Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.47

In the series of things, those that follow are always aptly fitted to those that have gone before.

For this series is not like a mere enumeration of disjointed things, which has only a necessary sequence, but it is a rational connection, and as all existing things are arranged together harmoniously, so the things which come into existence exhibit no mere succession, but a certain wonderful relationship.

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

We observe that events occur, but we rarely reflect on why these events occur, and the manner in which they are all connected to one another. They may seem isolated and independent, or they may appear to be random and chaotic, yet each is there for a specific reason, and that reason is joined together with the reasons for everything within the whole.

It isn’t simply a matter of one thing following after another in time, a temporal order, but that one thing proceeds on account of another, a causal order. Such a view of what happens isn’t based on blind faith or wishful thinking. Rather, the principle of causality is itself necessitated by the consistent use of reason.

That which is moved, is moved by another, and whatever comes into being does so through something else. Motion or change is always from one state to another state, with each cause and effect joined to together, proximately or ultimately, with every other. I cannot fully think or speak, therefore, of anything that happens without reference to all the things that happen.

The Stoic concept of a Universe ordered by Providence is built upon this axiom. While one aspect of Epicurean physics was the concept of randomness, the Stoic will scratch his head at this, recognizing that chance can never logically be in things, but only in our limited perception of things.

To admire the beauty within the harmonious relation of all things is not just a matter of romantic sentiment. I can find joy in the balanced connection of things through an appreciation of the mind, just as when the understanding of how and why anything works can give a profound satisfaction.

There are few things more wondrous than a moment of insight, where we see how an event fits a pattern, how the effect follows from the cause, and how a part works within the whole. Then, place and purpose are revealed.

This may all seem too deep or abstract for some people, yet I find time and time again how it plays itself out in daily practice, and serves as a foundation for how I choose to live. When I am completely honest with myself, and temper my presumptions and attachments to desire, I can begin to see things for themselves, and as they are joined to other things, as links in a chain or strands of a web. My own meaning and purpose can gradually become apparent through my intrinsic connection to what surrounds me, from where I have come and where I am going.

Written in 1/2006