“Doth either the sun take upon him to do that which belongs to the rain? Or his son Aesculapius that which unto the earth doth properly belong? How is it with every one of the stars in particular? Though they all differ one from another, and have their several charges and functions by themselves, do they not all nevertheless concur and cooperate to one end?
“If so be that the gods have deliberated in particular of those things that should happen unto me, I must stand to their deliberation, as discrete and wise. For that a god should be an imprudent god, is a thing hard even to conceive: and why should they resolve to do me hurt? For what profit either unto them or the universe (which they specially take care for) could arise from it? But if so be that they have not deliberated of me in particular, certainly they have of the whole in general, and those things which in consequences and coherence of this general deliberation happen unto me in particular, I am bound to embrace and accept.” ~Marcus Aurelius
Sun and Rain in Cooperation
Aurelius is correct in saying that the sun doesn’t try to do the job of the rain. Neither does winter try to do the job of summer. Frogs do not injure themselves trying to fly and squirrels don’t try to swim underwater like fish. Each thing has its own purpose and its own environment to live in. When they try to usurp that of another species, chaos ensues. Fortunately, that rarely happens.
While the point Aurelius is making is true, there is one thing he misses. The sun is more involved in the activities of other forces and beings than he thinks. Studies in modern times have shown that patterns of sunspots and other cycles on the sun can be used to predict such things as earthquakes and hurricanes. So you might say that while it is true that the sun doesn’t do the job of the rain, the sun may often act as a kind of supervisor directed the rain and the wind, the sky and the earth.
For Everything There is a Purpose
Everything has its own purpose and there is nothing that does not have a purpose. It may be that the only purpose of some things is to irritate and annoy us humans, or make us sick, but that is still a purpose. Sometimes, we need to be taught humility. The important thing is that each thing, each being, must serve its own purpose and not try to do the job of another.
Just take your physical body as an example. If your liver suddenly decided it wanted to do the job of the heart, and the heart wanted to do the job of the stomach, you wouldn’t last long. Your heart is not equipped to digest food and your liver can’t pump blood like the heart does. When each part does its own job and all of them work together in harmony you live a long and healthy life. When your body parts don’t do their job, or try to do something else, you end up getting cancer or having a heart attack. So it is not only important for each thing to do its job, it also has to do it in cooperation and harmony with the other parts.
Universal Body
That need isn’t limited to our physical bodies. Our planet is a physical body. The universe of matter is a physical body. On all levels, that cooperation and coordination must happen to keep things going smoothly. When one species on Earth does whatever it wants with no regard for others, disasters happen. When one planet get out of harmony with the universe, it has to be stopped. Either something will be done to get the planet back in line, or it will be destroyed. The overall health and harmony of the universe is more important than and one planet or star.
The Physical and the Spiritual
There also has to be harmony and cooperation between the spiritual and physical levels of reality. Even though the physical universe is an error created by the Demiurge, the fallen angels, it must function with the other levels. It does that to a large degree, but not as much as necessary. That is why it must be changed back into spirit. Spirit always stays in harmony, matter doesn’t. Matter doesn’t accept the superiority of the spiritual universe so it doesn’t cooperate with it any more than it has to.
Adult Supervision
One reason why cooperation and harmony doesn’t always work well is because there are so many things and beings to cooperate with. This is where a hierarchal structure comes into play. It is where a supervisor is needed. God is he ultimate supervisor of all of it. He may give some such powers to his angels, but God Himself still remains in charge. It was only when the fallen angels decided to do things on their own that the aberration of the physical universe happened. If they had stayed within God’s law, everything would have remained in harmony and we wouldn’t have death and disease. But that cooperation and harmony must be maintained. For that reason, the physical universe must be repaired.
