The Mind of the Universe. Marcus Aurelius 5.30

When Marcus looks into the world, he sees there the workings of a great mind, a vast ordering force beyond the power of humanity to understand or control in any comprehensive fashion. Like other Stoics, Marcus thinks that the universe is alive, moving with conscious purpose whose moment includes our own time and place without being limited, or limitable, to them. Our little moments of mindfulness are just so many tiny sparks cast off by the great glowing flame that is Mind.

Ὁ τοῦ ὅλου νοῦς κοινωνικός. πεποίηκε γοῦν τὰ χείρω τῶν κρειττόνων ἕνεκεν καὶ τὰ κρείττω ἀλλήλοις συνήρμοσεν. ὁρᾷς πῶς ὑπέταξε, συνέταξε, καὶ τὸ κατ’ ἀξίαν ἀπένειμεν ἑκάστοις καὶ τὰ κρατιστεύοντα εἰς ὁμόνοιαν ἀλλήλων συνήγαγεν.

The mind of the universe has a share in each and every thing. It has made things that are worse for the sake of things that are better, and has harmonized the better, so that each great thing supports the other. You see how it has subjected and ordered everything, giving to each its due and bringing the mightiest to mutual concord.