Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: Whosoever thou art, thou art such, thou…
Whosoever thou art, thou art such, thou art cast forth I know not whither out of the general unity, which is according to nature. Thou went born indeed a part, but now thou hast cut thyself off. However, herein is matter of joy and exultation, that thou mayst be united again.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
When we act selfishly, cruelly, or dishonestly, we cut ourselves off. Not from some abstract cosmic club, but from the human community we are built to belong to. Isolation often begins as a small choice: refusing to apologize, treating coworkers as obstacles, deciding that only our needs count. Yet Marcus also insists that reconnection remains possible. No matter how far a person has drifted, the next decent act is a return. Call the person you have avoided. Tell the truth where you have been evasive. Offer help without calculating the return. We do not need to wait until we feel pure enough to rejoin the world; we rejoin it by doing our share. Today, notice where resentment has made you separate from others, and take one small step back toward cooperation.
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