Worth - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.03

Meditation VII.03 - Worth - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

The idle business of show, plays on the stage, flocks of sheep, herds, exercises with spears, a bone cast to little dogs, a bit of bread into fish-ponds, labourings of ants and burden-carrying, runnings about of frightened little mice, puppets pulled by strings - all alike. It is your duty then in the midst of such things to show good humour and not a proud air; to understand however that every one of us is worth just so much as the things are worth about which we busy ourselves.⁽¹⁾

Explanation

(1) This seemingly bizarre list of activities - a list that does not differentiate between the activities of ants or sheep, and those of men - is meant to illustrate the human tendency to place value on things that are inconsequential in terms of our primary purpose. The Stoic should never ignore the things that many regard as essential. It is only prudent to pay attention to the world. But each of those things listed here is a matter of indifference in terms of human happiness. We achieve happiness when our actions are directed toward the divine - both the divine in us, and the divine around us. What is divine is not the action of the elements around us, but that which animates those actions - the Law of Nature. It may seem a subtle distinction, but it requires a real gestalt shift in thinking - something the early Stoics recognized from their reading of Plato. The world of perfection is defined by the Law. The world of things is merely an imperfect shadow of that Law. The Law itself is perfect and therefore incomprehensibly beautiful. To see only the world of ordinary activities as all that there is leaves us empty and devoid of real joy. To discover this Law we must learn to see how the Law operates in us, and in so doing recognize that we too are divine. With this step the activities required of a true Stoic - the real "worth" in life, the virtues - will follow, and will follow naturally.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Body Language - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.04

Meditation VII.04 - Body Language - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

In discourse you must attend to what is said, and in every movement you must observe what is happening. And in the one you should see immediately to what end it refers, but in the other watch carefully what is the thing signified.⁽¹⁾

Explanation

(1) This meditation suggests that each of us, in our primary role as political actors in all that we do, must attend closely not only to the words that are said by those around us, but also to the inner intentions. Marcus is aware that our world is full of trickery and deception. While we ought always assume that people will act and speak with honesty, Marcus is a realist. Not everyone speeks the truth. Many people are motivated by self-interest, and speak only words that they presume we wish to hear. To do this well, the Stoic needs to master the art of reading - not just between the lines - but reading the hidden language of the body. This is clearly a difficult task. We need to be able to deflect flattery, know the speaker, understand the situation, and to detect deception. Even more difficult is the task of disarming deception without doing harm to the speaker. We are guided in this by our roles as teachers. Our aim is never to humiliate or antagonize the speaker, but to find ways of turning deception into truth. A Stoic is helped in this regard by recalling that the speaker is in truth being dishonest because of his basic ignorance of the Law of Nature. We need to find ways of correcting and guiding the speaker toward a self-understanding that will eventually lead him to honest discourse and disclosure.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Tempus Edax Rerum - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.06

Meditation VII.06 - Tempus Edax Rerum - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.⁽¹⁾

Explanation

(1) This meditation captures the essence of Ovid's (20 March 43 BCE – CE 17/18) Stoic inspired aphorism: tempus edax rerum (Time the devourer of everything)." We who seek fame are chasing a phantom. To place reputation at the center of our life project is clearly self-centered and as such at variance with the law of nature that places the rights of community before the rights of the individual. It is also of course a meaningless quest since whatever else fame might seem, it is at best ephemeral since whoever acquires fame will lose the celebration of those who - like the one who has fame - will soon be dead. As is the case with any self serving activity, the energy we dissipate in the acquisition of fame is activity wasted. It serves not those we were born to help, and does nothing to bring happiness to the actor. The temporary ego serving pleasure brought by fame will fade in time and will expire at death.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Seeking Help - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.07

Meditation VII.07 - Seeking Help - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is your business to do your duty like a soldier in the assault on a town. How then, if being lame you can not mount up on the battlements alone, but with the help of another it is possible?⁽¹⁾

Explanation

(1) Pride prevents many of us from asking for help. We do not want to be seen as weak or disabled. But Marcus reminds us that this is self-regarding behavior. Human beings are not independent souls. Every step in life is made possible only through the assistance of others. When we are unable to do what we are meant to do - or have lost the ability to do what we once did - we not only should seek assistance, we are bound in duty to ask for help. Illness, injury, and age will eventually disable each of us. But these restrictions ought never prevent us from doing what is right. Refusing help by masking a disability - or attempting to shield our lack of knowledge about how to act - actually alienates us from nature. We not only feel unhappy, so also are those who are themselves abandoned by our isolation.

