Transcript Stoicism Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Russell McNeil, PhD Malaspina Great Books Lecture Series Malaspina Great Books 2006

Stoicism
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Russell McNeil, PhD
Malaspina Great Books Lecture Series
Malaspina Great Books 2006
Epictetus (c. 55 – c. 135 CE)
Do not seek to have events happen as you want them
to, but instead want them to happen as they do
happen, and your life will go well.
The Philosophy of Epictetus
True education lies in learning to wish things to be as they actually are; …
But there is only one thing which is fully our own -- that is, our will or
purpose… we must ever bear in mind -- that apart from the will there is
nothing either good or bad, and that we must not try to anticipate or direct
events, but merely accept them with intelligence…In the world the true
position of man is that of member of a great system, which comprehends
God and men …All men are the sons of God, and kindred in nature with
the divinity. For man, though a member in the system of the world, has also
within him a principle which can guide and understand the movement of
all the members; he can enter into the method of divine administration, and
thus can learn -- and it is the acme of his learning -- the will of God, which
is the will of nature…Each man has within him a guardian spirit, a god
within him, who never sleeps; so that even in darkness and solitude we are
never alone, because God is within, our guardian spirit. The body which
accompanies us is not strictly speaking ours; it is a poor dead thing, which
belongs to the things outside us. But by reason we are the masters of those
ideas and appearances which present themselves from without; we can
combine them, and systematize, and can set up in ourselves an order of
ideas corresponding with the order of nature.
The natural instinct of animated life, to which man also is
originally subject, is self-preservation and self-interest. But men
are so ordered and constituted that the individual cannot secure
his own interests unless he contribute to the common welfare. We
are bound up by the law of nature with the whole fabric of the
world. The aim of the philosopher therefore is to reach the position
of a mind which embraces the whole world in its view -- to grow
into the mind of God and to make the will of nature our own. Such
a sage agrees in his thought with God; he no longer blames either
God or man; he fails of nothing which he purposes and falls in
with no misfortune unprepared; he indulges in neither anger nor
envy nor jealousy; he is leaving manhood for godhead, and in his
dead body his thoughts are concerned about his fellowship with
God.
Inner Child Breton McNeil Copyright 1996-2006
Stoic Physics
Non-atomic cosmos
World is a dynamic continuum
No void
Cosmos is filled with substratum
called pneuma
We connect to pneuma through
respiration
Force (binding agent) called
“string”, “thread” or “web”
Stoic vs. Judeo-Christian God
 Stoic God
 Jewish God
 Part of Nature
 Physics
 Determinists
 Logos (active)
interdependent
with material
(passive)
 Men as Gods
 External to nature
 Metaphysics
 Non-determinist
 Logos identified
with Christ (the
Word)
 God above men
Principle Ideas
Constantly regard the universe as one living being,
having one substance and one soul; and observe how
all things have reference to one perception, the
perception of this one living being; and how all
things act with one movement; and how all things are
the cooperating causes of all things which exist.
Aurelius
...no man can escape his destiny...
And as the universe is made up out of all bodies to be
such a body as it is, so out of all existing causes
necessity (destiny) is made up to be such a cause as it is.
And even those who are completely ignorant understand
what I mean, for they say, It (necessity, destiny) brought
this to such a person.
Whatever of the things which are not within thy power
thou shalt suppose to be good for thee or evil, it must of
necessity be that, if such a bad thing befall thee or the
loss of such a good thing, thou wilt blame the gods, and
hate men too, those who are the cause of the misfortune
or the loss, or those who are suspected of being likely to
be the cause; and indeed we do much injustice, because
we make a difference between these things.
Knowledge of nature is useful , but as a means.
Nature is not something you can shape to suit your
purpose, but something you use to shape your lives
by living in accord with nature's principles.
Reverence the faculty which produces opinion. On
this faculty it entirely depends whether there shall
exist in thy ruling part any opinion inconsistent with
nature and the constitution of the rational animal.
And this faculty promises freedom from hasty
judgment, and friendship towards men, and
obedience to the gods.
But death certainly, and life, honour and dishonour,
pain and pleasure, all these things equally happen
to good men and bad, being things which make us
neither better nor worse. Therefore they are neither
good nor evil.
Death is such as generation is, a mystery of nature; a
composition out of the same elements, and a
decomposition into the same; and altogether not a thing
of which any man should be ashamed, for it is not
contrary to the nature of a reasonable animal, and not
contrary to the reason of our constitution.
Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since
this too is one of those things which nature wills.
To avoid unhappiness, frustration, and
disappointment, we need to do two things: First,
control the judgments, desires and attitudes which
shape the soul. These things are in our power.
Second, ignore those things outside our power (the
body, bad opinion, the past, possessions).
Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this
soul, nor desire nor any perturbation at all; but
looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I
use each according to its value.- Remember this
power which thou hast from nature.
Will then this which has happened prevent thee from
being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure
against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will it
prevent thee from having modesty, freedom, and
everything else, by the presence of which man's nature
obtains all that is its own?
Constantly observe who those are whose approbation
thou wishest to have, and what ruling principles they
possess. For then thou wilt neither blame those who
offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their
approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their
opinions and appetites.
Meditaton
It is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire
into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more
freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his
own soul, particularly when he has within him such
thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in
perfect tranquillity; and I affirm that tranquillity is
nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.
Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew
thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental,
which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be
sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send
thee back free from all discontent with the things to
which thou returnest.
The intelligence of the universe is social.
...make thy acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
This one thing, thoughts just, and acts social, and words
which never lie, and a disposition which gladly accepts
all that happens, as necessary, as usual, as flowing from
a principle and source of the same kind.
Stoicism and Christianity
1. Moral Virtue
2. Providence
3. Sin
Trust the future to providence, and direct the present
only conformably to piety and justice.
Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a
kind Providence, or a confusion without a purpose and
without a director (Book IV). If then there is an
invincible necessity, why dost thou resist? But if there is
a Providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make
thyself worthy of the help of the divinity.
Redemption
Suppose that thou hast detached thyself from the natural
unity - for thou wast made by nature a part, but now thou
hast cut thyself off - yet here there is this beautiful
provision, that it is in thy power again to unite thyself.
God has allowed this to no other part, after it has been
separated and cut asunder, to come together again.