The public plays, war, astonishment, torpor,
slavery, will daily wipe out those holy principles of yours. How many things
without studying Nature do you imagine, and how many do you neglect?
But it is your duty so to look on and so to do everything,
that at the same time the power of dealing with circumstances is perfected, and
the contemplative faculty is exercised, and the confidence that comes from the
knowledge of each separate thing is maintained without showing it, but yet not
concealed.
For when will you enjoy simplicity, when gravity, and when
the knowledge of every single thing, both what it is in substance, and what
place it has in the Universe, and how long it is formed to exist, and of what
things it is compounded, and to whom it can belong, and who are able both to
give it and take it away?
—Marcus
Aurelius, Meditations, Book 10.9 (tr
Long)
The games of
appearance, the conflicts of interest, the failures of character, or the
shackles of desire will be more than annoying diversions; they will be great
obstacles, seeming to completely block out our view of the good life. We will
be mightily tempted to go back to lazy thinking and to careless living.
I come back,
time and time again, to the recognition that the Stoic life can never be merely
cosmetic, just continuing on in the same ways while under a different banner,
but must rather be a fundamental transformation of our hearts and minds. What I
truly choose to love and respect will make all of the difference.
It cannot be
about performing on a stage, or putting on a show for an audience. The change
must be deep within me, indifferent to how impressive or ridiculous it may come
across.
It asks for a
profound serenity, for careful observation, for keeping circumstances in their
rightful place, for patient reflection, and for an awareness of how things must
work together. I must be confident and committed in this, but never prideful or
ostentatious.
When will I
begin to be able to achieve this? It will happen only when I have reordered my
priorities to the core. Only then will I be able to resist distractions and
challenges, because only then will I not be tempted by imaginary rewards and
false promises.
This goes to
the basic principles of the Stoic Turn, for it means that I must be first
concerned with being someone or
something, rather than giving the appearance
of someone or something. I should neither hide away on the one hand, nor draw
any deliberate attention to myself on the other.
If thinking and
doing rightly for their own sake are not enough for me, I can be certain that I
am still pursuing quite imperfect ends. When the very guiding principles have
changed, then the exercise of living can also change.
Written in 1/2009
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