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The Object of
Life
Jason Budd
"The object of life is not
to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one's self
in the ranks of the insane" (Marcus Aurelius).
In▪sane: harebrained: very foolish (Princeton Online
Dictionary).
I first heard this quote the other
day in the midst of a political discussion, and it interested me. I
started to wonder if there was any spiritual application.
Often, we are tempted to live our
lives among the majority. It can be easy to jump onto the bandwagon
of wrong and sinful behavior when everyone around us has invested so
much of themselves in it. This simply teaches us that we need to be
careful when it comes to who we surround ourselves with because we
know that the majority will not be righteous (Matthew 7:13).
So I knew that the object was to not
"be on the side of the majority," but is it really appropriate to
say we must avoid "the ranks of the insane"? It certainly would seem
so when we take a look at one of Princeton's definitions of the
word. That definition, shown above, says that to be insane is to be
very foolish. This reminded me of Ephesians 5:15. It is
insane and foolish behavior to walk around without paying attention
to what's going on, and that's what much of the world does.
Let us remember always to take great
care when it comes to what we do and who we do it with, and not just
accept the modern and popular thought of the day.
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