Stoic Meditation #2 - Enemies, Trust
Time is God saying, "Trust me."
Not what your enemy sees and hopes that you will, but what’s really there.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.11
Enemies take many forms. They can be external and they can be internal. They can be beautiful or ugly, smiling or frowning, friendly or aggressive. They can take many forms - people, animals, objects, or time. However you may define your enemies, one thing that will be common to all of them is their view of the world and what motivates them is to some degree - small or vast - different from how you view the world and what motivates you.
Simple case: A rock. It can't care so it doesn't care about anything you care about. Shout and struggle against any rock blocking your path and it will remain unmoved. Rock don't care.
Complicated case: Another person. If they are untrustworthy, they will work to persuade you to see the world the way they want you to. This is their design for you, their hope.
So what can we do? It's an impoverished life that moves about distrusting everyone, assuming everyone is an enemy until proven to be otherwise. Just the thought of living that way is exhausting.
There's a much easier way to move about in the world. Develop the skills for viewing the world in it's simplest elements - to see what's really there, as Marcus Aurelius advises his self. Many of these skills require we unlearn what we've been taught, but once reacquired, identifying the untrustworthy is effortless and trust is easy.
Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash