Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.9

This you must always bear in mind, what is the Nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders you from always doing and saying the things which are according to the Nature of which you are a part.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 2 (tr Long)

So much of undertaking the Stoic Turn involves seeing things in a broader perspective, and in recognizing not only who I am, but also how I exist in relationship to all other things. Sound estimation is not merely in squinting at something a bit differently, but in placing circumstances and actions in their right context.

Accordingly, I should never conceive of anything that happens to me, or any choice I make, or any deed I perform in isolation, because everything in Nature shares in a relationship with everything else. I will not always understand the specifics of all these connections, but I can trust with certainty that nothing exists in vain, and that Providence always acts for a purpose.

Marcus Aurelius is not only reminding us that every part exists within the fullness of the whole, of my particular human nature within the binding Nature of all things, but also that my own place as a part within the whole can never be taken from me. It is left to my power, and only to my power, whether or not I will choose to fulfill that place, however humble it may seem to me.

I have sometimes wondered if this is just a bit of wishful thinking, and if I am giving myself a power and significance I don’t really have. Surely there are so many ways that I can lose my place in things, that the events around me can take away my ability to act, that I become just another helpless piece of fate swept along by circumstances?

I would only think so, however, if I am not fully applying all the Stoic lessons on the true source of happiness. Human beings are not only living things, but living things endowed with reason and choice, and are defined not by what happens to them, but by what they do. Now Fortune may indeed take away my possessions, my health, or my reputation, and she can even take away my life, but that is hardly what decides my place as a part within the whole. It isn’t my part to rule to world, or to decide how it will treat me, but it is simply my part to rule myself.

Nature has ordered it such that I have within me the power to determine my own choice, and that anything that may happen to me simply gives me greater opportunities to exercise that choice. Viewed from this perspective, I can say not only that nothing can hinder my own action, but also that everything can assist my own action, if I just make use of it rightly.

I can rest assured that as long as I decide to pursue my own good of living with wisdom and virtue, I am also playing my own part in the good of all that surrounds me. As long as I keep in mind my own responsibility in relationship to my world, I will hardly fail.

Written in 8/2004

Image: "The Great Chain of Being", from Didacus Valdes, Retorica Christiana (1579)