Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.33

How does the ruling faculty make use of itself? For all lies in this.

But everything else, whether it is in the power of your will or not, is only lifeless ashes and smoke.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 12.33 (tr Long)

I have learned that there is a difference between being clever and being wise, or between being efficient and being good. For some people, their thoughts and actions are only steps to improving their circumstances. For other people, their circumstances are only steps to improving their thoughts and actions. This man is trying to get something for himself, while that man is trying to make something of himself.

The difference is quite real, like night and day.

Everything for me really hinges upon how I choose to shape my own judgments, and the value of all other things for me will proceed from that estimation.

Is it good, or is it bad? Many people will say something is better or worse depending on all sorts of attributes, like whether it is pleasurable or painful, or whether it will make them richer or poorer, or whether it helps them appear in one light or another.

But I realize more and more that a few other people don’t see it that way at all, and those are the people who should inspire me. It is not the event, or the situation, or the condition itself that is good or bad for me, but rather how to put that event, or condition, or situation to good use.

I could gain money, or I could lose it. Either can help me to be just. It will be in my own thinking.

I could receive gratification, or I could face suffering. Either can help me to be temperate. It will be in my own discipline.

I could be surrounded by friends, or I could be completely alone. Either can help me to be brave. It will be in my own conviction.

I could be healthy and strong, or I could be sick and weak. Either can help me to live well. It will be in my own awareness.

I may think of all sorts of analogies: the material is only as good as the artist, the dirt is only as good as the farmer, or the ingredients are only as good as the chef.

And so it is in all of life. Whatever happens to me, that which comes and goes, is in itself without life for me. I will decide whether I give it such life, by how I inform it with my own measure of meaning and purpose. It will become for me what I make of it.

Written in 10/2009