Implicated and Not Implicated

Marcus Aurelius writes what I often need to hear.

When I look for them, I find them.

He writes: “No one can implicate you in their ugliness.”

We consent to be implicated.

We don’t have to be undone by bad actors, assholes, or people who aren’t interested.

We don’t need to be steadily unwound by the world. We can keep a quiet landscape, an inner hospitality, and a friendliness with possibility and being surprised.

I recommend this.

What ARE we implicated in, then?

We are implicated in what nails and hammers we choose to hammer with.

The intersection of implicated and not implicated invite us to take a friendly seat and figure out what hammers, nails, and undoneness might be going on right below our level of consciousness.