I have been reading bits and
pieces of Stoic philosophy recently. There is much that resonates with me and
some that doesn't. In the following quote for example, I relate to the idea of
standing one's ground against misfortune rather than allowing it to break one—which
in modern parlance indicates grit, perseverance, determination and other such
attributes. What I don’t get, and it might be because I need to understand it
better, is the idea that virtues are natural to man’s nature or that virtue
realises man’s true nature… I mean in a sense I agree that virtues are all that
is noble in man’s nature but in some sense the nobility to me comes from
defying more natural by which I mean animalistic elements rather than it coming
naturally. But my confusion might come from a lack of understanding or
agreement on definitions of key concepts…rather than a disagreement in
principle.
"Be like the promontory
against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the
fury of the water around it.
Unhappy am I, because this has
happened to me—Not so, but Happy am I, though this has happened to me, because
I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the
future. For such a thing as this might have happened to every man; but every
man would not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is
that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? And dost thou in all cases
call that a man’s misfortune, which is not a deviation from man’s nature? And
does a thing seem to thee to be a deviation from man’s nature, when it is not
contrary to the will of man’s nature? Well, thou knowest the will of 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? Remember too on
every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle: that this
is not a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune."
~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
4:49
posted by Sylvia D'souza at 10:29 pm
0 comments
