Musonius Rufus, Lectures 17.3

 

Then, indeed, it is that he is justly praised and takes pride in himself and is optimistic and courageous, characteristics upon which cheerfulness and serene joy necessarily follow. In general, of all creatures on earth man alone resembles God and has the same virtues that He has, since we can imagine nothing even in the gods better than prudence, justice, courage, and temperance.

 

Therefore, as God, through the possession of these virtues, is unconquered by pleasure or greed, is superior to desire, envy, and jealousy; is high-minded, beneficent, and kindly (for such is our conception of God), so also man in the image of Him, when living in accord with nature, should be thought of as being like Him, and being like Him, being enviable, and being enviable, he would forthwith be happy, for we envy none but the happy.

 

Indeed it is not impossible for man to be such, for certainly when we encounter men whom we call godly and godlike, we do not have to imagine that these virtues came from elsewhere than from man's own nature.

 

The presence or absence of many years, like the presence or absence of any circumstances at all, will not need to change the convictions of a good man, and hence his peace of mind can remain constant.

 

So if I claim that I am miserable because I am too young, or miserable because I am too old, or I cast the blame for my state of being rich or poor, or healthy or sick, or esteemed or reviled, then I have already abandoned myself, and the application of some miracle cure will be insufficient to bring me back to my senses.

 

Some may say that this all sounds terribly restrictive, to be limited only to my own thoughts and deeds, and to expect to receive nothing more. I choose to think of it quite differently, however, to already be gifted with everything I need, and to not be enslaved by any externals that are beyond my power.

 

It is in this way that we can speak of human nature rising to the level of the Divine, all the more conscious, accepting, self-sufficient, and compassionate.

 

I do sincerely believe that a person becomes more God-like as he learns, through all of the hardships and the failures, to understand himself in a harmony with Nature. The self may not cease, but yet the arrogant insistence on the self falls away, and this actually liberates the self all the more completely.

 

What is binding me, except my own ignorance and vanity, my dependence on the support of lesser things? Nothing else is bringing me down. Now I can find the flicker of a Divine presence in the brittle shell of a man.

 

“But it can’t possibly be done! I will need help!”

 

And you do have that help, whenever you turn to God, however you may understand that ideal, and you then elevate yourself into the fullness of the whole. Where there is God, the presence of infinite perfection, nothing is lacking, not for a pebble, or for a snail, or even for that bag of flesh and bones that we call the self.

 

Written in 4/2000

IMAGE: Sopo Archangels (artist unknown), Seactiel, Angel of Divine Serenity (c. 1650)