Reading Journal 4

    Harm, just like benefit, is included within nature. Nature did not always include harm, but humanity created this problem when they decided to partake of the forbidden fruit within the garden, thus committing the first sin against God. Marcus Aurelius, both a philosopher and Roman emperor, tries to make amends with this seemingly harmful nature by stating, “This is in accordance with nature: and nothing harmful is in accordance with nature” (2.16). Nature cannot harm itself because everything in nature runs according to its usual course. Forest fires and even death seem harmful to the natural environment, but the cycle of life commands that organisms must die in order for new life to exist. Accordingly, we come to the conclusion that nature is not harmful to itself, but fallen man is harmful to nature. Aurelius writes, “The soul of a man harms itself, first and foremost, when it becomes (as far as it can) a separate growth, a sort of tumour on the universe” (2.16). Aurelius explains that man only harms himself when he separates himself from the course of nature and no longer follows its rules. In a Christian perspective, we do not follow the order of fallen nature as Marcus Aurelius does, but we try our best to follow the course of nature God has assigned to us. When Christians delve away from the natural course of following Christ, we become harmful to the universe as God has created it.