Chapter 10: How the acts appropriate to a man are to be discovered from the name he bears.
Consider who you are. First, a Man; that is, one who has nothing more sovereign than will, but all else subject to this, and will itself free from slavery or subjection.
Consider then from what you are parted by reason. You are parted from wild beasts, you are parted from sheep.
On these terms you are a Citizen of the Universe and a part of it, not one of those marked for service, but of those fitted for command; for you have the faculty to understand the Divine governance of the Universe and to reason on its sequence.
What then is the calling of a citizen? To have no personal interest, never to think about anything as though he were detached, but to be like the hand or the foot, which, if they had the power of reason and understood the order of Nature, would direct every impulse and every process of the will by reference to the whole.
That is why it is well said by philosophers that “if the good man knew coming events beforehand he would help on nature, even if it meant working with disease, and death and maiming”, for he would realize that by the ordering of the Universe this task is allotted him, and that the whole is more commanding than the part and the city than the citizen.
“But seeing that we do not know beforehand, it is appropriate that we should hold fast to the things that are by nature more fit to be chosen; for indeed we are born for this."
Consider who you are. First, a Man; that is, one who has nothing more sovereign than will, but all else subject to this, and will itself free from slavery or subjection.
Consider then from what you are parted by reason. You are parted from wild beasts, you are parted from sheep.
On these terms you are a Citizen of the Universe and a part of it, not one of those marked for service, but of those fitted for command; for you have the faculty to understand the Divine governance of the Universe and to reason on its sequence.
What then is the calling of a citizen? To have no personal interest, never to think about anything as though he were detached, but to be like the hand or the foot, which, if they had the power of reason and understood the order of Nature, would direct every impulse and every process of the will by reference to the whole.
That is why it is well said by philosophers that “if the good man knew coming events beforehand he would help on nature, even if it meant working with disease, and death and maiming”, for he would realize that by the ordering of the Universe this task is allotted him, and that the whole is more commanding than the part and the city than the citizen.
“But seeing that we do not know beforehand, it is appropriate that we should hold fast to the things that are by nature more fit to be chosen; for indeed we are born for this."
—from Epictetus, Discourses 2.10
Though Plato was only engaged in a logical exercise when he defined mas as a featherless biped, Diogenes was quite right to ridicule such a preposterous idea.
And yet this is essentially what we propose under our supposedly “scientific” notion of human nature, where we reduce the person to no more than a highly evolved animal, a complex biological machine. The rational, however, is not merely an advanced form of the sensitive, and to be made for consciousness is in a completely different realm than being bound to an appetite for gratification.
Through a discovery of the reasons why, the mind can contain within itself the meaning and purpose in our world, and thereby freely participate in the order of Providence. I have it within my power to move beyond the confines of my flesh, becoming selfless by joining my own good with the good of everything that moves around me. It is easy to be cynical about the prospect of genuine love, but then I remember how it is the scope of understanding that makes it possible.
Over the last few weeks, I have found myself feeling awfully self-absorbed, so a passage about the liberation that comes from the simple act of comprehension is a blessed relief. We are all, at one point or another, burdened with a sense of restlessness, of lacking direction, which can ultimately only be overcome by a clarity of awareness about our place within the whole. Free from the diversion of fleeting impressions, there is no longer a “mine” versus a “yours”, to be replaced by a harmony of “ours”.
A true citizen does far more than vote and pay taxes; he learns to gladly give of himself without conditions, secure in the knowledge that every contribution made to the whole is significant. His passport bears the stamp of the whole Universe, not just of a single nation. Far from being cold and uncaring, the intellect turns out to be the very means for the closest intimacy between all creatures.
If we had a certain foresight about the pattern of events, or even the slightest preview of the Divine Plan, we would surely have a far greater confidence in the importance of playing our distinct parts. Yet we are beings who are intended to change and to grow through time, so an informed conscience is the best motivation for constancy.
If I have done anything with mindfulness and goodwill, I can be assured of its efficacy, although I may not be present to see the fullness of the grand design unfold.
Though Plato was only engaged in a logical exercise when he defined mas as a featherless biped, Diogenes was quite right to ridicule such a preposterous idea.
And yet this is essentially what we propose under our supposedly “scientific” notion of human nature, where we reduce the person to no more than a highly evolved animal, a complex biological machine. The rational, however, is not merely an advanced form of the sensitive, and to be made for consciousness is in a completely different realm than being bound to an appetite for gratification.
Through a discovery of the reasons why, the mind can contain within itself the meaning and purpose in our world, and thereby freely participate in the order of Providence. I have it within my power to move beyond the confines of my flesh, becoming selfless by joining my own good with the good of everything that moves around me. It is easy to be cynical about the prospect of genuine love, but then I remember how it is the scope of understanding that makes it possible.
Over the last few weeks, I have found myself feeling awfully self-absorbed, so a passage about the liberation that comes from the simple act of comprehension is a blessed relief. We are all, at one point or another, burdened with a sense of restlessness, of lacking direction, which can ultimately only be overcome by a clarity of awareness about our place within the whole. Free from the diversion of fleeting impressions, there is no longer a “mine” versus a “yours”, to be replaced by a harmony of “ours”.
A true citizen does far more than vote and pay taxes; he learns to gladly give of himself without conditions, secure in the knowledge that every contribution made to the whole is significant. His passport bears the stamp of the whole Universe, not just of a single nation. Far from being cold and uncaring, the intellect turns out to be the very means for the closest intimacy between all creatures.
If we had a certain foresight about the pattern of events, or even the slightest preview of the Divine Plan, we would surely have a far greater confidence in the importance of playing our distinct parts. Yet we are beings who are intended to change and to grow through time, so an informed conscience is the best motivation for constancy.
If I have done anything with mindfulness and goodwill, I can be assured of its efficacy, although I may not be present to see the fullness of the grand design unfold.
—Reflection written in 8/2001
IMAGE: Friedrich Georg Weitsch, Plato's School (1797)
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