Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (e book free reading TXT) 📖

Generation (X. 26),  He Speaks Of

One Cause ([Greek: Aitia]) Acting,  And Then Another Cause Taking Up The

Work,  Which The Former Left In A Certain State,  And So On; And We Might

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Perhaps Conceive That He Had Some Notion Like What Has Been Called "The

Self-Evolving Power Of Nature;" A Fine Phrase Indeed,  The Full Import Of

Which I Believe That The Writer Of It Did Not See,  And Thus He Laid

Himself Open To The Imputation Of Being A Follower Of One Of The Hindu

Sects,  Which Makes All Things Come By Evolution Out Of Nature Or Matter,

Or Out Of Something Which Takes The Place Of Deity,  But Is Not Deity. I

Would Have All Men Think As They Please,  Or As They Can,  And I Only

Claim The Same Freedom Which I Give. When A Man Writes Anything,  We May

Fairly Try To Find Out All That His Words Must Mean,  Even If The Result

Is That They Mean What He Did Not Mean; And If We Find This

Contradiction,  It Is Not Our Fault,  But His Misfortune. Now Antoninus Is

Perhaps Somewhat In This Condition In What He Says (X. 26),  Though He

Speaks At The End Of The Paragraph Of The Power Which Acts,  Unseen By

The Eyes,  But Still No Less Clearly. But Whether In This Passage (X. 26)

Lie Means That The Power Is Conceived To Be In The Different Successive

Causes ([Greek: Aitiai]),  Or In Something Else,  Nobody Can Tell. From

Other Passages,  However,  I Do Collect That His Notion Of The Phenomena

Of The Universe Is What I Have Stated. The Deity Works Unseen,  If We May

Use Such Language,  And Perhaps I May,  As Job Did,  Or He Who Wrote The

Book Of Job. "In Him We Live And Move And Are," Said St. Paul To The

Athenians; And To Show His Hearers That This Was No New Doctrine,  He

Quoted The Greek Poets. One Of These Poets Was The Stoic Cleauthes,

Whose Noble Hymn To Zeus,  Or God,  Is An Elevated Expression Of Devotion

And Philosophy. It Deprives Nature Of Her Power,  And Puts Her Under The

Immediate Government Of The Deity.

 

"Thee All This Heaven,  Which Whirls Around The Earth,

 Obeys,  And Willing Follows Where Thou Leadest.

 Without Thee,  God,  Nothing Is Done On Earth,

 Nor In The Ethereal Realms,  Nor In The Sea,

 Save What The Wicked Through Their Folly Do."

 

Antoninus' Conviction Of The Existence Of A Divine Power And Government

Was Founded On His Perception Of The Order Of The Universe. Like

Socrates (Xen. Mem.,  Iv. 3,  13,  Etc.) He Says That Though We Cannot See

The Forms Of Divine Powers,  We Know That They Exist Because We See Their

Works.

 

"To Those Who Ask,  Where Hast Thou Seen The Gods,  Or How Dost Thou

Comprehend That They Exist And So Worshipest Them? I Answer,  In The

First Place,  That They May Be Seen Even With The Eyes; In The Second

Place,  Neither Have I Seen My Own Soul,  And Yet I Honor It. Thus Then

With Respect To The Gods,  From What I Constantly Experience Of Their

Power,  From This I Comprehend That They Exist,  And I Venerate Them."

(Xii. 28,  And The Note. Comp. Aristotle De Mundo,  C. 6; Xen. Mem. I. 4,

9; Cicero,  Tuscul. I. 28,  29; St. Paul's Epistle To The Romans,  I. 19,

20; And Montaigne's Apology For Raimond De Sebonde,  Ii. C. 12.) This Is

A Very Old Argument,  Which Has Always Had Great Weight With Most People,

And Has Appeared Sufficient. It Does Not Acquire The Least Additional

Strength By Being Developed In A Learned Treatise. It Is As Intelligible

In Its Simple Enunciation As It Can Be Made. If It Is Rejected,  There Is

No Arguing With Him Who Rejects It: And If It Is Worked Out Into

Innumerable Particulars,  The Value Of The Evidence Runs The Risk Of

Being Buried Under A Mass Of Words.

 

Man Being Conscious That He Is A Spiritual Power,  Or That He Has Such 

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Power,  In Whatever Way He Conceives That He Has It--For I Wish Simply To

State A Fact--From This Power Which He Has In Himself,  He Is Led,  As

Antoninus Says,  To Believe That There Is A Greater Power,  Which,  As The

Old Stoics Tell Us,  Pervades The Whole Universe As The Intellect[A]

([Greek: Nous]) Pervades Man. (Compare Epictetus' Discourses,  I. 14;

And Voltaire À Mad^E. Necker,  Vol. Lxvii.,  P. 278,  Ed. Lequien.)

 

    [A] I Have Always Translated The Word [Greek: Nous],

    "Intelligence" Or "Intellect." It Appears To Be The Word Used

    By The Oldest Greek Philosophers To Express The Notion Of

    "Intelligence" As Opposed To The Notion Of "Matter." I Have

    Always Translated The Word [Greek: Logos] By "Reason," And

    [Greek: Logikos] By The Word "Rational," Or Perhaps Sometimes

    "Reasonable," As I Have Translated [Greek: Noeros] By The Word

    "Intellectual." Every Man Who Has Thought And Has Read Any

    Philosophical Writings Knows The Difficulty Of Finding Words To

    Express Certain Notions,  How Imperfectly Words Express These

    Notions,  And How Carelessly The Words Are Often Used. The

    Various Senses Of The Word [Greek: Logos] Are Enough To Perplex

    Any Man. Our Translators Of The New Testament (St. John,  C. 1.)

