Marcus Aurelius & The Holobiontic

Know thy zen.

Oct 08, 2025

Good morning!

How’s your week started?

I’ve got a cold – it’s finally happened. I’m run down after a bit of a mad month, which is set to take another turn on Monday – more on that next week…

Today, as I blow my nose, munch on mini eggs and wriggle and schmiggle, all heavy limbs and centred in a post-gym glow, I’m thinking on the second of three chats I recorded for the F&T podcast last week: “What if the rocket has already landed? | Freud, Cyborgs & the End of the World” with Dr Logan Collignon (available on Apple Podcasts on Wednesday evening, and Spotify and YouTube on Thursday morning; just look up “Fitness and Thinking” if you’re not already subscribed).

Logan is a senior researcher at the University of Sheffield, interested in cold war narratives and the post-human. While I expected us to talk about Sigmund Freud, Thomas Pynchon and Arnold Schwarzenegger – among other lovable, problematic rogues – she surprised me with a term to describe something I’ve been incidentally thinking about too, via Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: the holobiontic.

tl;dr

The holobiont is an idea from modern biology in which every organism is actually a collective of symbiotic relationships – human + microbes + environment + social context – rather than a sealed, independent self.

A number of Aurelius’ reflections on interdependence, impermanence and self-control chime with contemporary biological and ecological thought. In particular:

Aurelius thinks of himself as made up of body, breath and mind; in modern biological terms, we could say we are a part of ecosystems made up of human and microbial life. The Stoic idea that “what’s good for the hive is good for the bee” tracks neatly with the holobiont concept.
For the Stoics, virtue meant living in accordance with nature’s rational order. For a holobiont, health or flourishing is the equilibrium of multiple systems.
Stoicism distinguishes between what we can and cannot control; holobiont thinking reframes control as participation in shared systems. In both, autonomy is a product of cooperation.
Aurelius constantly works to de-centre his personal desires; holobiont theory decentralises the human individual itself. Both perspectives erode the illusion of separateness – a deeply modern, Collignon-coded, post-human realisation.

The self as system

Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations as private notes – reminders to himself, rather than manifestos for others. Yet across the centuries, these scraps of self-talk have become one of philosophy’s most enduring mirrors. He tried to train his perception toward acceptance, gratitude and proportion: to live “in accordance with nature.”

We tend to imagine “nature” as something external – trees, rivers, stars – but Aurelius’ sense of it was much closer to what we’d now call systems thinking. Everything, from the behaviour of ants to the ambitions of emperors, unfolds within a single living order. The Stoics called this sympatheia – the mutual resonance of all things.

In this light, modern science has simply “caught up with literary theory”, as Logan jibes in the podcast.

The cosmos within and without

In Meditations, Aurelius writes: “What brings no harm to the hive brings no harm to the bee.” It’s a simple image, but it captures the Stoic view of interdependence. The self, for him, is never an island. Each thought, emotion and act is part of a wider chain of cause and effect.

He tells himself not to be surprised when people behave according to their natures – just as a fig tree produces figs. He reminds himself that insult is not injury, that pain is information, and that chasing admiration from the dead or unborn is absurd – better to give generously to those who exist rather than ghosts and ideas of people been and yet to be.

Seen through that lens, Stoicism begins to sound eerily like an early ecology. There is no separate “you” apart from your environment. The self is a node in the network, not its centre – a temporary configuration rather than the organiser of the whole.

The holobiont arrives

Fast forward two thousand years. We now know that our bodies contain more microbial DNA than human. Our moods are influenced by the bacteria in our gut, our immune systems by the soil under our nails, our circadian rhythms by artificial light and social schedules – and the individual, that prized modern ideal, turns out to be a collective.

To be a holobiont is to be porous, dependent and relational. You don’t simply exist in an environment; you are an environment. Your wellbeing is co-authored by countless agents you’ll never meet.

When Aurelius breaks himself down into “body, breath and mind”, he’s doing a kind of ancient systems analysis. He’s reminding himself that he’s a temporary configuration of forces, not a fixed entity.

Virtue and equilibrium

Wisdom, courage, justice and temperance are ways of keeping both the body within the system, and the wider system itself, balanced.

Aspects of Stoicism, like aspects of Buddhism, are sometimes derided for their approach to “non-attachment”, and yet I’ve found that practising moderation, attention and gratitude – central tenets of both philosophies – has helped me, people I know, and research subjects alike experience a greater sense of regulation and appreciation for the everyday.

If you think of yourself as a holobiont, those same virtues make biological sense:

Wisdom is awareness of the whole – the ecology you’re both a part of and apart from.
Justice is reciprocity – the recognition that your flourishing depends on others’ flourishing.
Courage is integrity under stress – the system staying coherent amid turbulence.

Aurelius often wrote that you control your mind, not outside events. But for the holobiont, even the mind is not entirely internal. Our thoughts depend on sleep, nutrition, relationships and unseen networks of influence.

Here’s a thought for a Wednesday morning: what if we forswore the idea of “control” and sought “participation” instead? Contributing to the function and flow of systems for the benefit of the whole – the right functioning of our bodies within and outwith the environments we find ourselves in – shaping our place in the web as best we can, without pretending to stand above or outside it.

Mercy, mercy me (the Stoic ecology)

Both Stoicism and holobiont thinking dismantle the myth of the self-contained individual. They ask us to trade ownership for stewardship, mastery for membership.

To live as Aurelius suggests – with calm attention, acceptance and goodwill – is to live as a healthy holobiont would: responsive but not reactive, part of a larger flow rather than at odds with it. The Stoic doesn’t transcend the world; they come from it and return to it – life as an unstoppable collaboration that evolves, revolves and begins again, whether we want it to or not.

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