Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.14

Reason and the reasoning art are powers that are sufficient for themselves and for their own works.

They move then from a first principle which is their own, and they make their way to the end which is proposed to them; and this is the reason why such acts are named catorthoseis or right acts, which word signifies that they proceed by the right road.

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

Observe how many of the things we allow to guide our lives involve us being determined by those very things. If I follow my desire for pleasure, it is the objects of pleasure that rule me. If I seek to accumulate possessions, what I think I own ends up owning me. If I wish to be loved and esteemed, the thinking of others replaces my thinking.

In any case like this, where the value of the self is viewed through something else, there is a certain surrender of awareness, of estimation, of deliberate choice. I am no longer setting the conditions for happiness, but allowing my happiness to be conditioned. It will often take on that feeling of walking through life in a mindless haze, bumped back and forth, drawn in by the carrot but fearing the stick.

The Stoic understands that behind our passions, our bodies, and the world of others around us, there is the power of reason. This allows me not only to be aware of other things, but also to be aware of myself, and thereby to rule myself. Action need not follow from instinct or habit alone, because judgment follows from an act of conscious choice.

Only as a creature of reason am I deciding, instead of having it decided for me.

Beginning with the power to grasp what is true and good, given to it by Nature, the mind can proceed to identify the purpose of being human, and how that purpose can be fulfilled. It provides the end, as well as ordering the means toward that end; right thinking is what points our acts in the right direction.

Through all of this process the mind is sufficient for itself, moving under its own power, ordering its own thoughts, making its own decisions. It will only lose such independence when it defers judgment to something other than itself, when it chooses not to decide.

Being gifted with reason is something like being able to drive myself down the road, instead of having to rely on being driven by someone else. Most American teenagers understand this all too well, because they have places they want to go, without the means to get there themselves. Getting that driver’s license is seen as a symbol of freedom, but with it must also come a realization of the responsibility that comes with such freedom.

There is great power in being able to follow my own road. It also remains entirely up to my own thinking if I will be wise enough to choose the right road.

Written in 5/2006