    Have Simply Translated [Greek: Ho Logos] By "The Word," As The

    Germans Translated It By "Das Wort;" But In Their Theological

    Writings They Sometimes Retain The Original Term Logos. The

    Germans Have A Term Vernunft,  Which Seems To Come Nearest To

    Our Word Reason,  Or The Necessary And Absolute Truths Which We

    Cannot Conceive As Being Other Than What They Are. Such Are

    What Some People Have Called The Laws Of Thought,  The

    Conceptions Of Space And Of Time,  And Axioms Or First

    Principles,  Which Need No Proof And Cannot Be Proved Or Denied.

    Accordingly The Germans Can Say,  "Gott Ist Die Höchste

    Vernunft," The Supreme Reason. The Germans Have Also A Word

    Verstand,  Which Seems To Represent Our Word "Understanding,"

    "Intelligence," "Intellect," Not As A Thing Absolute Which

    Exists By Itself,  But As A Thing Connected With An Individual

    Being,  As A Man. Accordingly It Is The Capacity Of Receiving

    Impressions (Vorstellungen,  [Greek: Phantasiai],) And Forming

    From Them Distinct Ideas (Begriffe),  And Perceiving

    Differences. I Do Not Think That These Remarks Will Help The

    Reader To The Understanding Of Antoninus,  Or His Use Of The

    Words [Greek: Nous] And [Greek: Logos]. The Emperor's Meaning

    Must Be Got From His Own Words,  And If It Does Not Agree

    Altogether With Modern Notions,  It Is Not Our Business To Force

    It Into Agreement,  But Simply To Find Out What His Meaning Is,

    If We Can.

 

    Justinus (Ad Diognetum,  C. Vii.) Says That The Omnipotent,

    All-Creating,  And Invisible God Has Fixed Truth And The Holy,

    Incomprehensible Logos In Men's Hearts; And This Logos Is The

    Architect And Creator Of The Universe. In The First Apology (C.

    Xxxii.),  He Says That The Seed ([Greek: Sperma]) From God Is

    The Logos,  Which Dwells In Those Who Believe In God. So It

    Appears That According To Justinus The Logos Is Only In Such

    Believers. In The Second Apology (C. Viii.) He Speaks Of The

    Seed Of The Logos Being Implanted In All Mankind; But Those Who

    Order Their Lives According To Logos,  Such As The Stoics,  Have

    Only A Portion Of The Logos ([Greek: Kata Spermatikou Logou

    Meros]),  And Have Not The Knowledge And Contemplation Of The

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    Entire Logos,  Which Is Christ. Swedenborg's Remarks (Angelic

    Wisdom,  240) Are Worth Comparing With Justinus. The Modern

    Philosopher In Substance Agrees With The Ancient; But He Is

    More Precise.

 

God Exists Then,  But What Do We Know Of His Nature? Antoninus Says That

The Soul Of Man Is An Efflux From The Divinity. We Have Bodies Like

Animals,  But We Have Reason,  Intelligence,  As The Gods. Animals Have

Life ([Greek: Psychê]) And What We Call Instincts Or Natural Principles

Of Action: But The Rational Animal Man Alone Has A Rational,  Intelligent

Soul ([Greek: Psychê Logikê Noera]). Antoninus Insists On This

Continually: God Is In Man,[A] And So We Must Constantly Attend To The

Divinity Within Us,  For It Is Only In This Way That We Can Have Any

Knowledge Of The Nature Of God. The Human Soul Is In A Sense A Portion

Of The Divinity,  And The Soul Alone Has Any Communication With The

Deity; For As He Says (Xii. 2): "With His Intellectual Part Alone God

Touches The Intelligence Only Which Has Flowed And Been Derived From

Himself Into These Bodies." In Fact He Says That Which Is Hidden Within

A Man Is Life,  That Is,  The Man Himself. All The Rest Is Vesture,

Covering,  Organs,  Instrument,  Which The Living Man,  The Real[B] Man,

Uses For The Purpose Of His Present Existence. The Air Is Universally

Diffused For Him Who Is Able To Respire; And So For Him Who Is Willing

To Partake Of It The Intelligent Power,  Which Holds Within It All

Things,  Is Diffused As Wide And Free As The Air (Viii. 54). It Is By

Living A Divine Life That Man Approaches To A Knowledge Of The

Divinity.[C] It Is By Following The Divinity Within [Greek: Daimôn] Or

[Greek: Theos],  As Antonius Calls It,  That Man Comes Nearest To The

Deity,  The Supreme Good; For Man Can Never Attain To Perfect Agreement

With His Internal Guide ([Greek: To Hêgemonikon]). "Live With The Gods.

And He Does Live With The Gods Who Constantly Shows To Them That His Own

Soul Is Satisfied With That Which Is Assigned To Him,  And That It Does

All The Daemon ([Greek: Daimôn]) Wishes,  Which Zeus Hath Given To Every

Man For His Guardian And Guide,  A Portion Of Himself. And This Daemon Is

Every Man's Understanding And Reason" (V. 27).

 

    [A] Comp. Ep. To The Corinthians,  I. 3,  17,  And James Iv. 8,

    "Drawnigh To God And He Will Draw Nigh To You."

 

    [B] This Is Also Swedenborg's Doctrine Of The Soul. "As To What

    Concerns The Soul,  Of Which It Is Said That It Shall Live After

    Death,  It Is Nothing Else But The