Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.17

Consider from where each thing is come, and of what it consists, and into what it changes, and what kind of a thing it will be when it has changed, and that it will sustain no harm.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 11.17 (tr Long)

I’m not sure precisely when it started, because I honestly wasn’t paying attention, but somewhere into the new millennium Stoicism became a trendy thing once again.

The reason I wasn’t paying attention had nothing to do with any disdain for others, or any cynical rejection of the times, but rather arose from the fact that I didn’t see any honest connection between the way I had been trying to live and the way certain others were now trying to live.

By all means, follow the path that you think is best; I simply know that this cannot be my path. I think this goes beyond a difference of preference, to a basic difference of conscience.

A fellow, who was quite successful at working in software over in California, once jumped out of his seat when he overheard me mention Marcus Aurelius during a conversation. He came up to me immediately, and explained how everyone at his company was reading the Meditations, and how deeply it was changing their attitudes.

I was at first quite excited. I babbled something about trying to run a business based on human values, not simply on making money. He looked at me sideways.

“Oh no, we’re making more money than we ever did, and it’s all because Marcus Aurelius helps us to empower ourselves!”

As I often must do, I bit my lip, because otherwise I will just end up saying something rude. But I was only thinking of what he meant by being “empowered”, and I realized that any philosophy, or any way of living, was only as good for him as it made him richer and more important.

“Dude, have you actually taught this shit? I can fly you out to our campus, and you can run a seminar, and I swear it’ll help you get your name out there. Do you have a card? No? Don’t worry man, here’s mine, and I’ll set you up.”

Were they actually reading the same Meditations? To his credit, I suspect he found certain ideas about self-reliance, toughness of will, and overcoming obstacles to be quite inspiring. These are indeed good things to learn. My concern was that it was all outside of the larger context of Stoicism, and that it employed certain virtues at the expense of others. It was intellectual and moral cherry picking.

Look at the passage above. At first, it just seems to be saying that we should make sense of things by breaking them down. Yes, that is certainly good sense, in business or otherwise. But I suggest that Marcus Aurelius is looking to something much deeper, to the Nature of reality itself, and to the nature of the moral choices that ought to inform our awareness.

Where did it come from? From Providence, from the order and design of Divine Mind. This is our highest measure.

Of what does it consist? All things are simply bits and pieces, elements, expressions and aspects of the whole, in and of themselves nothing, all joined together for the expression of everything.

What does it change into? All things change for a common end, and move in harmony with one another. No action exists in isolation from any other action.

How does all of this serve what is right and good? Nothing is in vain. Nothing is lost, and nothing is discarded, and nothing is without meaning and purpose. For me to be a good man is to choose to find my own place within this pattern.

Empowerment for this man meant getting more of what he already wanted. Empowerment for me has come to mean discovering the true needs I had always overlooked. 

I respect you if you may think differently, but I see no use in any Stoic discipline without a Stoic metaphysics. I see no use in being committed if I do not understand what I must be committed to. I see no use in strength without virtue.

By all means, be a successful man if you wish, but first and foremost be a good man. I don’t think that was the message Silicon Valley was getting. 

Written in 12/2016