Meditations IV.29
If he is an alien in the Universe who has no cognizance of the things that are in it, no less is he an alien50 who has no cognizance of what is happening in it. He is an exile, who exiles himself from civic reason; blind, he who will not see with the eyes of his understanding51; a beggar, he who is dependent on another, and cannot draw from his own resources all that his life requires; an imposthume52 on the Universe, he who renounces, and severs himself from, the reason of our common Nature, because he is ill pleased at what happens—for the same Nature brings this into being, that also brought thee; a limb cut off from the community,53 he who cuts off his own soul from the soul of all rational things, which is but one.
- 50.iv. 46. Compare 1 Peter iv. 12.
1 Peter 4:12 has “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (King James).
- 51.St. Matthew xiii. 15.
Matthew 13:15 has “their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes” (King James).
- 52.See ii. 16.
- 53.viii. 34. Compare St. Paul, Romans xii. 5; 1 Corinthians xii. 20 f.
Romans 12:5 has “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another,” and 1 Corinthians 12:20 “But now are they many members, yet but one body” (King James).