related works

The Single Maxim

  1. 01Per aspera ad astra
  2. 02The world of ideas is real
  3. 03We suffer more often in imagination than in reality
  4. 05Live according to the noblest part of yourself.
The world is change. Life is judgement — Marcus Aurelius | PROPRIUS