Universal nature

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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · will, choice, and freedom · virtues · virtue as interpretation of events · the passions and the emotions · the nature and attributes of God · reason and the intellect · mind vs public opinion · justice · inner freedom and tranquility · art and nature

Usually: argument (2) · confronting death (1) · injustice endured (1) · curiosity (1) · detachment (1) · exhortation (1) · reverence (1)

Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius primary

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus · composed during the reign and campaigns of Marcus Aurelius; tradition places major composition in the 2nd century CE
Section. I have also added a “1.” before the first “thought” in each > BOOK VII. (7/7)

This section claims one can remain free from compulsion and keep a just judgment even amid public hostility and bodily destruction, because every event is material for virtue and the practice of art.

becoming a dialectician and skilled in the knowledge of nature, do not for this reason renounce the hope of being both free and modest, and social and obedient to God. 68. It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members of this kneaded matter which has grown …

Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius primary

He claims that no nature is inferior to art because arts imitate nature, and since universal nature is most perfect, justice arises as the foundation of other virtues.

13. How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life. 14. Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director (IV. 27). If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou resist? But if there is a providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the div…