When we ask for a helping hand we are offering our neighbors an opportunity to do what is their duty - to work cooperatively with their communities. In the broadest sense, working cooperatively - and inversely giving others the opportunity to do the same when it is needed - is the essence of all political action. Stoicism is a social (political) philosophy. It recognizes that human beings are not disconnected from their various communities. Life is social because we share a common genesis, a common mind, and a common world soul through the Logos in each of us. In this sense when we ask for help in this spirit we are actually giving to others. Any "shame" we may feel in seeking help is misplaced and contrary to our nature as social and political actors.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Do Not Worry About the Future - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.08

Meditation VII.08 - Do Not Worry About the Future - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Let not future things disturb you, for you will come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with you the same reason which you now use for present things.⁽¹⁾

Explanation

(1) Worry consumes so much of our lives. Anxiety about what is yet to be is soul destroying. Marcus reminds us that the things that disturb us about the future either may not come to be, or - if they do - all of the skills necessary to address those issues are available to us now. We have "reason." Reason defines our humanity. Our reason is invulnerable if we remain indifferent toward those issues that raise worry in most people. Money, health, and a fear of death or a loss of reputation are irrelevant concerns in terms of Stoic serenity. Peace comes from living according to nature - nothing more, or less. To a Stoic worry is an abomination. It is unnatural to worry because it is contrary to the nature of things.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

The End of Time - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.10

Meditation VII.10 - The End of Time - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Everything material soon disappears in the substance of the whole;⁽¹⁾ and everything formal (causal) is very soon taken back into the universal reason;⁽²⁾ and the memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.⁽³⁾

Explanation

(1) This is the recycling principle of Stoic physics. The material universe is defined by active (Logos) and passive (massive) substance. Both are in continuous flux (change) according to the then unstated second law of thermodynamics (law of entropy). It is thus according to nature that the parts must continuously and irreversibly become reintegrated into the whole. The identities and defining characteristics of the short-lived parts of the universe (atoms, human beings, stars, galaxies) is temporally limited. According to the Ekpyrotic principle of Stoic cosmology (see also The Big Crunch - Meditation VIII.06) the entire manifold is once again re-differentiated once this process is complete and the universe is reborn as an endless cycle.

(2) Marcus is drawing on Aristotle's four causes (material, efficient, formal and final) as a guide. The material cause asks what something is made of; the efficient cause examines its origin or source; the formal cause places it within a category of things with similar form or essence; the final cause examines purpose.

(3) The memory of everything is not only overwhelmed, it is effectively extinguished. At the end of each cosmic cycle, time ceases to have referential meaning - since the sequences of events involving matter are no longer referential. All points of reference - spatial and material - are extinguished. In Stoic physics this might be regarded as a cosmic singularity and thus a new beginning when time and space begin anew. The meditative lesson is humbling. What value is personal pride if all memory of what we have been or might be is soon annihilated? Our role in this cosmic scheme is to participate in the whole - for we are from the whole and will return to the whole.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Our Immutable Nature - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.23

Meditation VII.23 - Our Immutable Nature - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

The universal nature⁽¹⁾ out of the universal substance⁽²⁾, as if it were wax, now molds a horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else;⁽³⁾ and each of these things subsists for a very short time. But it is no hardship for the vessel to be broken up, just as there was none in its being fastened together.⁽⁴⁾

Explanation

(1) The "universal nature," Logos, is intelligence, and she is one, not many. Nowhere in the Meditations is this intelligence described as intelligent. In other words although the nature of Logos is characterized as both feminine and divine (everlasting and invulnerable) she is never personified as an intelligent being with will (see also Meditation X.14 - The Divine Feminine). She is will. She is intelligence. She permeates all of nature, but she is not a person in the normal sense of that idea. The Stoic conception of the divine thus differs radically from the religious conception of a personal God. She differs also in a very fundamental way in that our human nature is identical with the universal. This divine from the universal is in us always.

(2) The "universal substance" is pneuma, the active ingredient of the material universe. This is the substance that animates all of the universe and all life. As discussed elsewhere, this substance would today be identified with the forces and fields of physics.

(3) Nothing ceases to be when things change. Nothing falls out of the universe. The flow of change that requires this continual evolution and recycling is itself a principle of nature - the law of entropy.

