Commentary on Meditations: B5:10

Realities are wrapped in such a veil (as it were) that several philosophers of distinction have thought them altogether beyond comprehension, while even the Stoics think them hard to comprehend. And every assent we may give to our perceptions is fallible: the infallible man does not exist. Pass, then, to the very objects of our experience - how short-lived they are, how shoddy: a catamite, a whore, a thief could own them. Go on now to the characters of your fellows: it is hard to tolerate even the best of them, not to speak of one's difficulty in enduring even oneself.

In all this murk and dirt, in all this flux of being, time, movement, things moved, I cannot begin to see what on earth there is to value or even to aim for. Rather the opposite: one should console oneself with the anticipation of natural release, not impatient of its delay, but taking comfort in just these two thoughts. One, that nothing will happen to me which is not in accordance with the nature of the Whole: the other, that it is in my control to do nothing contrary to my god and the divinity within me - no one can force me to this offence.

We may worry and add our opinion on many things, and we may be wrong about our perceptions.  We need to understand that we are fallible and prone to mistakes. Everyone should begin with a good amount of skepticism and then continue to refine how they view the world, by continuously updating their mental framework model of how it operates.

Furthermore, we need to realize this life is short-lived.  And it is full of ornery people, including ourselves.

As I re-read this passage in June of 2025, I cannot help but see the existential perspective Marcus seems to embrace, in which he sees what little value things are in this world and he even questions the meaning of it all. But he quickly pivots to loving his fate and recalling his maxim to live according to Nature. He tosses the anxiety to the cosmos and is comforted by his trust in the universe that everything that happens to him is aligned with the will of Nature. And furthermore, he takes ease in knowing he has a bit of divinity within, and he rests in this knowledge that he knows what is up to him and he can act rationally.