Roman Calendar

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Inner Citadel and the two Natures

     In The Inner Citadel, Pierre Hadot looks at Marcus Aurelius' idea of there being two "Natures" - an inner Nature (the soul), which emanates from outer, universal Nature (Providence, God, Zeus, whatever you want to call it).

"In this very moment I have what common Nature wants me to have at this moment, and at this moment I am doing what my own nature wants me to do at this moment (V, 25, 2).

     As Marcus says, the road that these twwo different natures follow is, in fact, the same (V,3,2); it is the straightest and shortest road. It is here, moreover, that the notion of the daimōn briefly reappears, and it is extremely interesting to observe an identification and an opposition between the 'outer' god, who is universal Nature or Reason, and the 'inner' god - the daimōn or hēgemonikon - who emanates from it (V, 10, 6):

Nothing will happen to me which is not in conformity with the Nature of the All. It depends on me to do nothing which is contrary to my god and my daimōn."

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