(4) Marcus asserts that "universal substance" is conserved. This is a fundamental principle of nature - and in fact still is two thousand years later - although the principle of conservation is understood today in more explicit ways. In modern physics a conservation law asserts that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves. Examples of natural conservation laws today include: the conservation of mass-energy, linear momentun, angular momentum, electric charge, color charge, weak isospin, probability density, CPT symmetry and Lorentz symmetry. Because the qualities that define the essence of the universal substance - and the universal nature - are invariable (they are conserved), the nature suffers no harm when molded into something new. Nor does the nature suffer harm when is broken up or changes or dies. This crucial principle of Stoicism is the underpinning for the courage and fearlessness that characterizes Stoic action: neither injury nor death can cause you harm.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Stoic Physics and Chemistry - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.50

Meditation VII.50 - Stoic Physics and Chemistry - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

That which has grown from the earth to the earth,⁽¹⁾
But that which has sprung from heavenly seed,⁽²⁾
Back to the heavenly realms returns.⁽³⁾

This is either a dissolution of the mutual involution of the atoms,⁽⁴⁾ or a similar dispersion of the unsentient elements.⁽⁵⁾

Explanation

(1) In Stoic physics there are five distinct components of matter: four passive (earth, air, water, fire) and one active (aether or pneuma in microcosm and Logos in macrocosm) - see Meditation XI.20. The qualitative "idea" of gravitation certainly predates Newton. In Stoic and Aristotelian physics these five elements are attracted to each other - earth to earth, air to air, etc. The four passive elements combine in various ways in response to the agency of the active element (the Law of Nature). In time these combinations undergo continuous change from seed to maturation to dissolution and death. Life, or the creative process, interrupts the longer term attraction of like to like during any cycle - such as the cycle of a human life. In modern terms we would refer to this as a decrease in entropy of an open thermodynamic system (a system that exchanges energy and matter with its environment). Because no system is ever truly open, in time these combinations or "involutions" decay under the influence of the broader second law of thermodynamics - and the entropy of the system increases resulting in dissolution and decay and "earth [returns] to the earth." Although Marcus and the Stoics had not discovered the quantitative laws of thermodynamics, they did understand these thermodynamic processes intuitively as part of a broader law of Nature governed through the aegis of the active (and divine) element of nature, Logos.

(2) Logos is the material element from which the heavenly seed springs. Marcus uses the term "heavenly" in the sense that this material element is immutable - and hence divine. Nonetheless this is a material. Logos is certainly not a supernatural realm of nature in the sense that many religions use the term heavenly. In modern physics and the "New Stoicism" this "material" manifests as the various forces and fields of physics (gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, strong, etc.).

(3) The seeds from Logos that regulate the cycles of birth and death in living matter, or the chemical processes in non-living systems (from simple molecular combinations to the growth and decay of a galaxy), are themselves subject to the broader "gravitational" attraction of like-to-like, and eventually return to the "heavenly" realm - a process that would be completed when the entropy of the universe is maximized (the so-called heat death of the universe). In Stoicism this state would initiate a renewal of the cosmic cycle leading to a cosmic rebirth (see Meditation VIII.06 - The Big Crunch).

(4) The term "involution" refers to the chemical combinations of elements (in living and non-living systems) that override the "normal" gravitational tendency of like-to-like. Marcus and the Stoics were ambivalent as to how these involutions were dissolved or what aspect of natural Law initiated the decay. It was certain however that every system does dissolve in time.

(5) The four passive elements are not endowed with reason. The fifth element Logos is also referred to as the "universal intelligence" and the source of all reason as well as the source of sentient life. The Stoics were open to the probability that sentient life might take forms other than human.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

To Move a Star - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.71

Meditation VII.71 - To Move a Star - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

It is a ridiculous thing for you not to fly from your own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from another's badness is impossible.¹

Explanation

(1) Badness is nothing other than conduct that is not aligned with universal Law. In Stoic language it is living contrary to nature. Human beings are completely sovereign in the actions we take and in the opinions we hold. We can live according to nature or live outside of nature's framework. But whatever our choice, the consequences of our actions are universal. If we are good, the totality of nature is moved by our actions. If we are bad, the totality of nature is also moved. This is because action and thought emanate from the activity of mind, and although the particular individual mind is sovereign, it is connected to the universal nature as a thread in a universal web. Those connections are based on the physical nature of the Stoic conception of mind and matter. The human mind or soul is not a distinct supernatural entity. It is indeed a physical construct regulated by natural laws with universal reach. Nothing in nature exists in isolation from anything else. The Stoics understood this intuitively from their observations of nature two thousand years ago and long before the work of Issac Newton (1642-1727) in the 18th century who asserted that the force of gravity exerted by a single partcle extended to the farthest reaches of the universe. One of the greatest minds of modern Physics - 1933 Nobel Laureate Paul Dirac (1902-1984) - reasserted this essentially Newtonian and Stoic idea in the modern era: Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Creation - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VII.75

