Transcription
A bitter cucumber? Throw it away. Brambles in the path? Go around them. That is all you need, without going on to ask, "So why are these things in the world anyway?" That question would be laughable to a student of nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you objected to the sight of shavings from their work on the shop floor. Yet they have somewhere to throw their rubbish, whereas the nature of the Whole has nothing outside itself.
The marvel of its craft is that it sets its own confines and recycles into itself everything which seems to be decaying, growing old, or losing its use, and then creates a fresh from the same material. In this way, it requires no substance other than its own and has no need for a rubbish dump. So it is complete in its own space, its own material, and its own craftsmanship.
Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome at the end of the Roman golden age, from 161 to 180 AD. He was notorious for being a humble leader and stoic philosopher. His Meditations, originally written in Greek, have been translated into nearly every language and serve as a source of inspiration to millions, yet he never intended for his writing to be published. It was never meant to be read by anyone. In fact, he wanted his writing burned after he died. There was no motive or agenda behind this work other than to serve as an internal dialogue of wisdom from his higher self to his lower self. Each and every one of us has this internal split: the higher self being the conscious, rational mind, and the lower self being the subconscious programs, behavior patterns, and impulses.
Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man on Earth for 19 years. He could have satisfied every desire of his lower impulses – sex with anyone, wine by the boatload, mountains of gold, unlimited temptation – and yet he did not disgrace himself. He did not live scandalously like almost every other ruler we know about in history. Marcus concerned himself with virtue, honor, philosophy, and serving the common good. He stands as history's shining example that absolute power does not always corrupt absolutely, which is why Meditations is still relevant nearly 2,000 years later.
This video will focus on one of the essential teachings of Marcus Aurelius – the power of indifference. Marcus Aurelius emphasizes that we must be indifferent about things that make no difference. This may seem like an obvious statement, but the power depth underlying this idea cannot be overstated. Indifference is not the same as not caring. It is not about being numb to life, nor is it about ignoring our emotions. Indifference is a separation of your higher self from physical reality, emotions, and thoughts. It is detachment from the outcomes, so the rational mind can observe events from a clear distance. Much of our time is spent worrying about the small stuff. We find things to complain about or obsess over, not knowing that these things bear no impact on our life in the greater context.
Change is the only constant. Change is inevitable. Our attachment to things that change is what causes us suffering. It is our resistance to change that causes us stress. Marcus Aurelius writes, "They kill, they cut in pieces, they hunt with curses. What relevance does this have to keeping your mind pure, sane, sober? Just as if a man were to come to a spring of clear, sweet water and curse it, it would still continue to bubble up water good to drink. He could throw in mud or dung, and in no time the spring will break it down, wash it away, and take no color from it. How then can you secure an everlasting spring and not a cistern? By keeping yourself at all times intent on freedom and staying kind, simple, and decent."
How do we keep our mind pure and sane? By being indifferent to everything that doesn't matter. By letting go of everything we can't control. By understanding the temporary, fleeting nature of the material world and focusing your mind on things that are eternal. In this way, you will see your place in the greater cosmos. You will see that on the highest level, everything is part of a balanced order. Within our bodies right now, there is a war happening between our immune system and parasites, yet we sit here breathing, functioning, and taking it all for granted. On a psychological level, there's a mental health crisis: an addiction epidemic, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and hopelessness. On a cultural level, there's political division, collapse of empires, wars, riots, protests, civil unrest, environmental destruction, and a plummeting birth rate. But on a cosmic level, the world is spinning, and all the planets are orbiting about in perfect harmony.
It's like in nature when a giant Redwood falls. Some would call it a tragedy, but it also creates space for sunlight to hit the forest floor, and seeds which had been laying dormant are now able to burst into life. All is part of a greater whole. All is part of a higher order, if only we had eyes to see it. Like Confucius wrote, "Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see it." When you detach from the outcomes, you will discover an invisible thread that connects the microcosm to the macrocosm, and you will see a beauty in everything.
