Examine the environment around you. What do you see? Lift an ear to your surroundings. What do you hear? Take a healthy whiff of the air. What do you smell? Almost every person will have a different answer for each question. However, every response has one characteristic in common. Let’s say you see the oak tree outside your window shedding leaves in the autumn air. Your initial reaction to that observation might be, “Ugh, more leaves to rake out of the yard.” But, study the leaves a little closer. Now you might notice that the leaves add a beautiful shade of orange, yellow, and brown to the once dull, green grass. When we isolate objects and events aside from our immediate reactions, we feel a sort of charm or attraction to the focal point. Marcus Aurelius’ work Meditations provides readers with numerous relatable illustrations of this natural phenomenon.
Aurelius supplies one example of the charm of individual, natural occurrences through his model of baking bread. He states,
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He describes how figs “burst open at full maturity,” as well as how the ripened, decayed olives are considered beautiful (16). These instances accurately describe the phenomenon because they solicit the attention of our most trusted, yet least trustworthy, sense of perception, sight. If you know anything about figs, or if you have ever tried to grow them, you know that the cracking of their shells is frustrating when the fruits are not ready. However, it gives you a glimpse into what the fully ripened fruits will look like. Now your thoughts consist of fig newtons, fig pies, and fig muffins. Similarly, olives are best when they are fully ripened. You should pick olives in their last stage of growth when they are dark green or purple. They may not look as tasty as the bright greens of the growing olives, but they are sure to satisfy your taste