"To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions."

On August 5, 2010, the San José copper mine in Chile collapsed, trapping 33 men 2,300 feet underground. They were buried under 700,000 tons of rock. They had enough food for two days. They were in total darkness, in 90-degree heat.

Panic could have set in immediately. If the men had acted against one another by fighting for the limited food, blaming each other, or splitting into rival gangs, they would have died long before help arrived.

But the foreman, Luis Urzúa, organized the men into a single cooperative unit. They established a strict democracy. They rationed the food: one teaspoon of tuna and a sip of milk every 48 hours. They designated areas for sleeping and sanitation. They held each other up psychologically.

Above ground, the same principle took hold. It wasn't just Chile trying to save them. The whole world cooperated. NASA sent engineers. An American company from Pennsylvania provided the drill bits. Experts from Canada and Australia flew in. Ideologies and borders were ignored. The "whole" of humanity focused on one goal: saving the parts.

For 69 days, the men held together. When the rescue capsule finally broke through, all 33 men were brought to the surface alive. The miracle wasn't the drilling technology. The miracle was the cooperation. If the miners had fought, they would have starved. If the international community had withheld help due to politics, the drill would have failed.

Marcus Aurelius repeats this idea frequently because it is the bedrock of Stoic physics and ethics. He looks at the human species like a single organism. You are a cell, humanity is the body.

A cancer cell is simply a cell that decides to "act against" the whole. It takes resources without contributing. It attacks its neighbors. The result of this non-cooperation is the death of the host, which inevitably leads to the death of the cancer cell itself.

When you obstruct a colleague, scream at a driver, or try to destroy a rival, you are acting contrary to nature. You are behaving like a cancer. You are violating the design specifications of your own species.

Errors & Corrections

• Don't confuse "competition" with "acting against". In sports, two teams compete to create a good game. They agree on the rules. That is cooperation. "Acting against" is cheating, fouling, or trying to injure the opponent.
• Don't value "independence" over "interdependence". The myth of the "self-made man" is dangerous. No one is self-made. We are all supported by the infrastructure, language, and labor of the whole. Acknowledge your debts.

Don't justify conflict as "human nature". People often say, "War is human nature." The Stoics argue that reason and cooperation* are human nature. War is a failure of reason, just as disease is a failure of health.

Applications to Modern Life

Work

Silos kill companies. When the Marketing department hides data from the Sales department to look better, they are acting against one another. This internal friction generates heat but no light. A leader must dismantle these silos and remind everyone that they are on the same P&L statement. If the boat sinks, they all drown.

Athleticism & Sport

Watch a basketball team that refuses to pass. One player dribbles for 20 seconds and takes a bad shot while four teammates stand and watch. This is acting against the nature of the game. The integrity of the whole requires the ball to move. An assist is the ultimate Stoic play. It's the surrender of individual glory for the success of the collective.

Politics

Gridlock occurs when parties decide that hurting the other side is more important than helping the country. They block legislation not because it's bad, but because passing it would give the "enemy" a win. This is contrary to nature. The purpose of government is the common good. Obstructionism for its own sake is a violation of the civic oath.

Interpersonal Relationships

In a divorce, couples often weaponize the children or the finances. They want to "win" the breakup. But you cannot "win" a divorce by destroying the other person, because you are still connected by history and often by children. To act against your ex-partner is to act against the stability of your children’s lives. Cooperation (mediation) preserves the integrity of the family unit, even in its new form.

Social Media

"Cancel culture" and mob pile-ons are the digital version of acting against one another. We see a mistake and we swarm to destroy the person. This isn't justice; it's a feeding frenzy. A Stoic uses social media to correct errors constructively (cooperation), not to annihilate the person who made them (destruction).

Leadership

A bad leader pits employees against each other, thinking that "survival of the fittest" creates excellence. It doesn't. It creates paranoia and secrecy. A Stoic leader builds a culture where a win for one is celebrated as a win for all. They incentivize cross-functional support, not gladiator combat.

Maxims

• Friction creates fire; flow creates progress.
• The right hand washes the left.
• A house divided cannot stand.

In-depth Concepts

Sympatheia (Cosmic Sympathy)

The Stoics believed in Sympatheia: the idea that all parts of the universe are mutually non-independent. Just as a pinch on your arm is felt by your brain, an injustice in one part of society is felt by the whole. We are connected by an invisible nervous system. To hurt another is to send a pain signal to yourself.

Constitution of the Whole (Systasis)

Marcus often refers to the "constitution" or "structure" of the universe. The universe is structured for harmony. When we cooperate, we are swimming downstream with the current of the universe. When we fight, we are swimming upstream. It is exhausting and ultimately futile.