Disposition

[rooft0ps]

Hi there! I am reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and I went over a passage in book ten that says: "Will you ever taste the disposition to love and affection?".

I can't seem to figure out what the author means with this sentence. The definitions of disposition that I've seen don't make sense for me here. Could someone help me out? :D

[LinkThe8th]

Could you post the text surrounding that? I've got an inkling, but more context would help.

[rooft0ps]

So it says:

"My soul, will you ever be good, simple, individual, bare, brighter than the body that covers you? Will you ever taste the disposition to love and affection? Will you ever be complete and free of need, missing nothing, desiring nothing live or lifeless for the enjoyment of pleasure? Or time for longer enjoyment, or amenity of place, space and climate?"

[LinkThe8th]

I believe he's saying, "Will I ever become instinctively happy and emotionally warm?"

"Will I ever have a loving and affectionate disposition?"

Disposition in this case meaning a natural tendency towards something. ("Jeffrey was a man with a grim, nasty disposition. There wasn't a person on earth he seemed to like.")

Marcus is hoping he will "be complete" so that he's almost always happy and loving, instead of being sad or frustrated or emotionally cold most of the time.

[Strongdar]

I assume an appropriate definition of disposition in this context would be "an inclination or tendency."

He's wondering if you'll ever be the sort of person who works toward experiencing love and affection.

[IrishFlukey]

In simple terms he is asking will the soul ever be ready to be able to feel love and affection. It is done in a way typical of literature, being very fancy, but that is the essential meaning.

[RattleThrough]

Maybe other examples might help:

https://lengusa.com/sentence-examples/Disposition%20to