Meditation VII.75 - Creation - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

The nature of the All moved to make the universe.¹ But now either everything that takes place comes by way of consequence or continuity; or even the chief things towards which the ruling power of the universe directs its own movement are governed by no rational principle.² If this is remembered it will make you more tranquil in many things.³

Explanation

(1) The Judeo-Christian version of creation is equally oblique. Genesis 1.1 reads simply: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Neither account explains why, other that to imply an artistic act which as such is a reflection of the beauty inherent in the divine nature. Stoicism is clear however that the "nature of the All" is immutable and perfect but not transcendent. Stoic divinity is in nature not outside of nature - as is the case for the divinities in most religious traditions. Because Stoic divinity is nature herself, the creative movement Marcus refers to here is in a real sense unavoidable. The movement Marcus refers to is not a willed movement. It is not therefore something around which nature has a choice or, as religions might assert, an act of divine love. The move to creation is in Stoicism a consequence of the property of natural Law.

(2) The dichotomy Marcus offers - a rationally determined series of events regulated by a series of causes and effects, or a non-rationally determined series of causes and effects, implies that what happens in the world - and by implication in our lives - is either predetermined, or governed by chance. This dichotomy does not negate divinity. It simply declares that the unfolding of events is either under the direct governance of reason, or it is not.

(3) It is interesting that the Stoics are not dogmatic on whether the divine agency at the helm of creation plays a hands-on role, or leaves the unfolding to the action of physical laws. Whichever is so does not change the basic tenets of Stoicism. We are free to accept (live according to nature), or reject (live contrary to nature) the unfolding of events in our lives as governed by the Law of Nature - whether that Law is rationally directed, or not rationally directed. If we choose to accept the Law, we will be tranquil. If we choose to rebel, or to denounce the Law (of which we are undeniably also a part), we will become alienated or detached from those forces over which we have no control, whatever their nature.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

The Big Crunch - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VIII.06

Meditation VIII.06 - The Big Crunch - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

The nature of the universal¹ has this work to do, to remove to that place the things which are in this, to change them, to take them away hence, and to carry them there.² All things are change, yet we need not fear anything new. All things are familiar to us; but the distribution of them still remains the same.³

Explanation

(1) Matter has two aspects, active and passive. The passive is distributed randomly throughout the universe. The active aspect permeates all of space and expresses itself as the various forces and fields of ordinary physics - although the particulars of the various forces and fields were not understood in ancient times. In ancient times the active component of matter was viewed as a universal intelligence and referred to collectively as Logos. When localized or referred to as acting on a specific region of space, the substance of Logos was referred to as pneuma. Pneuma was viewed by the ancients as a material with unusual properties capable of animating or moving passive matter. In living rational organisms pneuma was imbued with an intelligence which in the microcosm - the individual human being - expressed itself as reason.

(2) The universal acts on all things resulting in a continuous series of transformations both on the small and larger scale. Nothing is ever static. Even those things which appear static undergo continuous change or decay. This is the nature of universal law.

(3) In spite of change, transformation and reorganization, there is an apparent constancy in the order of matter. The motions and decays apparent throughout the cosmos are balanced or offset by a a series of counter-transformations as new matter reorganizes or is reborn resulting is an overall equilibrium. These two principles - central to Stoicism - express the bedrock natural laws of Stoic Physics which in modern terms can be stated as the first two laws of thermodynamics: the conservation of energy, and the principle of entropy, or the relentless decrease in the amount of available energy throughout the universe. To offset this seemingly paradoxical situation - the fact that the universe tomorrow is indeed different from the universe of today because the available energy is in decline - the Stoics developed a model of cyclic rebirths on a grand scale. The universe, in this model, is born in fire (an ancient version of the Big Bang theory), but in time will recycle - presumably when all available energy is exhausted - and will reemerge in a new birth or second Big Bang (preceded I would suggest by a Big Crunch). This series of rebirths repeats indefinitely. This ekpyrotic cosmic model has modern proponents and is discussed in more detail in the annotations on Meditation IX.14 (p. 28-29 in the book).

