Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.6

The Nature of the Universal has this work to do—to remove to that place the things that are in this, to change them, to take them away hence, and to carry them there.

All things are change, yet we need not fear anything new. All things are familiar to us, and the distribution of them still remains the same.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 8 (tr Long)

What comes around, goes around. For many, this is just a platitude, words used so often they have lost their meaning. For the man who seeks wisdom it can still speak volumes.

Those things that are old become new, and those things that are new are also soon old, then becoming new once more. At the same time, it all comes around again, with the new taking upon itself the same order and pattern of the old.

The Book of Ecclesiastes said it best:

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.

Whenever I despair about some new terrible threat coming our way, I must remember that it is nothing new. Whenever I latch onto the best new thing, I must remember that it is nothing new. The study of history is hardly a waste of time, because we will see constant change, even as the cycles of change reveal the same order within that constant change.

Now how many times have I heard that we were so much better or worse back then, or that we are so much better or worse right now?

“But back then, people practiced slavery!” We still do that, in a different form.

“But back then, people were more virtuous!” We still do that, in a different form.

“But back then, people were oppressed!” We still do that, in a different form.

“But back then, people knew what it meant to love!” We still do that, in a different form.

Let us stop playing the game of all things being so different. All times reflect expressions of human nature, themselves an expression of Universal Nature.

Man is given by Nature the power to think and live as he chooses. This is not a mistake of Providence, but a blessing of Providence. When he chooses well, he freely participates in all that is beautiful. When he chooses poorly, he still participates in all that is beautiful, as his choice turns back upon itself, and allows for the opportunity of better choices.

Everything is new in one sense, and nothing is new in another sense. There is no contradiction here, if it is understood rightly.

Written in 2/2008