Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.8

Just as we must understand when it is said, that Asclepius prescribed to this man horse-exercise, or bathing in cold water, or going without shoes, so we must understand it when it is said, that the nature of the Universe prescribed to this man disease, or mutilation, or loss or anything else of the kind.

For in the first case prescribed means something like this: he prescribed this for this man as a thing adapted to procure health. And in the second case it means: That which happens to every man is fixed in a manner for him suitably to his destiny.

For this is what we mean when we say that things are suitable to us, as the workmen say of squared stones in walls or the pyramids, that they are suitable, when they fit them to one another in some kind of connection. For there is altogether one fitness, one harmony.

And as the Universe is made up out of all bodies to be such a body as it is, so out of all existing causes necessity is made up to be such a cause as it is. And even those who are completely ignorant understand what I mean, for they say, destiny brought this to such a person. This then was brought and this was prescribed to him. Let us then receive these things, as well as those that Asclepius prescribes.

Many, as a matter of course, among even his prescriptions are disagreeable, but we accept them in the hope of health. Let the perfecting and accomplishment of the things, which the common Nature judges to be good, be judged by you to be of the same kind as your health. And so accept everything that happens, even if it seems disagreeable, because it leads to this, to the health of the Universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus.

For he would not have brought on any man what he has brought, if it were not useful for the whole. Neither does the nature of anything, whatever it may be, cause anything that is not suitable to that which is directed by it.

For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to you. The one, because it was done for you and prescribed for you, and in a manner had reference to you, originally from the most ancient causes spun with your destiny. The other, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the Universe a cause of felicity and perfection, even of its very continuance.

For the integrity of the whole is mutilated, if you cut off anything whatever from the conjunction and the continuity either of the parts or of the causes. And you do cut off, as far as it is in your power, when you art dissatisfied, and in a manner try to put anything out of the way.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 5 (tr Long)

This passage from Marcus Aurelius was for me, quite literally, a lifesaver. I happened upon it at a time when I was in such pain that I could not make it through the day without collapsing into uncontrollable sobbing. People try to tell us that it will get better, and that it will all end up for the best. They surely mean well, but that is of little comfort when the suffering is crippling. But instead of just patting me on the back and tossing out a phrase that tells me my situation will change, Marcus Aurelius explains himself. He tells me why whatever happens always happens for a reason, and always happens because it is good both for me and for the whole world.

It isn’t even about wanting to change the situation, but understanding that any situation can always be a source of benefit, if it is only understood and applied rightly.

In the words of Ovid:

Endure and persist; this pain will one day do good for you.

The passage helped me to apply the Stoic Turn in a profound way, and reading it suddenly and unexpectedly gave me a whole new perspective. It didn’t make the pain cease, but it gave me the means to find purpose within it. That moment wasn’t, of course, the end of the story, even as it was the beginning of the story.

It all revolves around the central Stoic principle that we are not measured by our circumstances, however extreme they may be. We are measured by our own thoughts, choices, and actions about those circumstances. Instead of dwelling on what was coming at me from outside, I could rather ask how what came at me from outside could be transformed into something different on the inside. My task wasn’t merely to suffer; my task was to discover how to find benefit for myself through that suffering.

If I came to recognize that the only thing that was unconditionally good for me was my character, then I could ask myself how the things that were happening could help to build that character, and in turn give me peace and joy. There were many things I hated about the world, and many more things that I hated about myself, but the only thing I ever found of value within myself was my ability, however meager, to love. And it dawned on me that whatever love was within now me had only been nurtured through my grief. If pain had not broken my cynicism and disdain, my heart would still have been smothered and neglected.

The very quality I treasured within me had come about from suffering. What seemed so bad had been so good all along. I had, without even fully understanding it at the time, made something worthwhile out of something painful.

This was true for me, and also for everything around me. Once I began to understand that the world is not a series of random and unconnected events, I also began to understand that every cause and every effect, and every part within the whole, is precisely where it is meant to be. Everything plays its own distinct role, the good within each thing serving the good of all things.

I had to smile when I put the book down, because I realized I hadn’t even happened upon the passage at all. I had been meant to read it from long before I was even born. It was another small step in finding the path I needed to follow for myself.

When Asclepius, the god of medicine, or just my neighborhood doctor, prescribes a cure, it isn’t always going to be pleasant. Sometimes it will seem worse than the disease. But the doctor prescribes medicine to help us become healthy, just as Providence prescribes our circumstances to help us become better, wiser, and happier. 

Written in 3/2006