Meditations V.20
In one respect a man is of very close concern to us, in so far as we must do him good and forbear; but in so far as any stand in the way of those acts which concern us closely, then man becomes for me as much one of things indifferent as the sun, as the wind, as a wild-beast. Though a man may in some sort fetter my activity, yet on my own initiative and mental attitude no fetters can be put because of the power they possess of conditional action45 and of adaptation to circumstances. For everything that stands in the way of its activity is adapted and transmuted by the mind into a furtherance of it,46 and that which is a check on this action is converted into a help to it, and that which is a hindrance in our path goes but to make it easier.
- 45.See iv. 1; vi. 50.
- 46.See iv. 1; x. 31, near the end.