Summary: Meditations (page 3)

Those who suffer and complain, far from attaining serenity, fail to perceive this beauty and seek instead to detach themselves from the world. To complain is to reject the world and flee from it. It is the part that breaks away from the Whole and attempts to become a Whole unto itself.

In medicine, we know that a tumour arises when a group of cells begins to function autonomously, multiplying without regard for the organism of which they form a part — an organism they ultimately destroy. Metaphorically speaking, they are parts that sever themselves from the Whole and strive to become a Whole unto themselves.

This is why Marcus Aurelius declares:

Our soul is especially injurious to itself when, as far as it depends on it, it becomes a tumour—like an abscess upon the world. To be irritated by any event whatsoever is to grow apart from nature, within which are contained, as parts, the natures of all other beings ¹.

Elsewhere, Marcus Aurelius uses another striking image: Have you ever seen an amputated hand, a foot, or a severed head lying at some distance from the rest of the body? Such is the condition of the one who, as far as it depends on him, refuses to acquiesce in what happens, withdraws from the Whole, or acts against the common interest ².

It is because the world is a harmonious cosmos that it can serve as a model for ethics: Nothing is wrong with what is done according to nature ³.

Yet, at first glance, the world appears imperfect. Some things seem bad, ugly, ill-formed.

Marcus Aurelius demonstrates in the Meditations that these apparent flaws possess their own hidden beauty and unsuspectingly contribute to the harmony of the world:

Consider this too: even the incidental effects of nature's workings have something graceful and appealing about them. Take bread, for instance: as it bakes, cracks appear on its surface, and these cracks, though unintended by the baker, have a certain charm and even whet the appetite ⁴.

Marcus Aurelius multiplies the examples: In the same way, figs, when fully ripe, split open; and olives on the verge of decay, as they fall from the trees, take on a particular sheen. The bending ears of wheat, the wrinkles on a lion's forehead, the foam escaping from a wild boar's mouth—many such things, when viewed in isolation, may seem far from beautiful. And yet, by their very place in nature's workings, they enhance its beauty and become attractive in their own right ⁵.

It follows from this that anyone who truly perceives and understands all that unfolds within the Whole would, so to speak, find almost nothing — even among what might seem mere side-effects — that does not possess a certain unique charm ⁶.

He who grasps this truth attains happiness, for wherever he looks, he sees nothing but reasons for joy.

This is what leads Marcus Aurelius to offer, in the Meditations, this exuberant hymn:

Everything suits me that suits you, O World! All is fruit to me of what your seasons bring forth, O Nature! Everything comes from you, everything dwells in you, everything returns to you ⁷.

The universe is a harmonious cosmos where order, justice, necessity, and beauty converge. Marcus Aurelius captures this idea by comparing the world to a City — not a wasteland, nor a jungle: Remember the dilemma: either Providence, or atoms. And how well it has been shown that the universe resembles a City ⁸.

¹ II, 16
² VIII, 34
³ II, 17
⁴ III, 2
⁵ ibid.
⁶ ibid.
⁷ IV, 23
⁸ IV, 3