《沉思录·卷六·宇宙即变化》第40条
Every instrument, tool, vessel, if it does that for which it has been made, is well, and yet he who made it is not there. But in the things which are held together by nature there is within, and there abides in them the power which made them; wherefore the more is it fit to reverence this power, and to think, that, if thou dost live and act according to its will, everything in thee is in conformity to intelligence. And thus also in the universe the things which belong to it are in conformity to intelligence.
注释摘要
你在读的这段话，是奥勒留用一个日常生活中极普通的观察，撬开一个很深的斯多葛派自然哲学命题。他拿人造物和自然物做了一个对比，这个对比的每一步都是可以拆开的。 他先说，一件工具，一把刀、一个陶罐，只要它能做出它被造出来时所指向的那个功能，它就是好的，没有问题。但做这把刀的工匠并不住在刀里面，他做完了就在外面，刀的存在与工匠的存在是分离的。这一点奥勒留说得很平静…