Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.36

As the Nature of the Universal has given to every rational being all the other powers that it has, so we have received from it this power also.

For as the Universal Nature converts and fixes in its predestined place everything which stands in the way and opposes it, and makes such things a part of itself, so also the rational animal is able to make every hindrance its own material, and to use it for such purposes as it may have designed.

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

“You are nothing else but God made small.”

I was told this once, and immediately reared back in surprise. How could someone tell me that I am anything like God? I am imperfect, while God is perfect. I live subject to time, while God is timeless. I am finite, while God is infinite. There is a limit to my knowledge and power, while the knowledge and power of God are limitless. I am a creature, while God is the Creator.

Yet for all of those unfathomable divisions, we still share something so essential in common. I should not have felt so shocked. My being is certainly only a particular extension of God’s universal being, even as my being also participates in something truly wonderful with the Divine. I am given the gift of reason, and I am thereby given the gift of conscious choice.

I should never make myself bigger than I am, and I should also never make myself smaller than I am. In the Old Testament mold, I am in His image and likeness.

Other things move and are moved without awareness, while those things with reason can understand their own actions, and thereby act for themselves.

They are not merely acted upon by circumstances, but are able to make use of their circumstances.

They are not merely ordered by purpose and design, but form their own purpose and design.

They are not merely subject to Providence, but freely cooperate with it.

In raising children, for all of my missteps and blunders, I quickly learned that it is crucial to keep their attention focused. As they grow older and increasingly self-aware, this becomes about more than just keeping them occupied, and transforms into helping them find a sense of meaning in what they do.

When they do something to tidy the house, or prepare dinner, or work in the garden, children may not be doing the best job, and I might be tempted to just do it for them. This defeats the purpose, however, of helping them understand what they should do, and why they should choose to do it. When my little son and daughter would say they were “helping” by handing me my tools while I tried to fix the sink, this was their way of knowing they were playing their part.

Now the parallel of Creator and creature to parent and child is hardly perfect, but there is something helpful for me here. I was slowly taught to walk, to talk, to read, to write, and ultimately, and most importantly, to think and therefore to act on my own. In growing up, I moved from being ruled to learning to rule myself. This is, in a sense, the expression of the Divine spark. It is the gift I am given of sharing in knowledge and freedom.

I am not just made, but I myself become a maker. 

Written in 4/2008