Friday, October 20, 2017

Commentary on Meditations: B6:40

An instrument, a tool, a utensil - all these are fine if they perform the function for which they were made. And yet in such cases the maker is external to the object made. In the case of things held together by organic nature, the power that made them is within, and immanent in them. You should therefore respect it the more, and believe that if you keep your being and your conduct in accordance with the will of this power, all then conforms to your mind. So it is in the Whole also: all that is in it conforms to the mind of the Whole.

Similar to the previous post, Marcus returns to the concept of fully embracing the desires of the Whole.  A tool may be formed by a maker and the maker is entirely separate and external.  However, with living things, they are made from living things.  Living beings literally spring from and are born from within other living entities.  As we are made from the Whole, we should therefore conform to the Whole.  This passage is nothing more than Marcus saying, "submit your will to the Universe and embrace what life sends you."

Furthermore, he seems to also be referring to the divinity within. We each possess a rational faculty which is a piece of the divine. If we tap into this divinity, we will be afforded a rational way of living and realize we possess all the tools needed to live and flourish in the cosmos.

(see also Citadel p. 166)

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