The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Monday, September 28, 2020

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 16.8


“As a result he will willingly give up all pleasures for his father's sake, and for him he will accept all manner of hardships willingly. To have such a son who would not offer prayers to the gods? Who, having one, would not love him because of whom he had become an envied and most blessed father in the eyes of all men of sound judgment?

“If, then, my young friend, with a view to becoming such a man, as you surely will if you truly master the lessons of philosophy, you should not be able to induce your father to permit you to do as you wish, nor succeed in persuading him, reason thus: your father forbids you to study philosophy, but the common father of all men and gods, Zeus, bids you and exhorts you to do so.

“His command and law is that man be just and honest, beneficent, temperate, high-minded, superior to pain, superior to pleasure, free of all envy and all malice; to put it briefly, the law of Zeus bids man be good. But being good is the same as being a philosopher.

“If you obey your father, you will follow the will of a man; if you choose the philosopher's life, the will of God. It is plain, therefore, that your duty lies in the pursuit of philosophy rather than not.”

If the son is committed to philosophy, and not just to some form of academic posturing, he will already have a sense that what is right does not merely proceed from the exercise of force. The son will surely hold his father in esteem, appreciating their natural bond, even if he will not necessarily conform to his commands without careful and humble consideration.

If the son does truly love wisdom, this will be evident in his own words and deeds, and his inner character will shine forth. Wouldn’t a decent and loving father be proud of such an achievement? I would like to think that nothing gives a parent greater satisfaction than a child forming a conscience, though I have seen such noble standards ignored far too often.

There will be times when parents give their children all the worst guidance, encouraging them to acquire wealth by stepping on others, or increase their influence at any cost. This does not have to mean that the parents don’t love their children, or don’t have their best interests at heart, but it does sadly mean that they are confused about the priorities of life.

Yet even if the father tells the son to cast aside other people, the son will not do that, and he will start close to home, by not casting aside his own father. The respect remains, as the son still looks to a greater authority that joins them both together.

When anyone at all tells me that being a good man is subservient to some other goals, I can accept that he means well, though he does not understand well. My own human nature already defines me as a creature made for virtue, and in this I am also in service to the whole of Nature. It is ultimately Providence, the source of all purpose and order in things, that is the greatest master.

I was raised to call this God, and Musonius here calls it Zeus, and you may name it in some other way, but the root principle always remains one and the same. It gives us a shared meaning, such that any apparent conflict, between fathers and sons, or between any people at all, arises only from the fog of ignorance and the narrowness of pride.

Young people can, of course, be terribly stubborn. There were many times I did not prefer what my own parents asked me to do, and yet I can honestly say that I don’t think they once, even once, asked me to do something wrong. This was a distinction I had to learn, and it was only experience and reflection that made me aware of that blessing.

In a moment of adolescent rebellion, I once begged a kindly old priest to tell me how to get my nagging father off of my back.

“Well, there’s your father, and then there’s your Father. You never have to pick and choose when it comes to loving one within the other.” 

Written in 3/2000


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