Marcus Aurelius writes, "We should attend to things like these, observing that the incidental effect of the process of Nature has their own charm and attraction. Take the baking of bread: the loaf splits open here and there, and those very cracks, in one way a failure of the baker's profession, somehow catch the eye and give a particular stimulus to our appetite. Figs likewise burst open at full maturity, and an olive ripened on the tree, to the very proximity of decay, lends its special beauty to the fruit. So any man with a feeling and deeper insight for the workings of the whole will find some pleasure in almost any aspect of their disposition. He will see a kind of bloom and fresh beauty in an old woman or old man."
Marcus Aurelius took this attitude of indifference one step further and reflected it inward. He used it to change the way he perceived adversity in his own life. He saw that all the hardship he faced was training him for a higher purpose. All the pain you've endured has made you uniquely you, and in retrospect, looking back on my life, the times I've struggled the most strike me as the most beautiful and meaningful. Marcus Aurelius writes, "Why see more misfortune in the event than fortune in your ability to bear it? This is no misfortune, but to bear it true to yourself is good fortune." He goes on to write, "Whatever happens to you was being prepared for you from everlasting, and the mesh of causes was ever spinning from eternity for both your own existence and the incidence of this particular happening." "Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own."
It's easy to look back and see the times of hardship as a meaningful experience. It's much more difficult to see the beauty in the adversity we face in the present moment, but it can be done, and it's an amazingly powerful tool. It allows you to see clearly and make decisions using your conscious, rational mind. Instead of being dragged by your fears and impulses, you can lead with your higher self, which will ultimately lead you to what you want most in life – not what you want now, but what you want most.
Marcus writes, "You can strip away many unnecessary troubles which lie wholly in your own judgment, and you will immediately make large and wide room for yourself by grasping the whole universe in your thought, contemplating the eternity of time, and reflecting on the rapid change of each thing in every part: how brief the gap from birth to death, how vast the gulf of time before your birth and an equal infinity after your death." With this widened perspective, we can be indifferent to the never-ending peaks and valleys of the material world. We can be indifferent to the weather, other people's opinions, cultural trends, our own physical ailments, and even our death. This indifference will free us from the burden of suffering. Discomfort is inevitable, but suffering is a choice.
But does this mean we should be indifferent about everything? Absolutely not. Marcus Aurelius saw it was our duty as humans to reach our highest potential. He observed how everything in nature – the birds, bees, and plants – all have a role to fulfill. A tree grows big and powerful, not for fame or praise, but because that is what it was put on Earth to do. In order to live in accordance with nature, we must focus our energy on being the kindest, wisest, and most virtuous person we can be. We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we react, and therefore, as long as we use our rational mind, we get to decide who we become. Fate is what you were given; destiny is what you make of it.
On the highest level, one strives for the perfection of the soul – an accumulation of all the qualities you admire most: infinite integrity, honor, love, purpose, justice, and service. The word "perfection" has many negative connotations, and that is because perfection is impossible to attain, at least in any permanent way. It is not the attainment of perfect that we wish to possess, but the never-ending pursuit of it that keeps us moving in the right direction. This is what fulfills our soul: to reach for the highest form of the self. It is not ego worship; in fact, it is the exact opposite. The ego wants to control a situation, while indifference is a process of letting go. It is a complete shedding of everything that the ego has so vigorously manufactured. The ego gets attached to material objects; our true self, our soul, is attached to nothing, yet connected to everything. We must reach for this divine ideal, and although we will always fall short, as long as we orient ourselves toward it and use our free will to pursue it, we will live in accordance with nature and the universe.
Fyodor Dostoevsky summed up this sentiment beautifully with this quote: "The one essential condition of human existence is that man should always be able to bow down before something infinitely great. If men are deprived of the infinitely great, they will not go on living and will die of despair." Let go of what you can't control. Do not concern yourself with drama or doubt or temptation. Do not worry yourself by imagining your whole life at once. Pick your head up and aim yourself towards the highest ideal. Without an ideal, there is nothing to aspire to. Joy comes from making progress toward an ideal. The greater the ideal, the greater the joy. Understand the power of indifference. There is beauty to be seen in all things in the world and within yourself. There is nothing to run from. Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back. Remember that the integrity and purity of the soul is what matters. No matter what fate deals you, you have the power to keep your mind and soul pure, free, intent, and everlasting. Everything else does not matter.
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