Quote 1

Marcus Aurelius – “It is common when speaking of a doctor’s order to say: “Aesclepius prescribed for this fellow horseback riding, cold baths, or walking barefoot.” In the same way, we should be able to say, “Nature has prescribed a disease, a disfiguration, a dismemberment, or some other disability.” In the former case, treatments are prescribed to make a man physically whole, whereas in the latter case, circumstances are prescribed to complete or round out his destiny. These circumstances are like the stones that a stonemason uses to construct a wall or pyramid; they are selected and fit together to form one solid structure. By coming together in the right way all the individual stones become one. Just as the universe is the coming together of all the objects in it, so destiny is the one compelling the inescapable logic to which every cause contributes. This is expressed even by those who don’t fully understand it when they use an expression like “he had it coming.” Yes, he did have it coming. Nature prescribed it for him, and he should accept it as readily as he would a doctors’s orders. It may even hurt, but he welcomes it in hopes of being well again. Accept the prescriptions of natures as if they were intended for your own health, even if at times they may seem cruel or disagreeable to you. Remember that they are for the good of the universe and for the pleasure of God. Nothing is prescribed for any part that does not benefit the whole. After all, it would violate the nature of anything to act against its own interest in governing its parts. There are two reasons, then, for being content with whatever happens to you. The first is that it was meant just for you, prescribed for you, and preserved for you like a thread woven into your destiny from the very beginning. The second is that whatever happens to the individual contributes to the health, wholeness, and survival of the entire universe. You destroy the symmetry and continuity of the whole if you cut away even one part or remove a single cause. And that’s what you do, to the extent you’re able, every time you whine and complain – mutilate the whole by amputating the parts.”