Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.21

Reverence that which is best in the Universe, and this is that which makes use of all things and directs all things.

And in like manner also reverence that which is best in yourself, and this is of the same kind as that.

For in yourself also, that which makes use of everything else is this, and your life is directed by this.

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

This was a passage I originally glossed over, because I foolishly assumed it wasn’t really telling me anything new. Yes, I thought, Divine Reason directs all things, just as my own reason directs me. Got it.

But when I returned to it later, and gave myself time to reflect on both its breadth and depth, I was overcome by a certain sense of awe and gratitude. I felt wonder at how closely my humanity participated in Divinity, and I felt profound thanks to be given the chance to do so.

I have often felt so separated from the things around me, and from the order that ties all things together. It is a form of feeling lonely, but also a deeper isolation from existence itself. There were my thoughts, the thoughts of others that seemed so alien to me, and the thought of God that seemed so far above and beyond me. Each was in its own box.

But mind, thinking, awareness, or consciousness, whatever we wish to call it, is never something that is separated from things. By its very definition, it reaches out to other things, grasps them, and, in a sense, comes to contain them within itself. Thought is always what is “out there” becoming present “in here”, and vice versa.

I realized I could look at this from two directions, from the top down or from the bottom up. The first appealed more to my theoretical side, the second more to my practical side.

First, I could begin with the Universe itself. Nature reveals order and purpose, and order and purpose reveal design, and design reveals Mind. Each thing plays its role, in its own way, in a balanced relationship with every other thing, through a process of change, of action and reaction. I myself am a piece of this process, though in a special way, because the order of Reason in all things is mirrored in my own order of reason. I share directly with all of Nature when I discover meaning and direction within my own particular nature.

Second, I could begin with just myself. I perceive that I am a being that not only acts, but is also reflectively aware of his own actions, and by that awareness directs those very actions. I also cast that awareness to what is outside of me, and I see other things being acted upon, and other minds, precisely like my own, acting upon them. I can proceed from what is proximate to what is ultimate, to recognize how just as all of my parts are ruled through my mind, all things as parts of a whole are ruled through Mind.

Human mind and Divine Mind exist in different degrees, but they are all aspects of exactly one and the same thing. The lower is an emanation, so to speak, of the higher.

From a Christian perspective, for example, I was always taught that man is made in the “image and likeness” of God.

When I later learned about Vedanta Hinduism, I was taught Tat Tvam Asi, “Thou art That”, how Atman, the principle of self, is Brahman, the universal principle.

When I tried to understand Taoism, I was advised to see myself as a microcosm of the Universe, to discover that the Tao, the way or path, within me flows and proceeds from the Tao of all things. From Tao Te Ching 54:

Cultivate the Tao within oneself; and one's virtue will be perfected.

Cultivate it within the household, and one's virtue will be abundant.

Cultivate it within the neighborhood, and one's virtue will be enduring.

Cultivate it within the nation, and one's virtue will be overflowing.

Cultivate it within the entire world, and one's virtue will be universal.

I am reminded of all these different expressions of truth when I read Marcus Aurelius on the unity between my own ruling principle and the ruling principle of everything. For too long, I always separated them from one another, and did not recognize their deeper complementarity. 

Written in 6/2006