Today's message, "Our three relationships  in life are, 'one with the body you inhabit, one with the divine, one with the people around you', and all three are ruled by the mind."

So, I couldn’t help but add a J.R.R Tolkein twist to a passage from Book Eight of Meditations authored by the ruler of the Roman Empire for nearly two decades, Marcus Aurelius. He died in A.D. 161. His book of Meditations provides practical guidance on how to live life, face adversity and build relationships with others. In Book Eight, he writes that, “There are three relationships in life. 
 i. with the body you inhabit;
 ii. with the divine, the cause of everything in all things;
 iii. with the people around you”

As J.R.R. Tolkein wrote, "One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."  The One Ring embodied Sauron's powers as an indestructible force of evil. I think it is an interesting comparison, because our mind and its ability influence us, and those around us, is quite similar, in that it rules both positive and negative outputs, which is what Marcus Aurelius described in Book Eleven of Meditations.  He discussed how we trust in our breath and body to perform well, but it is over our minds, in which we have complete control and why we must be attuned and take good care of it to wield its power well.

When reading these passages in Meditations I’m reminded of Matthew 7:7 from the Bible which states, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Because when we are nurturing our minds spiritually, our relationships with the body, divine and people naturally align. When our inner peace is out of alignment, we must ask, seek guidance and take action to course correct.

The relationships we have in the body we inhabit, with God or the divine, and the people around us, are all interdependent on our state of being, rooted in the mind. And there is no person, illness or hardship that can disturb this inner peace. 

As Marcus Aurelius details by further writing, 

“Either pain affects the body (which is the body’s problem) or it affects the soul. But the soul can choose not to be affected, preserving its own serenity, its own tranquility. All our decisions, urges, desires, aversions lie within. No evil can touch them.”

As, Muslim scholar and teacher Rumi is often quoted as saying, “What you are seeking is also seeking you.” I take this to believe that perhaps it is not only the good experiences we seek but perhaps unconsciously also the bad as it provides each of us an opportunity for personal growth, by relying on our trust in God, in the divine and in ourselves to rise to the occasion in facing any hardship with humility, dignity and fortitude.

Like the expression, ‘mind over matter.’ Marcus Aurelius famously said, “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

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