Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
Description
Written in Greek, without any intention of publication, by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180, 1,900 years ago) offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe.
Ranging from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, they cover such diverse topics as the nature of moral virtue, human rationality, divine providence, and Marcus' own emotions.
But while the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation and encouragement, in developing his beliefs Marcus Aurelius also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a timeless collection of extended meditations and short aphorisms that has been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and readers through the centuries.
Key words: Meaning, Life, Existence
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My Notes
Introduction
The questions that mediations try to answer are primarily ethical ones: Why are we here? How should we live our lives? How can we ensure we do what is right? How can we protect ourselves against the stresses and pressures of daily life? How should we deal with pain and misfortune? How can we live with the knowledge that someday we might not exist?
The pattern of thought that is central to the Philosophy of meditations are three disciplines; the discipline of perception, action and will.
Perception – The discipline of perception requires that we maintain absolute objectivity of thought: that we see things dispassionately for what they are. One of its primary functions is to process and assess the data we receive from our senses. For example, the value judgements: good or evil are all thoughts.
Action – Relates to our relationship with other people. The Stoics are social animals. We must perform the best functions we can, ‘to live as nature requires’. We were made not for ourselves, but for others. Treat others as equals.
Will – This is in a sense the ‘discipline of action’ which governs the things we can control. However, the ‘discipline of will’ governs the things that are not in our control, those things done unto use by others. We control our own actions and are responsible for them. We must see things for what they are (perception) and accept them by exercising discipline of will. Then it follows that we must accept whatever fate has in store for us.
The three disciplines constitute a comprehensive approach to life. Everywhere at each moment, you have the option:
To approach this event with care, so nothing irrational creeps in (perception)
To treat this person as he should be treated (action)
To accept this event with humility (will)
We should try for ‘objective judgement, unselfish action, willing acceptance’ of all external events.
The entries in meditations were composed as a record if Marcus’s thoughts or to enlighten others, but for his own use, as a means of practicing and reinforcing his own philosophical convictions.
Marcus does not offer us a means of achieving happiness, but only a means of resisting pain.
Main text
Book 1
Not to be constantly correcting people, and in particular not to jump on them whenever they make an error or usage or a grammatical mistake or mispronounce something, but just answer their question or add another example, or debate the issue itself (not their phrasing), or make some other contribution to the discussion – and insert the right expression, unobtrusively.
Not to be telling people I’m too busy, not to be always ducking my responsibilities to the people around me.
Do your job without whining. Unwavering adherence to decisions. Hard work. Persistence. Advanced planning. He looked at what needed doing and not the credit to be gained from doing it. No bathing at strange hours, no self-indulgent building projects, no concern for food, or the cut and colour of his clothes. By using strength, perseverance and self-control he could abstain from things that most people find it hard to abstain from.
I had someone – as a ruler and a father – who could keep me from being arrogant and make me realise that even at court you can live without a troop of bodyguards, and gorgeous cloths – the whole charade. That you can always behave like an ordinary person.
Book 2
There is a limit to the time assigned to you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and never return. Do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions over-ride what your mind tells you. Treat yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others. People who labour all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time – even when hard at work.
If there was anything harmful on the other side of death, they would have made sure that the ability to avoid it was within you.
The present is the same for everyone. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have? The present is all you have.
Book 3
Don’t waste your time worrying about other people – unless it effects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too occupied with that so-and-so is doing, and why and what they’re saying, thinking, and what they’re up to and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your mind. Do not worry about what other people say or do or think.
He does only what is his to do and considers constantly what the world has in store for him – doing his best and trusting that all is “for” the best. For we carry our fate with us – and it carries us.
You can’t find something better than justice, honesty, self-control and courage. It would be wrong for anything to stand between you and attaining goodness – as a rational being and citizen. Anything at all: the applause of the crowd, high office, wealth or self-indulgence. These can control us and sweep us away. Better, “what is best for me”.
If you do your job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free from distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might give it back at any moment. If you can embrace this without fear or expectation – can find fulfilment in what you’re doing now, as nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance) – then your life will be happy. No one can prevent that. If your wellbeing matters to you, be your own saviour while you can.
Book 4
Men seek retreats for themselves - in the country, by the sea, in the hills - and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophical, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone quieter and relaxation than that into his own mind.
Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you have already seen. The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.
The tranquillity that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think or do. Only what ‘you’ do.
Do beautiful objects need beautifying? No. They’re beautiful themselves. Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it?
If you seek tranquillity, do less. Or more accurately, do what’s essential. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment. Is this necessary?
