“ To live according to Nature is to live according to a man's whole nature, not according to a part of it, and to reverence the divinity within him as the governor of all his actions. ”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. 170 - 180). copy citation
| Author | Marcus Aurelius |
|---|---|
| Source | Meditations |
| Topic | action divinity |
| Date | c. 170 - 180 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by George Long |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15877/15877-h/15877-h.htm |
Context
“Bishop Butler has explained what the Greek philosophers meant when they spoke of living according to Nature, and he says that when it is explained, as he has explained it and as they understood it, it is "a manner of speaking not loose and undeterminate, but clear and distinct, strictly just and true." To live according to Nature is to live according to a man's whole nature, not according to a part of it, and to reverence the divinity within him as the governor of all his actions. "To the rational animal the same act is according to nature and according to reason" [A] (vii. 11) . That which is done contrary to reason is also an act contrary to nature, to the whole nature, though it is certainly conformable to some part of man's nature, or it could not be done.”
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