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.