Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.26

A man deposits seed in a womb and goes away, and then another cause takes it and labors on it, and makes a child. What a thing from such a material!

Again, the child passes food down through the throat, and then another cause takes it and makes perception and motion, and finally life and strength and other things; how many and how strange!

Observe then the things that are produced in such a hidden way, and see the power, just as we see the power that carries things downwards and upwards, not with the eyes, but still no less plainly.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 10.26 (tr Long)

There is not only one action over here, and another one over there, but all of them are joined together in a procession, for a greater purpose, connected like links in a chain, or strands in a web, or threads in a tapestry. If it is to happen, it will lead to something else, a further stage in a constant unfolding.

One thing falls, and another thing rises. One thing ends, and another thing begins. One thing moves, and it passes its motion onward, upward, and outward. It is not merely the one same event, again
and again,  but a whole evolution and cycle of different steps.

There need be no mystery in this. I can see it immediately in the most everyday of occurrences, even as each of them is quite profound. The change of the seasons, the coming and going of plants and animals, the motion in the stars, or the slow but steady alteration in the landscape reveals this to me in daily practice.

I am likewise never only seeing one man doing what he wants to do, but I then also see how his decisions influence so many other decisions, by so many other people. I think of ripples, or waves, or the patterns of the weather.

To think that my children arose from such basic bits and pieces! To think that they grew from helpless infants into such complex thinking and feeling creatures! To think that I myself came about in one way, struggled and coped in another way, and will soon die and be transformed in yet another way, is a wonderful and miraculous thing!

What is clear through my senses should also inspire me to probe more deeply with my mind. As it is with all of the parts, so it is with the whole. Each individual nature follows the greater pattern of Universal Nature.

When I can directly see what has taken place, I can also know that none of it is in vain. It is driven by purpose, by design, and by Mind. For every little piece I can apprehend right in front of me, I can also delve into the deeper pattern. I can understand the causes through the evidence of the effects.

I accept that this is an aspect of Classical Stoicism now quite out of favor. I leave the thinking of others to them, but I must take responsibility for my own thinking. I find that I can only make sense of my own existence within the harmony of all Existence. I choose to begin with myself, but I do not end with myself.

I look at what is clear to me, and I then consider how the bigger picture is no less clear to me as a consequence. That I am a single brushstroke only makes sense in the context of the complete painting.

A dear friend of mine once asked me, in a very serious moment, if I thought her life would ever really matter. We always shared a certain sense of doubt and sadness together.

“It already does matter,” I replied. It was my turn to carry both of us for the moment.

“Well, I don’t see it! No one else sees it, either! No one notices!”

“I notice, but that’s neither here nor there. It doesn’t need to be noticed to be important. People may not look at it in the right manner, or in the deepest way they probably should, but it doesn’t make anything less important.”

“I hope you’re right!”

“I know it's right.” I don’t think I ever uttered such words of confidence with more conviction.

Written in 3/2009