Marcus Aurelius mentions in his texts the concept of "Nature", and writes that we should always strive towards "Living in accordance to nature". But what does this actually mean? Lets establish a clear definition of nature and continue our journey towards understanding and adopting Stoicism.
Essentially, there are two scopes within this definition that we can look into, starting with the nature of the Universe. The stoic teachings mention that the universal nature is a perfectly arranged system, and is structured in a physically deterministic fashion that is similar, if not identical, to fate. To live in accordance to the nature of the universe, is to accept what is there. We must see our world for what it is and act in alignment with it. Some of us might resent certain aspects of what reality presents to us, but we must learn to accept these events and continue our life by learning from them and never forget to keep moving forward.
There is a film from my childhood that I recall delivering this message in such a beautiful way, an animated film named "Meet the Robinsons" where the protagonist is able to learn this lesson by sticking to his passion and learning to move on from a dark past. The antagonist, on the other hand, represents a being who is unable to adopt this and clings onto events that have turned him into a negative and bitter person, ultimately depriving his own wellbeing as well as for those around him.
The second scope for "Nature" is Human Nature. As you may be able to deduce, universal nature is defined by circumstances, but human nature is defined mostly by choice. Let's move onto the morality of this concept, what the Stoics define as ethical and our moral obligations as part of a global society. A lot of us may think at some point, that when we willingly negatively affect our health or fail to comply with a responsibility that others may directly or indirectly depend on, we are only hurting ourselves, therefore it is morally acceptable to adopt auto-destructive behaviors or habits. However, we can argue that all actions that may cause any level of self-harm will ultimately negatively affect those around us, as it will in some way shorten or end our ability to fulfill our role as a sibling, a son, a parent, a lover or any productive member of society, our moral obligation is not only to care for others, but to first care for ourselves. This may sound counter-intuitive, but valuing one's health and wellbeing over others will consequently make the lives of those around better as we will be able to use our maximum potential physically and mentally to make our environment the best it can be.
You may have noticed by now that I am very into referencing media and pop-culture that I have seen throughout my life that I can relate to the teachings of Stoics, and one of the icons that come to mind is one of the world's most known superheroes, Spider-Man. You see, a typical story involving this protagonist will usually include a very popular quote, which you may have heard before "With Great Power, comes great responsibility".
In a superficial level, this may sound only relatable to those that we consider to have "Power" such as government officials, leaders or any other type of person that we would consider "powerful" or even just influential. What we don't consider is that we all have a level of power in the lives of those around us, we all have the ability to either make the lives of those around us pleasantly easier or painfully difficult. Think about the people that you live with, how many things can you think of that you can do that would make their day easier to go through, or just harder to go through? Think about what the close people in your life can do to make your day or make it a lot harder to deal with, stoicism teaches us to control the emotions coming from the actions that are not under our control, but naturally we are designed to feel and actions will ultimately define our natural emotions throughout our lives.
What I'm trying to say is that we all have a level of power in our environment, whether we consider it minimal or not we must account for the responsibility that we have to maintain our environment in a positive state, we must fight for what we consider unjust within our circle, and always act according to the wellbeing of the people that are part of our environment. If you've taken the time to read all of this, take a minute to think about the power that you have in your daily life and think about how you can use that power to boost the motivation and overall happiness of those around you, and understand that you have a responsibility as a member of your family, workspace, institution or society in general to make your space a better place.
I know what some of you are thinking, "I'm hardly able to sustain my own emotional wellbeing, now I have to make others feel good too?". On the other hand, some of you may have adopted a personality where you are already doing your best to help others but ultimately feel like it's not actually making you feel happy. Well, I'd like to dedicate my next entry to the method I'm using in order to find the balance between helping others and helping ourselves in order to find the motivation to fulfill your role as a gear that will make your environment a better place.
Happy holidays,
-Rob
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