Musonius Rufus, Fragments 42

Of such a character the Nature of the Universe was and is and will be, and it is not possible for things that come into existence to come into existence differently from the way they now do. 

 

And in this process of change and transformation, not only human beings and other creatures of Earth have had a part, but also the divine beings, and even the four elements are changed and transformed upwards and downwards; that is, earth becomes water and water air, and air is again transformed into ether; and there is the same process of transformation downwards. 

 

If a man resolves to focus his thoughts on these things and persuades himself willingly to accept the inevitable, he will lead a life well measured and in harmony with the Universe.

 

I do myself a great disservice when I claim that the world is random or chaotic, simply because I do not immediately see how the effects flow from the causes, or when I deny that there is any meaning or purpose to things, simply because how they are meant to be is not always as I would wish them to be. 

 

It is my vanity getting in the way, tempting me to insist on the world being my way, or there being no way at all. To put myself in order does not require rejecting the order inherent in other things, and to embrace the necessity of Providence does not negate my own worth. 

 

The frustration that the pieces don’t seem to fit together, and the despair that come from feeling out of place, are only a result of my own confused judgments. The world is unfolding exactly as it should, each little piece playing its own distinct part, and so I am now called to understand how my own choices are intended to play their own distinct part. 

 

There does not need to be any great mystery in seeing the order of Nature at work. I can observe the distinctions between things, the patterns of how they complement one another, the deeper harmony in the tension between opposites, the way beginnings and endings work together with one another. 

 

Despite how all of our artificial posturing tries to cloud it, there is no escaping it. Nor should I want to escape it, because there is the deepest beauty in that total unity.

 

I am anxious when I tell myself I must be at war with the world, serene when I learn to be at peace with the world. If it has happened, it has happened for a perfectly good reason; to discover the value of it for myself is itself included in that perfectly good reason.