The Only Permanence is Impermanence

In one of the more iconic graduation speeches in history, Steve Jobs reflected not on the massive successes of his company, or of the power of technology, or even the importance of a broad liberal arts education. No, his prime purpose in the speech was to meditate on death.

Steve Jobs wasn’t a Stoic (he practiced and studied Buddhism). Biographies show that he wasn’t a particularly great person. However, surviving a brush with cancer—an aggressive form that nearly cost him his life—had given the man of tremendous perspective a clearer view of the power of his own life. This passage is worth examining:



It’s almost as if he is channeling Marcus Aurelius: “Everything’s destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So that new things can be born.”