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Einstein the Stoic - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VIII.18

Meditation VIII.18 - Einstein the Stoic - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

That which has died falls not out of the universe.¹ If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of yourself.² And these too change, and they murmur not.^3,4

Explanation

(1) Stoicism is a science based philosophy grounded firmly on physics. The first sentence in this meditation is as clear a statement of the law of energy conservation as we can expect from the ancient world, and - while poetic in structure - it certainly conforms with modern understanding. No change in anything - including the death of a living thing - results in annihilation. In other words nothing ever falls "out of the universe." The modern law of mass-energy conservation expressed by Albert Einstein (1879-1955) as E=mc² would come as no surprise to the Stoics. For example, the mass that seems to disappear in a nuclear reaction does not fall out of the universe, it is rather converted into energy which we now understand as carried by other particles which although massless are nonetheless real. Stoic physics divided matter into active and passive components. A Stoic physicist in the ancient world would nod sagely at this fact of nature while noting that this transformation could be explained in pre-modern terms as a change from the passive to active forms.

(2) That matter dissolves "into its proper parts" is a Stoic assertion of the atomic or particulate nature of matter. The ancients saw the proper parts in simpler terms than we do now, but the physical claim is no less true. Matter is a composite chemical and molecular arrangement. Under the laws of nature matter transforms into its basic elements in response to the actions of the basic forces of nature. These elements express in an infinite variety of forms, but the basic elements of all matter are the same throughout the universe. Every atom in the human body was forged in a nuclear reaction that occurred in a long since dead ancient star. Human beings are very accurately "elements of the universe."

(3) The changes that occur everywhere throughout the universe are natural and divinely mediated. This includes decay and death. The changes are divine because they are a consequence of natural law - the forces of nature - which embrace the Stoic concept of natural divinity. These forces are divine in the sense that they these laws qua laws are immutable and perfect. We ought not murmur about change or death (that is express discontent about these inevitabilities) because to do so would be to oppose nature and the Stoic ought always live according to nature.

(4) This meditation can be reformulated in many ways, but a particularly beautiful expression of the interconnectedness of the human spirit with the natural world is voiced by Albert Einstein: "A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Nature as Parable - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VIII.20

Meditation VIII.20 - Nature as Parable - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Nature has had regard in everything no less to the end than to the beginning and the continuance, just like the man who throws up a ball. What good is it then for the ball to be thrown up, or harm for it to come down, or even to have fallen? And what good is it to the bubble while it holds together, or what harm when it is burst? The same may be said of a light also.^1,2

Explanation

(1) Marcus asks us to reflect on three distinct physical phenomena in this meditation: the dynamics of a ball moving in a parabolic arc under the influence of gravity, the physics of a bubble in equilibrium and governed (as we know now) by a balance of internal pressure and surface tension, and the propagation of a light beam. Although the ancient understanding of the details of physical phenomena might seem primitive to moderns, certain fundamental observations - the ones asserted here - remain valid. The basic tenet governing all three examples - one that Marcus seems to appreciate at least intuitively - is the principle of conservation. We infer this idea from his assertion that although in each of the examples given there is a significant change over the course of the event, something must also remain constant. This "thing" or "property" that does not change is the underlying reason that nature maintains its equal "regard" for the discussed effect at all times during the action: at the beginning of the event, during the event itself, and at the end of the event. This is an extraordinarily prescient claim from the ancient world because conservation laws in modern physics remain at the heart of all physical observations - from energy and momentum conservation at the macroscopic scale, to the conservation of the various properties of particles at the microscopic or quantum scale.

The meditative value of these physical examples derives from the Stoic belief that our moral and ethical guidance is written in the laws of nature. In a very real sense a physical law in nature performs the same sort of instructional role as a gospel parable - albeit one that requires careful reflection. Stoics do not direct their actions based upon a Mosaic or Koranic code. Stoic behavior is modeled exclusively on the Physics of the natural world. because the physics of the natural world is a direct manifestation of divine law. The Stoic "God" is not above nature, it is nature. The laws themselves are really the voice of divinity and these laws are the only "words" that a Stoic has to go by. The duty of the Stoic is to live according to nature, or according to the laws of nature as we come to know them. Like gospel parables, these laws are never explicit - they are like complex metaphors that require wisdom to decipher. Like parables they also require a willingness and openness to be understood in moral terms.

