Defining Moments

A Space of Quiet 131

he adopted. What he sought, above all, were retreat and renewal,

lived truths, and the image of the life he wanted to live.

Others who would follow his example need to seek their own

approach to the art of reflection. In doing so, they will be embarking

on a path that men and women have been following for millennia—

for, in fundamental ways, Marcus’s Meditations are the ancient counter-

part to Nietzsche’s contemporary plea ‘‘Become who you are.’’

Consider the following passage, in which Nietzsche describes his

‘‘myth of eternal recurrence.’’ It is his advice for reflecting on the

imagined best life. His poetic passage is worth reading aloud and

slowly:

What if a demon crept after you one day or night in your loneliest solitude

and