Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.32

You can remove out of the way many useless things among those that disturb you, for they lie entirely in your opinion; and you will then gain for yourself ample space by comprehending the whole Universe in your mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of every several thing, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution!

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.32 (tr Long)

I have often been falsely convinced that a burden is too much to bear, or that a certain suffering is irredeemable, or that a particular situation has simply become hopeless. Yet I then try to remember that the burden is only as heavy as I allow it to be, that suffering has as much or as little power over me as I choose, and that the situation was never really the problem to begin with. My thinking about the situation was the problem.

Of course it will all seem impossible if I decide that it is impossible; a sense of doom becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. To be liberated from being disturbed only becomes possible when I recognize where to place the most perfect human good.

Yes, there may be forces acting upon me. Yes, it may hurt mightily. Yes, I may not be able to change my conditions. But, as a creature of reason and choice, my own judgments and actions are what define me. As long as I retain that power, I may consider the very core of my humanity to be invincible. It is only when I transfer authority to the things outside of me that I surrender my own happiness.

People will often have very different perspectives on a philosophy, and Stoicism will be no different. For myself, however, I have never been able to bring myself to cherry-pick my Stoicism. I don’t find it possible to fully embrace Stoic ethics without the context of Stoic physics, to understand my own role as a part without the purpose of the whole.

I see something similar here, when Marcus Aurelius explains that learning to overcome being disturbed and frustrated proceeds together with a sense of oneself within the grand scale of things.

As is so often the case, circumstances will become far more manageable in my judgment when I put everything in its rightful place.

My mind can order things by the measure of scale, and thereby discern that what may appear so big and powerful is actually rather small and weak. What will all of our petty squabbles and winnings be in the face of the Infinite?

My mind can also grasp that however little time I may have, and however limited the scope of my influence, I can, if I only so decide, retain complete and absolute over my own character. What will all the actions of others be if I do not permit them to do me any harm?

If I know where I stand, and if I know who and what I am, I do not need to fear, I do not need to be angry, and I do not need to let myself be distressed. I am still the captain of my own ship, and I am familiar with the map of the seas on which I am sailing. 

Written in 12/2008