Below is quoted a passage from Book 3.11 of the Meditations (Long's translation):
"For nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly every object which is presented to thee in life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the whole, and what with reference to man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities are like families; what each thing is, and of what it is composed, and how long it is the nature of this thing to endure which now makes an impression on me, and what virtue I have need of with respect to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest." (emphasis not in original).
The above passage speaks of of things, their functions, and their relationship to a whole. This reminds us of the material quoted earlier in this analysis from 1 Corinthians 12, in which the subject of the relationship of the parts of the human body, to the body as a whole, is brought up:
"For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body...If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?...God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. ..." (see part 37 for the full quotation of 1 Cor. 12:12-27).
Marcus Aurelius's Meditations (Long)
