Evening star., 1925-07-20
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

holds together all things. and con.
tains and embraces all things which
are dissolved for the production of
| other like things"
The above paragraph gives a
general striking instance of the con-
fusion that existed In the minds OF
A. D., as they tried to hold fast to
| their ancient religion of many
| gods and at the same time reconcile
| their inner belief in the existence OF
! one God
George Long, the translator Of the
"Mediations," gives a footnote ON the
| phrase. "the perfect living being, the
good and just and beautiful" as fol-
! lows:
THAT is. God. as he Is defined by
Zeno. But the confusion between
gods and God Is strange" He refers
to paragraph 40, Book ". of the
| "Meditations." which reads:
Constantly regard the universe as
one living being, having one sub
stance and one soul; and observe how
| all things have reference to one per-
| ception, the perception Of this one
| living being; and how all things act
| with one movement; and how all
things are the cooperating causes of
all things which exist; observe too
the continuous spinning of the thread
| and tho conjecture of the web
although this is not, of course, by
any means an exact parallel to the
Christian conception OF God, the
Father. it is like 1t in some respects,
at least, heing the overflow of an
earnest soul. Through the ages the
| ideals held by the best men have
been astinishlngly alike.
To me the ideals of Marcus Aurel-
| ius are not confusing, but natural
enough, in the times he lived. The
old gods were tottering. Jove had
about hurled his last thunderbolt: !:
| Venus was fair, fat and forty" the
| time had come for them to desert the
human stage.
Aurelius. with his huge good sense,
felt this in his heart, therefore he
spoke of "the perfect living being,
| the good and just and beautiful:
With such a conception Of Deity
neither evolutionist nor fundamen'
talist, I am sure, would want to
quarrel
Live as on a mountain" says
Marcus Aurelius.
1t is presumed that one living on
the top of a hill is in better posi-
IlOi W .IOOh uIouiiO iiiiih N'ioiA INV
man in the lowlands.
This would seem to mean, fgur-
atively, that such a man would be
able to see more widely and thus
know more, be more discriminating.
refusing TO accept everything brought
him simply because IL was brought
him.
The man who lives on a mountain
would be above the petty things of
life. He would not be as easily con-
fused about real issues as the man
with the limited, fiat vision of the
plains.
Nor would the mountain man be at
all interested in low levels of con-
versation, books. music. conduct. He
would not rush to the window as If
the devil were after him every time
he heard the fire engines snort past
He would realize that in the
affairs of this world the fire engine
companies were perfectly able 10
cope with the situation without his
visual assistance.
In the larger affairs of nature, he
would know as well that the world s
work was not dependent upon his
own regard to IL, but would wag
ahead as we'll without him as with
him.
On his mountaintop he would be
able to duplicate the experience OF
Moses, who found up there 10 Of the
essential rules of conduct for this,
our human life.
Live as on a mountain" says
Marcus Aurelius