(2) This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0. Attribution: Mila Zinkova.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Cosmic Consciousness - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VIII.54

Meditation VIII.54 - Cosmic Consciousness - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

No longer let your breathing only act in concert with the air which surrounds you, but let your intelligence also now be in harmony with the intelligence which embraces all things.¹ For the intelligent power is no less diffused in all parts and pervades all things for the one who is willing to draw it in than the aerial power for the one who is able to respire it.²

Explanation

(1) The Christian tradition has borrowed from this Stoic idea in its creation of the idea of the Holy Spirit, the third person of Christianity's divine triune God. Stoicism has not deemed it necessary to create a second or third person out of Logos. There is one divine universal intelligence Logos which is of, and in nature - and in us from birth. Our intelligence is not just similar to the divine, it is divine. We of course are free to ignore our divine essence, and crawl through life responding to our animal drives, But, if we do harmonize our divine nature with the universal "intelligence which embraces all things," we will experience the enlightenment of universal bliss - the timeless serenity of cosmic consciousness.

(2) There's nothing particularly 'airy fairy' about this claim. Stoic divinity is quite tangible. We touch bits of it when we observe and comprehend the various forces of nature at work in the world. Flip on the switch of your comprehension and you will see the divine in every aspect of nature, in the blush of a tiny flower, in the swirl of a remote galaxy, in the poetry of William Wordsworth. We do not - yet - fully comprehend how the various forces of nature interact with each other in the full manifold of existence. If we did, we would truly see what the religious traditions call the 'face of God.' Nature writ large is under the control of Law. I know this as a physicist, although I do not understand the full scope of this Law - no physicist does - yet. As a Stoic, I accept that this Law is universal, immutable, and perfect. It is senseless to argue imperfection in natural law. But, it is this perfection of the Law - writ large - that I see as Logos. It is intelligence, because I have intelligence and I know that my intelligence is distilled from this universal fabric. If I will harmonize my nature with the divine that is in me, I will understand the meaning of existence.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

The Light of Reason - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. VIII.57

Meditation VIII.57 - The Light of Reason - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

The sun appears to be poured down, and in all directions indeed it is diffused,¹ yet it is not effused.² For this diffusion is extension: Accordingly its rays are called Extensions because they are extended.³ But you may judge what kind of a thing a ray is, if you look at the sun's light passing through a narrow opening into a darkened room, for it is extended in a right line,⁴ and as it were is divided when it meets with any solid body which stands in the way and intercepts the air beyond;⁵ but there the light remains fixed and does not glide or fall off.⁶ Such then ought to be the out-pouring and diffusion of your understanding, and it should in no way be an effusion, but an extension, and it should make no violent or impetuous collision with the obstacles which are in its way;⁷ nor yet fall down, but be fixed and enlighten that which receives it. For a body will deprive itself of the illumination, if it does not admit it.⁸

Explanation

(1) Marcus's use of the word diffusion (diffused) is not referring here to the scattering of sunlight by the atmosphere which we now know does occur and explains for example why the sky is blue (short wavelengths - blues - are scattered much more than long wavelengths - reds). He refers here only to the rays of light from the sun that reach the surface of the earth. His use of the word diffusion implies that the rays that do reach the earth's surface arrive from different places on the sun's spherical surface but at differing angles because of the sun's shape and the individual ray's origin.

(2) The word effusion (effused) applies to the flow of a fluid or a gas through an opening. The gas or fluid spreads out in complex eddies. It does not proceed in a straight line through the opening. Light does not behave like this.

(3) In other words light travels in a straight line.

(4) A "right line" is a straight line.

(5) Marcus is not referring to a pinhole but a much larger opening. If he was referring to a pinhole he might have discovered the camera obscura or indeed the diffraction and interference of light - and hence inferred something about the wave nature of light. He is however coming tantalizingly close to such a discovery.

(6) Marcus is imagining a beam of the order of a searchlight being intercepted by a narrow pole or similar object. In this example the beam that is not intercepted by the pole will be split into two parts. The part of the beam that is intercepted by the pole illuminates the pole in the area that is intercepted. It does not effuse or splatter like a fluid.

(7) In other words our reasoning needs to follow a similar course. it ought to proceed toward its object and not be deflected by false opinion.

