Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.36

Asia and Europe are corners of the Universe. All the sea is a drop in the Universe. Athos is a little clod of the Universe. All the present time is a point in eternity. All things are little, changeable, perishable.

All things come from there, from that universal ruling power, either directly proceeding, or by way of sequence.

And accordingly the lion's gaping jaws, and that which is poisonous, and every harmful thing, as a thorn, as mud, are after-products of the grand and beautiful.

Do not then imagine that they are of another kind from that which you venerate, but form a just opinion of the source of all.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 6 (tr Long)

I was deeply moved when I first read this passage. I still am. It isn’t just that it is quite profound, but also that the principle is one the most immediate and practical of tools for enduring the hardships of life.

I am often too keen to divide my world into the things that I like, and the things that I dislike. I prefer a pint of Guinness, a dusty old book, and the fellowship of true friends. I do not prefer Brussels sprouts, traffic jams, and lawyers. I will revel in the one set, and I will grumble at the other.

And my problem is that I am not seeing things from the right perspective, as they truly are within the pattern of the whole. I magnify them out of proportion, I judge them only by my passions, and I forget that everything is exactly as it is for a very good reason.

Everything that seems so big to me, so desirable or so despicable, is really rather small in the bigger picture. If I can remember that it is passing, that it is only here in this remote bit of the world for a moment, I will not be so consumed by longing or by contempt. This too, as they say, shall pass. That’s good for both the things I love and the things I hate, and it tells me not to be so caught up in things to begin with.

The value of something should hardly be measured by my preferences. Not for a want of trying, I simply do not enjoy the music of Wagner, or of Led Zeppelin. I find both of them pompous and vain. This has everything to do with my opinion, however, and not with their merit. I can learn to respect, and even appreciate, the things I don’t have much of a liking for.

The world is not there for my convenience. I am here to serve, not to be served. If Providence has put it there, it has done so wisely. At the very least, that reason could simply be to teach me to practice reverence instead of resentment, acceptance instead of dismissal, and to remind me that it isn’t all about me. Even the most unpleasant things can help me to remember to be pleasant.

Don’t let the “modern” Stoics, the minimalist Stoics, the cafeteria Stoics mislead you. Nothing in the entire model will work without a sense of the whole of Nature, of the order of the Universe, of the breadth of Providence, of the universal ruling power. I can only live according to Nature if I acknowledge that there is such a Nature, something bigger than myself, something of which I am a part. 

I should not reject the concept of the Divine because I don’t like something, but I should rather seek to find what is Divine in everything I dislike.

Written in 5/2007

IMAGE: Mount Athos, from the right perspective. . .