Make your way through life, no one’s master and no one’s slave.
Everything is born from change. All that exists is the seed that will emerge from it. Go deeper.
Be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.
When someone threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to ensure it and prevail is great good fortune.
Book 5
Some people when they do someone a favour is always looking for something in return. Don’t do that. Be like the vine that goes on bearing fruit in the season, without looking for anything in return.
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. The obstacle is the way.
Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.
You can lead and untroubled life provided you can grow, can think and act systematically. Two characteristics of gods and men:
Do not let others hold you back
To locate goodness in thinking and doing the right thing.
True good fortune is what you make for yourself.
Good character, good intentions, good actions = good fortune.
Book 6
Price is a master deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell.
Things ordinary people are impressed by fall into below categories;
Things that are held together by simple physics (like stones or wood)
Natural growth (figs, vines, olives).
Those admired by more advanced minds are;
Held together by a living soul (flocks of sheep, herds of cows)
Still more sophisticated people;
Admire what is guided by the rational mind – for its technical knowledge or for some skill. These people aren’t interested in other things. Their focus is on the state of their own mind – to avoid all selfishness and illogic, and work with others to achieve a goal. To respect your own mind – to prize it – will leave you satisfied with your own self, well integrated into your community.
I think it’s this: to do (and not to) what we were designed for. The thing they create should do what it was designed to do. Hold onto that and you won’t be tempted to aim at anything else.
If anyone can refute me – show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective – I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.
A model for living
Energy in doing what is rational
Steadiness in any situation
Calm expression
Gentleness
Modesty
Eager to grasp things
Examine things thoroughly
Put up with unfair criticism, without returning it
Not be hurried
Don’t listen to naysayers
Good judge of character
Courage
Not jealous
Content with basics – food, living conditions
Work rate
Consistency and reliability as a friend
His tolerance for people who openly questioned his views
Delight in seeing his ideas improved on
So, when your times comes, your conscience will be clear.
Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside your minds.
Book 7
I can control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What’s outside my mind means nothing to it.
Practice acceptance. Our own worth is measured by what we devote our energy to.
Focus on what is said when you speak and on what results from each action.
Don’t be ashamed to need help. If you need a comrade to pull you up. So what?
Frightened of change? Can any vital process take place without something being changed?
The mind’s requirements are satisfied by doing what we should, and by the calm it brings us.
Stop being jerked like a puppet.
Focus your mind on what happens and what makes it happen.
Wash yourself clean. With simplicity, with humility, with indifference to everything.
Ask yourself – how can I best live the life before me?
Our business is with things that really matter. Dig deep; the water – the goodness is down there. And as long as you keep digging, it will keep bubbling up. Have a perpetual spring. Work to win your freedom. Hour by hour. Through patience, honest, humility.
Book 8
The philosopher’s new ‘the what, the why, the how’. Their minds were their own.
Don’t be overheard complaining about life.
What defines a human being – is to work with others.
Blame no one.
There are three relationships
With the body you’re in
With what happens around you
With other people
Speak in the right tone. Choose the right words.
Humility – to accept it without arrogance, to let it go without concern.
Don’t let your imagination get the better of you. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could happen. Stick with the situation at hand and ask. Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?
Book 9
To do harm is to do yourself harm. To do an injustice is to do yourself an injustice – it degrades you.
At this very moment
Objective judgement
Unselfish action
Willing acceptance
When we help others, we are doing what we were designed for. We perform our function.
Book 10
Stop complaining, you can endure anything.
If they make a mistake, correct them gently.
Your actions & perceptions need to aim;
At accomplishing practical ends
At an exercise of thought
At maintaining a confidence founded on understanding.
What someone says about him or how they treat him, isn’t something he worries about. Only these two questions:
Is what he’s doing now the right thing to be doing?
Does he accept and welcome what he’s been assigned?
To follow the logos – try to be relaxed, energetic, joyful and serious all at once.
Whatever it may be, you can do or say it. Don’t pretend that anything’s stopping you.
Book 12
Stop thwarting your own attempts.
Accept what you’re allotted.
It isn’t ceasing to live that you’re afraid of, but never beginning to live properly.
It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion that our own.
Practice even what seems impossible.
Life is all in how you perceive it. That’s it all in how you choose to see things. The present is all we have to live in. Or to lose.
The student as boxer not fencer;
The fencer’s weapon is picked up and put down again
The boxer’s is part of him. All he has to do is clench his fist.
“If it’s not right, don’t do it. If it’s not true, don’t say it”
