If it be not so, let them explain to us what it is which makes each of these things, or how it is possible that objects so marvelously designed should have come into being by chance and at random?
Again, are these faculties found in us alone? Many in us alone—faculties which the rational creature had special need of—but many you will find that we share with irrational creatures.
Do they also then understand events and things? No—for using is one thing, and understanding is another.
God had need of them as creatures dealing with impressions, and of us as dealing with them and understanding them as well.
That is why it is enough for them to eat and drink and rest and breed, and every function is theirs which each irrational creature fulfils; while we, to whom He gave also the power of understanding, cannot be satisfied with these functions, but, unless we act with method and order and consistently with our respective natures and constitutions, we shall no longer attain to our end.
For those whose constitutions are different have also different functions and different ends.
Are my narrow assumptions about “God” getting in the way? Let them go, leave them behind, move beyond them. I question God, or whatever you may wish to name the Absolute, whenever I am thinking too small. I am applying limitations.
There is no me, and no anything at all, outside of the unity of all Being.
I was very excited, as the new millennium approached, to find a renewed popular interest in Stoicism, but then also deeply disappointed to discover that most of it only latched on to the aspect of personal self-reliance, while completely overlooking the greater context of Universal Providence.
Attempt the former without the latter, and you will be left with the anxious self-gratification of a Nietzsche or a Sartre. The beloved wife once cleverly called it “existentialism in a toga.”
Epictetus is already a bit too harsh for the coddled, but a chapter like this will now be ignored completely, or at the very least reduced to an outdated superstition.
No, there is nothing outdated at all in seeing the Universe as being charged with purpose, ruled by the wisdom of Infinite Mind. My own mind only works in participation with Mind. My own love is only fulfilled through Love.
There is nothing superstitious at all in following the guidance of reason, of recognizing that we should freely and joyfully bow to what is greater than ourselves.
I may grow despondent when circumstances get me down, and yet I can always turn to the order of Nature to inspire me. I don’t need to look too far, and I can start with what is close at hand, what is already mine.
I share with all creatures the act of existence, but I have been given more.
I share with all life the power of self-motion, but I have been given more.
I share with all animals the ability to sense and to feel, but I have been given more.
Beyond all of that, I have been given something quite distinct. I possess an awareness of identity, an ability to grasp what things are, and by these means I am the master of my own judgments.
I have instincts, though they need not rule me. I have feelings, though they do not have to define me. Pardon my Thomism, but I have an intellect, and so I also have a free will. I rise above the determination of matter to the liberty of the spirit.
It is the most human of things, even as it can’t be packaged, marketed, bought, or sold. Even if I “sell” myself, I have done so from my own choice.
An animal uses things, and rightly so, according to its nature. If a man merely uses things, he degrades himself, because it is lower than his nature. He has the power to comprehend and to respect things, and by such means to elevate himself.
“A dog does it, a pig does it, a monkey does it, so why can’t I do it?”
Has it occurred to you that you are not a dog, or a pig, or a monkey?
The meaning of life is already built into you, found by consciously reflecting upon the method and order within your own soul. You will find a tiny image of the Divine waiting right there inside. There is the work of a Craftsman.
Again, are these faculties found in us alone? Many in us alone—faculties which the rational creature had special need of—but many you will find that we share with irrational creatures.
Do they also then understand events and things? No—for using is one thing, and understanding is another.
God had need of them as creatures dealing with impressions, and of us as dealing with them and understanding them as well.
That is why it is enough for them to eat and drink and rest and breed, and every function is theirs which each irrational creature fulfils; while we, to whom He gave also the power of understanding, cannot be satisfied with these functions, but, unless we act with method and order and consistently with our respective natures and constitutions, we shall no longer attain to our end.
For those whose constitutions are different have also different functions and different ends.
Are my narrow assumptions about “God” getting in the way? Let them go, leave them behind, move beyond them. I question God, or whatever you may wish to name the Absolute, whenever I am thinking too small. I am applying limitations.
There is no me, and no anything at all, outside of the unity of all Being.
I was very excited, as the new millennium approached, to find a renewed popular interest in Stoicism, but then also deeply disappointed to discover that most of it only latched on to the aspect of personal self-reliance, while completely overlooking the greater context of Universal Providence.
Attempt the former without the latter, and you will be left with the anxious self-gratification of a Nietzsche or a Sartre. The beloved wife once cleverly called it “existentialism in a toga.”
Epictetus is already a bit too harsh for the coddled, but a chapter like this will now be ignored completely, or at the very least reduced to an outdated superstition.
No, there is nothing outdated at all in seeing the Universe as being charged with purpose, ruled by the wisdom of Infinite Mind. My own mind only works in participation with Mind. My own love is only fulfilled through Love.
There is nothing superstitious at all in following the guidance of reason, of recognizing that we should freely and joyfully bow to what is greater than ourselves.
I may grow despondent when circumstances get me down, and yet I can always turn to the order of Nature to inspire me. I don’t need to look too far, and I can start with what is close at hand, what is already mine.
I share with all creatures the act of existence, but I have been given more.
I share with all life the power of self-motion, but I have been given more.
I share with all animals the ability to sense and to feel, but I have been given more.
Beyond all of that, I have been given something quite distinct. I possess an awareness of identity, an ability to grasp what things are, and by these means I am the master of my own judgments.
I have instincts, though they need not rule me. I have feelings, though they do not have to define me. Pardon my Thomism, but I have an intellect, and so I also have a free will. I rise above the determination of matter to the liberty of the spirit.
It is the most human of things, even as it can’t be packaged, marketed, bought, or sold. Even if I “sell” myself, I have done so from my own choice.
An animal uses things, and rightly so, according to its nature. If a man merely uses things, he degrades himself, because it is lower than his nature. He has the power to comprehend and to respect things, and by such means to elevate himself.
“A dog does it, a pig does it, a monkey does it, so why can’t I do it?”
Has it occurred to you that you are not a dog, or a pig, or a monkey?
The meaning of life is already built into you, found by consciously reflecting upon the method and order within your own soul. You will find a tiny image of the Divine waiting right there inside. There is the work of a Craftsman.
Written in 10/2000
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