Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: But this thou mayest be sure of, that…
But this thou mayest be sure of, that this (if it be so indeed) would never have been so ordered by the Gods, had it been fit otherwise. For certainly it was possible, had it been more just so and had it been according to nature, the nature of the universe would easily have borne it.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
There are events we cannot fully explain, and Marcus's response is to resist the fantasy that reality should have been arranged exactly to his preference. You need not pretend that every loss is good or that every injustice is acceptable. Some things should be fought, repaired, mourned, and prevented. But after you have done what is possible, the question remains: can you live with the fact that it happened? Refusing reality does not reverse it; it only adds a second injury. The Stoic move is not blind optimism. It is trust that the world has limits beyond our understanding and confidence that we can meet those limits honorably. When you find yourself replaying how things should have gone, return to the present fact. What is needed now? Put your energy there rather than into an argument with the past.
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