Marcus Aurelius thinks the obstacle to your goal can become the way forward to achieve your goal. This post provides you with Aurelius' thoughts about this idea and applies them to life.
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When the Obstacle Becomes the Way Forward — Marcus Aurelius' Meditations 5.20
Every once in a while you come across a quote that sounds deep but it leaves you scratching your head. That happened on Instagram recently.
I came across a quote by Marcus Aurelius that sounded paradoxical. It was a post by Daily Stoic.
The quote from Marcus Aurelius read, "The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." It is from his Meditations, Book 5.20.
This sounds paradoxical at first. An obstacle blocks. It prevents progress. How, then, can an obstacle to a goal become the way to the goal. Hmmm...
Several people were perplexed by the quote. This prompted me to dig deeper and offer a possible explanation.
To Live as Nature Requires
Marcus often uses the phrase "to live as nature requires" to refer to our duty as human beings. As part of the natural order, we need to make good use of reason to align with the rational and coherent order of the universe—the logos.
We must actively participate in serving others. We must help people because our basic nature is unselfish. Action in alignment with what nature requires working for the good of others.
Against this backdrop we get Marcus's explanation of the mind's progress:
…progress for a rational mind means not accepting falsehood or uncertainty in its perceptions, making unselfish actions its only aim, seeking and shunning only the things it has control over, embracing what nature demands of it—the nature in which it participates, as the leaf’s nature does in the tree’s. (Meditations 8.7)
Accommodate and Adapt
To put together these ideas. Our goal is to help people. We aren't to try to control them or change them. When they "obstruct our proper tasks, they become irrelevant to us" (Meditations 5.20).
People might block our attempts to live out our purpose. They might initially block our actions. But, they cannot block "our intentions or our dispositions."
When we have proper intentions, or when we're disposed to act virtuously, our mind will "accommodate and adapt" to the hindrance. The obstacle will activate creativity in devising a new way to help people—a new way "to live as nature requires" and achieve our goal rightly oriented toward the logos.
As Marcus states, "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way" (5.20).
After trying to parse through this quote I was inspired to create an image of the quote.
Marcus Aurelius on how the obstacle to reaching our goal becomes the way to reach our goal.
A Practical Example
Let me end by applying the quote to everyday life.
Imagine that you want to better provide for your family. You want a raise at work to do so. But someone blocks you from getting this. Your boss tells you that you cannot get a raise. You ask, “why not?”
Your boss gives you a list of things you need to achieve before getting a raise. Your intentions adapt to this new information from the “obstacle” to your goal. Now you have a path forward. You know what you need to do to get your raise. The obstacle has become the way.
References:
Holiday, Ryan. The Daily Stoic. See the entry on June 30th (p. 196).
Note: Links to books above are affiliate links. The Philosophical Life gets a tiny commission if you use the link and buy the book--at no extra cost to you. This helps support the work of spreading philosophical wisdom for the good life. Thank you.
Big Takeaways
- The mind transforms obstacles to actions through the shaping of intentions.
- Our duty as rational creatures of the natural order is to serve other people.
- What appears to stop you from reaching your goal becomes the way forward to achieving your goal.
This lesson from Aurelius was integrated into the game Jedi: Fallen Order. It was phrased “The obstacle becomes the path.”
Thank you.
I also came across, “The only way out is through.”
– Robert Frost