Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: I consist of body and soul. Unto my…
I consist of body and soul. Unto my body all things are indifferent, for of itself it cannot affect one thing more than another with apprehension of any difference; as for my mind, all things which are not within the verge of her own operation, are indifferent unto her, and for her own operations, those altogether depend of her; neither does she busy herself about any, but those that are present; for as for future and past operations, those also are now at this present indifferent unto her.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
Your body will have its conditions and needs. Your mind has its choices. Marcus draws a boundary between what arrives from outside—weather, reputation, other people’s behavior, the past, the future—and what belongs to your present agency: your judgment and action right now. We lose peace when we drag everything into the mind’s jurisdiction. You cannot solve next month’s meeting at 2 a.m. You cannot redo yesterday’s sentence by replaying it fifty times. You can decide how to use this moment. That is not a small power. It is the foundation of sanity. Care for the body, plan reasonably, learn from the past, but do not confuse any of that with controlling outcomes. When anxiety pulls you forward or regret pulls you backward, return to the present task. Today, ask: what action is actually available to me in the next ten minutes? Give your energy to that.
Related passages
- Marcus Aurelius It is in thy power absolutely to exclude all manner of conceit and opinion, as concerning this matter; and by the same…
- Marcus Aurelius The rational commanding part, as it alone can stir up and turn itself; so it maketh both itself to be, and everything…
- Marcus Aurelius Consider how many different things, whether they concern our bodies, or our souls, in a moment of time come to pass in…