The Moment

Marcus Annius Verus – better known as emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus – wrote most of his Meditations (the cornerstone compendium of Stoicism) as he fought German tribes along the Danube for about a decade roughly between 170 and 180 AD.

One can speculate that it was perhaps the ever-changing flow of the river that inspired him to compose the celebrated line omni tempore te ipsum interroga: estne hoc necessarium? – ask yourself at every moment, ‘is this necessary?’.

Along with duration of time, a “moment” measures – in physics – the tendency of a force that causes a body to rotate about a specific point or axis, and – in navigation – a ship’s stability. Whether they remain in port or navigate in open water, all boats must both maintain their upright position (righting moment) while contending with the complex interplay of forces (wind, waves or the weight of the cargo) causing them to heel (to tilt) and evaluate at all times their centers of buoyancy and gravity.

Can optimism help us expand (our heart, our consciousness, our hopes) to meet our moment instead of shrinking from it, or shirking it?

Can it strengthen our steadiness while we face every moment we encounter in our lives – by viewing all of them as necessary for our growth without labeling them ‘right’ or ‘wrong’?