Impervious to facts. Marcus Aurelius 5.19

Marcus notes the power of our minds to bend facts, or events. What matters to our judgment is not the fact per se, no matter what it is, but how it fits into our mind's narrative of self. That narrative will determine what the fact means, for us, and orient us in active terms relative to it. 


Τὰ πράγματα αὐτὰ οὐδ’ ὁπωστιοῦν ψυχῆς ἅπτεται οὐδὲ ἔχει εἴσοδον πρὸς ψυχὴν οὐδὲ τρέψαι οὐδὲ κινῆσαι ψυχὴν δύναται, τρέπει δὲ καὶ κινεῖ αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν μόνη καὶ οἵων ἂν κριμάτων καταξιώσῃ ἑαυτήν, τοιαῦτα ἑαυτῇ ποιεῖ τὰ προσυφεστῶτα.


On their own, events take no hold upon the soul. They have no access to her, nor can they turn or move her. Instead, she turns and moves herself alone, unaided, and whatever judgments she deems worthy to render upon herself, these are confirmed for her by everything that occurs.