(8) Marcus is advocating an honest and determined and rigorous application of reason to the development of the understanding. There is no room in this process for compromise. Truth is truth. Unless we use our capacity for reasoning in a clear, enlightened and unbiased way, we will not develop the understanding we require to live according to nature.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Time, Motion, Cosmology, and Evolution III - The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - Published Selections Explained, Med. IX.14

Meditation IX.14 – Time, Motion, Cosmology, and Evolution III - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Note: Meditation IX.14 is published in The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained; McNeil. Russell, PhD, Skylight Paths, Ch. 1 ("The Promise of Stoicism – Time, Motion, Cosmology, and Evolution III"), p. 29, 2007

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Diamonds and Rust - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. IX.15

Meditation IX.15 - Diamonds and Rust - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Things stand outside of us, themselves by themselves, knowing nothing of themselves, nor expressing any judgment.¹ What is it, then, which does judge about them? The ruling faculty.²

Explanation

(1) Stoicism is an animistic philosophy. Every entity in nature is a composite of body and soul, and it is the soul that actuates all motions of the body. Unlike animistic religious traditions the Stoic soul is not a spiritual force above nature, but a distinct physical property of nature. In the Stoic scheme an inanimate object, like a diamond, is not strictly speaking inanimate. A diamond is able to transmit and diffract light; it can resist decay more so than any other material; and if dropped, it will fall. Modern science will account for each of these properties invoking explanations that draw on the electromagnetic, nuclear, and gravitational forces and fields that surround the diamond at the microscopic and macroscopic levels. The covalent unit cell structure in diamond accounts for its strength. The crystal arrangements of the carbon atoms in diamond account for its unique optical and electromagnetic properties. The gravitational field surrounding the diamond accounts for its gravitational interactions. The Stoics were not aware of these precise physical details, but did maintain that the properties of "things [that] stand outside of us"- such as a diamond - were caused by an active principle. The active principle was called pneuma, a physical rather than spiritual substance in nature, and associated with soul. In this sense then a diamond has a soul. Without soul the diamond would be entirely inert, invisible, without mass, and unable to interact in any way with anything else. While the Stoics maintain that the elements of nature are animate, the soul of a diamond is not rational. It is in a sense in a state of unconscious bliss, incapable of judgment and unaware of its existence. This is an important point. In many polytheistic traditions inanimate forces and elements in nature were accorded judging powers and even deified. Nature and her components (sun, sea, wind, animals) were alive and powerful, and needed to be placated, worshiped and appeased with sacrifices. So, in the tradition of Greco-Roman polytheism this statement can be regarded as a radical and rational break with the past. Nature is indeed magnificent and powerful and beautiful. But the elements of nature are not rational. The elements and forces of nature are unaware of themselves and certainly cannot make judgments of themselves or of human beings. There is no room in Stoicism for superstition.

(2) Human beings also have souls. But unlike the soul of a diamond, the human soul is rational. It, like the soul of the diamond, comes from the active aspect of nature, the physical laws that govern the activity of all physical elements. But, unlike the soul of the diamond, the human soul has this additional property: it can reject nature. It can act in ways that are contrary to the will of nature. This freedom to judge is unique to all sentient life (Stoics did not presume that human beings were the only form of sentient life in the universe). It accounts for the consciousness that only sentient beings can sense. The bliss that humans can access is not the unconscious bliss of a rock or a diamond, it is the sublime conscious bliss that Stoics call eudomia or happiness. Happiness is not automatic. Because our ruling faculty allows judgment, we can reject nature, but with this we will also reject happiness. But, in the lonely spirit of Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez, in doing this we can know then only the rust of despair that comes from our alienation from love, and from nature. Happiness is accorded to those who act in accord with the Law. What comes naturally and automatically to a diamond, must be freely chosen by a human being.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Evolution and Thermodynamics - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. IX.19

Meditation IX.19 - Evolution and Thermodynamics - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

All things are changing: and you yourself are in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction, and the whole universe too.¹

Explanation

(1) This meditation is a clear conjoint articulation of two underlying natural physical principles which are the bedrock of Stoic philosophy. That all things in the universe are changing, and also in continuous destruction, is as clear an expression of the second law of thermodynamics (the entropy principle) as we might expect from the ancient world. Today we would call this the heat death of the universe. The Stoics also noted however that the underlying causality bringing about the dissolution and destruction of the universe also gives rise to its rebirth in fire, in a series of never ending cycles of deaths and births. This ancient idea is not inconsistent with contemporary pulsating cosmological models (big bangs followed in time by big crunches) - the Ekpyrotic model in particular (please see Meditation IX.14, p.29, in the book for a detailed discussion on this).

