Meditations #12

 We have three relationships: one to this bodily shell which envelops us, one to the divine Cause which is the source of everything in all things, and one to our fellow-mortals around us.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Eight

As you know, I've proposed that there are three books that made me a better person: the Qur'an, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. I often tell my students that while Islam and Buddhism may seem worlds apart, when it comes to the day to day business of living your life and making decisions on a second by second basis they're remarkably similar. Truthfully, I would make the same argument about how Islam and the Stoicism operate on a day to day basis, and the passage above is a good example. The Stoic "divine Cause" is not an exact match for Allah, but in both cases we're instructing to consider the divinity within the world (and maybe ourselves) and our relation to it. Not surprisingly both emphasize looking after the "fellow-mortals around us." They both place weight on looking after this bodily shell. The other night in class we were discussing the categories of actions and values in Islamic law, and Nasr reminded us, as part of the five categories, "Obligatory injunctions include the 'pillars of Islam,' or the rites to which we shall turn later, and taking good care of one's health of the extent possible." (The Heart of Islam, p. 126) Both of these belief systems are activists, and you are required to make, as much as you can, the world a better place, and it starts with your ability to do that physically.