From Here All Things Flow

Commentary on Meditations 2.3

The ancient Stoics believed in providence. Everything happens for a reason. The world is guided by divine intelligence. Marcus Aurelius reminds himself of this and why it matters in 2.3. He begins with metaphysical ideas – the universe is change – and ends with the philosophical reminder to live and die well. The way he moves to ideas of cosmic scale and then back to ordinary life is one of my favorite parts of his Meditations.

2.3

All that is from the gods is full of providence.

Everything that is from fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and interlacing with things ordered by providence.

From here all things flow; including necessity and the good of the whole universe, of which you are a part.

But what is good for every part of nature is what the whole of nature brings and what serves to sustain it.

Now the universe is sustained by the changing of elements and the changing of things made up of those elements.

Let these principles be enough for you. Let them always be fixed opinions.

But cast away the thirst after books, that you may not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from your heart thankful to the gods.

Meditations 2.3