8/11/08

Mondays Are For Meditating (With Marcus Aurelius), Pt. 1

Here's a portion from chapter 2 of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. I'm citing it here because it sounds uncannily familiar, kind of like, oh, let's say, Paul of Tarsus. Here's the text: "For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away."

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations II.2

I like here, how Aurelius goes a step further than Paul in a passage like the one located in 1 Cor. 12 and talks about how, when the parts are not working together, it is not only self-defeating but contrary to nature. In other words, had Paul gone a bit further, he could have suggested that the "nature" of the Body of Christ has to do with both unity and diversity. That implication may be buried in Paul's metaphor but because it is not explicity, it may often be overlooked. Good stuff!!!

2 comments:

  1. Small world! I am reading Meditations right now as well. I love MA! Check out Book 8.12.

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  2. Herbie,
    Small world indeed! I'll give 8.12 a look in a few minutes. Perhaps we can get some dialogue going on MA. Later man.

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