Always think of the universe as one living organism, with a single substance and a single soul; and observe how all things are submitted to the single perceptivity of this one whole, all are moved by its single impulse, and all play their part in the causation of every event that happens. Remark the intricacy of the skein, the complexity of the web.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Four
This has always been one of my favorite passages from the Meditations, and I suppose it is striking me as even more true and powerful as we're a few days into another Ramadan. Over the years I know I've proposed this several times, but we do such a disservice to Ramadan when we simply turn it into a physical act; that is, when we turn it into nothing more than fasting. Sadly, I suspect we do this because it is more easily quantified, and thus critiqued and judged. You will frequently have brothers ask you if you're fasting or if you got your hours of fasting in, but I can never remember a brother asking if I read the Qur'an or the Hadith or related works or if I was satisfied with the number of hours I spent in meditation and self-reflection. Again, my favorite part of Ramadan is the time I spent in the latter. What strikes me more every year, and with every rereading of the Qur'an, is the "intricacy of the skein," as MA would have it.
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