Jottings on Marcus 9

This you must always bear in mind, what is the Nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole, and that there is no one who hinders you from always doing and saying the things which are according to the Nature of which you are a part. 

—from Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.9 

How often have I been told to "look at the big picture"? It's good advice, so I won't get too caught up in the details, but at the same time, I shouldn't think that the whole is somehow at the expense of the parts. 

My own nature is not worthless in the face of all Nature, and my own actions are not meaningless in the context of Providence. The purpose of the big and the small are made to fit together. 

Whatever else is meant to happen, my choices have their necessary place. I am called to choose well. 

IMAGE: Albrecht Dürer, Celestial Hemispheres (1515)