9781945186240

humans feel less responsibility to our logos than builders or pharmacists
do? A logos we share with the divine?
36. Asia and Europe: distant recesses of the universe.
The ocean: a drop of water.
Mount Athos: a molehill.
The present: a split second in eternity.
Minuscule, transitory, insignificant.
36a. Everything derives from it—that universal mind—either as effect
or consequence. The lion’s jaws, the poisonous substances, and every
harmful thing—from thorns to mud . . . are by-products of the good and
beautiful. So don’t look at them as alien to what you revere, but focus on
the source that all things spring from.
37. If you’ve seen the present then you’ve seen everything—as it’s been
since the beginning, as it will be forever. The same substance, the same
form. All of it.
38. Keep reminding yourself of the way things are connected, of their
relatedness. All things are implicated in one another and in sympathy with
each other. This event is the consequence of some other one. Things push
and pull on each other, and breathe together, and are one.
39. The things ordained for you—teach yourself to be at one with those.
And the people who share them with you—treat them with love.
With real love.
40. Implements, tools, equipment. If they do what they were designed
for, then they work. Even if the person who designed them is miles away.
But with naturally occurring things, the force that designed them is
present within them and remains there. Which is why we owe it special
reverence, with the recognition that if you live and act as it dictates, then
everything in you is intelligently ordered. Just as everything in the world is.
41. You take things you don’t control and define them as “good” or
“bad.” And so of course when the “bad” things happen, or the “good” ones
don’t, you blame the gods and feel hatred for the people responsible—or