The idea that everything in nature mutates as well as changes is consistent with the Darwinian modality of natural selection - the underlying mechanism that gives rise to speciation through mutation and adaptation. Stoicism was not saddled with the idea that change should bring about anthropomorphic improvements - that human beings, for example, get better and better with change. Stoic observations focus only on the idea that change is inevitable. We are born; we change continuously; every change is a kind of death; and, in the end we die.

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Clever and Cheeky! - Unpublished Selections Explained, Med. IX.28a

Meditation IX.28a - Clever and Cheeky - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

The periodic movements of the universe are the same, up and down from age to age.¹ And either the universal intelligence puts itself in motion for every separate effect, and if this is so, be you content with that which is the result of its activity;² or it puts itself in motion once, and everything else comes by way of sequence in a manner;³ or indivisible elements are the origin of all things.⁴ - In a word, if there is a god, all is well;⁵ and if chance rules, do not you also be governed by it.⁶

Explanation

(1) Marcus is referring to the astronomical precession of the equinoxes, a 26,000 year cycle (called a Platonic year) traced by the westward motion of the equinoxes along the ecliptic, and opposite to the sun's motion on the ecliptic. Knowledge of this cycle was based on data gathered by Mesopotamian and Babylonian observers extending back thousands of years. The Greek astronomer Hipparcus (ca. 190 BCE – ca. 120 BCE) is usually credited with discovering this cycle.

(2) This is a remarkable distinction invoked still by deists. The deity acts either individually throughout the cosmos regulating every nuance of motion, or, as offered next, the deity creates a complex law, or system of laws that operate sequentially and thereby require no intervention by the creator.

(3) Clearly the Stoics were divided on this question so Marcus leaves it open.

(4) This comment refers to an unresolved physical question on whether matter was infinitely divisible or atomic in nature. The "indivisible elements" are atoms. In the ancient world atoms were thought of as autonomous and disconnected from the whole. The modern atomic theories also involve discrete particles, but all particles have a long range influence on every other particle in the system (see also Meditation IX.39).

(5) The Stoics allied themselves with the idea of universal intelligence, a non-transcendent physical "god" with rationality, alternately (and preferably) called Logos. The alternate atomic hypotheses seemed to rule out universal coordination. The atomic theory suggested that chance ruled all. A modern Stoic - aware as we are now that particles act at a distance - would have less of a problem with atomism as such. Of course the realities of quantum mechanics have reintroduced chance and uncertainty back into the system of the world in ways unforeseen by the ancients. This does not invalidate Stoicism - a philosophy that has always been open to physical reality. In Stoicism morality is modeled on law. The fact that modern physics has brought a multiplicity of novel possibilities to physical behaviors only enriches the interpretive possibilities of the New Stoicism. In any case, modern physics does have predictive power. Large systems do evolve in statistically knowable ways. There is always an element of chance involved in modern physics, but it is not the completely random and unpredictable sort of chance Marcus refers to in this meditation.

(6) Marcus is really dismissing chance here: "if chance rules, do not you also be governed by it." The only rational explanation we can offer for this statement is that Marcus believes that chance could not rule because we are in fact governed by reason - an obviously "sequential" intellectual process - and an emanation of Logos, which is divine. In other words the fact that we use reason, which is - according to Stoicism - a physical operation of nature, demonstrates the fact of universal intelligence. In a universe governed by chance reason would be impossible because no predictable sequences could ever occur. Clever and cheeky!

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.

Time, Motion, Cosmology and Evolution V - The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - Published Selections Explained, Med. IX.28b

Meditation IX.28b – Time, Motion, Cosmology and Evolution V - Translated by George Long and rewritten by Russell McNeil

Note: Meditation IX.28b is published in The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained; McNeil. Russell, PhD, Skylight Paths, Ch. 1 ("The Promise of Stoicism – Time, Motion, Cosmology and Evolution V"), p. 31, 2007

Russell McNeil, PhD, is the author of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained by Skylight Paths Publishing. The unpublished selections presented in this Blog are provided as supplemental material to the published selections which are annotated and explained in the book. The published selections are referenced in this Blog by page number and section.