Sic transit gloria mundi
by Bob on December 23, 2007
"Sic transit gloria mundi". It's in Latin but translated loosely it means "Thus passes worldly glory".
It is a warning. Don't get too hung up on worldly things. They come and go. We come and go. Things come and go. People in our lives, sadly, come and go.
We all die, we return to dust.
We should not worship material things. They might have a shorter life span than we do. And they seemingly have no soul or tenderness. They are items not cohabitants.
To seek and attain ostentatious power over others is also vainglorious. This is mitigated by the power of time itself, and that we are all reduced to ashes in the end.
Perhaps, though, short-lived power trips seem to be satisfying to many as kind of a super-beverage and overly-caffeinated beverage.
Attaining and keeping power is a very complicated issue. It's logic evades us philosophically. Look at most world empires. They came and went. They are now reduced to stone monuments or museum pieces.
But human nature gets inebriated on power and material possessions. Especially when it's power over others that no one else seems to have, or material items that most people cannot afford to possess. A kind of gluttony.
There's another phrase that's well worth remembering. "There but for the grace of God go I". It's all about compassion for others. Seemingly lacking these days.
But blantant materialism and conspicuous consumerism are far more tempting to manking, and the apple of the tree is bitten.
As The Police sang, singing about "Sic transit gloria mundi" in a different fashion, we are just spirits in the material world.
Then again, the Cathars knew that. And most holy and spiritual people know that.
Sic transit gloria mundi.