Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.41

What is evil to you does not subsist in the ruling principle of another, nor yet in any turning and mutation of your corporeal covering.

Where is it then? It is in that part of you in which subsists the power of forming opinions about evils. Let this power then not form such opinions, and all is well.

And if that which is nearest to it, the poor body, is burnt, filled with matter and rottenness, nevertheless let the part which forms opinions about these things be quiet, that is, let it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to the bad man and the good.

For that which happens equally to him who lives contrary to Nature and to him who lives according to Nature, is neither according to Nature nor contrary to Nature.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 4 (tr Long)

Having come into this world at the height of Flower Power, I was quite familiar with the many appeals to having a “positive attitude”. I found, however, that this was often not considered with much depth, and I was never satisfied being told that it required “just having good thoughts.” What made the thoughts good, and how should I go about forming them? I know, nobody likes the annoying fellow who asks the awkward questions.

I also noticed that for many, the purpose of a good attitude was seen as a means of receiving good things, and not about a means for doing them. I immediately wondered if I should expect the quality of my thinking or wishing to somehow directly change what happened in the world, or whether it more properly served to change me?

I remember some of the business gurus of the 1980’s arguing that if I only thought rich hard enough, I would then become rich. I naturally asked if making money would make me truly rich at all, and if there were better things at which to direct my willpower.

Yet there is something deeply Stoic about the idea that my happiness depends on my thinking, if only I understand the context rightly. I need to clarify for myself what form my thoughts should be taking, and what I might expect in return for modifying my thinking.

Once my estimation shifts from seeking the good in the thinking of others, or in the circumstances of my body and my surroundings, to seeking the good in my own judgment itself, I have made the most necessary change in my attitude. From this, I can proceed to recognizing how anything that happens to me will only be as good or bad for me as I decide to make it. What is usually understood as gain or loss, triumph or tragedy, is all equally an opportunity for making myself better.

For all the effort I can put into planning and execution, the world will unfold on its own terms. I am left with only one thing that is distinctly mine, and that I can rely upon without question. This is the merit of my own actions, how anything I can do reflects my love for my own nature, within the harmony of all of Nature.

I need not think of my circumstances defining me, or wishing them to be one way or another. Things around me may seem to fall apart, I may be surrounded by malice, and my situation may seem hopeless. It is hardly so, because the hope isn’t from the situation, but in what I can make of myself in the situation.

I deeply appreciate how Marcus Aurelius observes that both good and bad men will confront exactly the same things in life, and will only differ in how they make sense and use of them. Good and bad folks can both be rich or poor, healthy or sick, loved or unloved, have the world handed to them a silver platter or struggle to hang on by their fingernails.

If Providence had wanted such things to be our measure, she would have made the good guys worldly successes, and the bad guys worldly failures. She could perhaps have ironically done the exact reverse. She did neither, but it is all mixed and blended together, each of us with our distinct baggage.

A positive attitude isn’t about changing, by power or cleverness, the cards I have been dealt, but playing that hand with integrity and justice. I believe this should be the form of my own thinking, and also itself the reward I can hope to expect. Whatever is fully good asks for nothing beyond itself.

Written in 12/2005

Image: Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, Poker Game (1894)