Reverence And Justice

The Daily Stoic for October 10th, “Reverence And Justice”.

“Leave the past behind, let the grand design take care of the future, and instead only rightly guide the present to reverence and justice. Reverence so that you’ll love what you’ve been allotted, for nature brought you both to each other. Justice so that you’ll speak the truth freely and without evasion, and so that you’ll act only as the law and value of things require.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 12.1

I love today’s stoic meditation idea of focusing on the present. It’s very sympathetic towards meditation and mindfulness.

“Leave the past behind”… How many times I have regretted something I did in the past, a mistake I made, a sentence I shouldn’t have said? But focusing on that can’t change the past. So why commiserating about it?

“Let the grand design take care of the future”. I agree too. I have been traditionally worried about the future, obsessed with having everything planned and under control. I’m hoping that I have changed lately, and have come to realize that there’s always more room to maneuver than we think.

Reverence And Justice

Today’s stoic meditation asks us instead focus on the present and guide it to reverence and justice.

Reverence, in order to love what we’ve been allotted. We have to play the cards we’ve been dealt. That means that there’s going to be things we’re good at… and things we’re terrible at.

Acknowledge that and embrace both your gifts and your weaknesses. I, for example, know I’m good at building stuff that works, and terrible at selling and marketing. That’s both an opportunity for me to focus on what I do well and a challenge to learn things and get out of my comfort zone.

Justice, in my view, refers here to being honest and humble about them. Don’t try to pretend you are someone you are not. Don’t try to present yourself as a guru, or an expert, or a genius. Be who you are and try to share your knowledge and help others.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Reverence And Justice”, asks us to forget about the past or the future and, instead, focus on bringing the best of ourselves to the present.