Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.22

Hasten to examine your own ruling faculty, and that of the Universe, and that of your neighbor.

Your own, that you may make it just; and that of the Universe, that you may remember of what you are a part; and that of your neighbor, that you may know whether he has acted ignorantly or with knowledge, and that you may also consider that his ruling faculty is akin to yours.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.22 (tr Long)

The most essential aspect of our nature, and that of all of Nature, is consciousness, the power of reason, by which all things are ordered and ruled.

If we can only attend to the understanding within ourselves, we will discover our purpose. If we can only attend to the understanding in others, we will learn how we share that purpose with them. If we can only attend to the Understanding as the power that moves everything, we will begin to glimpse the purpose of the whole.

Putting this task above all others is the key to embracing meaning and finding peace, for then our choices and actions are informed by truth. Yet this is too often the part of ourselves we neglect the most, replacing it with the pursuit of feeding our passions, accumulating wealth, and increasing our fame. Concerned so much with everything outside of us, we abandon the dignity of what is within us.

I sometimes wonder what another intelligence might think if it stumbled across our way of doing things, observing how we encourage consumption in our business, sell gratification in our advertising, or gain influence in our politics. Even I will catch myself asking, “What could they possibly be thinking?” The problem, of course, is that there isn’t necessarily much genuine thinking going on at all.

A university administrator once told me that we didn’t need students to figure out who they are, but rather to just train them in what they needed to do. I found this attitude quite dangerous, since it is impossible for there to be worthy action without wisdom, or any doing of what is good without first knowing what is good.

I should hardly believe it is hopeless, however, because I can start with myself, right at this very moment. My blinders can come off, and I can always find the wonderful ways I am able to participate with everyone and everything around me. In discovering something of my own true nature, I might even help others to discover something about their own.

To know myself, as Socrates advised, is to reveal my own virtue as my only real calling. To know others is to think with them, whether they are right or wrong, and thereby to practice respect for them. To know the Reason behind it all is to recognize that whatever happens has its place in Providence, and that no sincere effort is in vain.

Some people will give up on being human, while others will rise to the occasion. A choice is only as good as the judgment that guides it, and nothing of benefit can proceed without a total commitment to awareness. 

Written in 10/2008