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鬲丕賲賱丕鬲
The emperor Marcus Aurelius, the proverbial philosopher-king, produced in Greek a Roman manual of piety, the Meditations, whose impact has been felt for ages since. Here, for our age, is his great work presented in its entirety, strongly introduced and freshly, elegantly translated.
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First published January 1, 180
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August 2, 2021
In many important ways, the reflections of Marcus Aurelius (121 AD-180 AD) crystallize the philosophical wisdom of the Greco-Roman world. This little book was written as a diary to himself while emperor fighting a war out on the boarder of the Roman Empire and today this book is known to us as The Meditations.
The Roman philosophers are not as well known or as highly regarded as Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, or Zeno the Stoic - and for a simple reason: the Roman thinkers were not primarily interested in abstract theory; rather, they were concerned with behavior, that is, understanding how to live in the everyday world and putting their understanding into practice,the goal being to live the life of an authentic philosopher, to be a person of high character and integrity and virtue, to develop inner strength and a quiet mind and value such strength and quietude above all else.
Indeed, to accomplish such a lofty goal, the Romans realized the need for radical transformation, a complete overhauling of one's life through rigorous mental and physical training, like turning base metal into pure gold. And once a person takes on the role of a philosopher, their deeds must reflect their words - no hypocrisy, thank you! Thus, it isn't surprising the Romans put a premium on memorizing and internalizing simple proverbs and maxims and employed the metaphor of philosophy as the medicine to cure a sick soul.
Turning now to Marcus Aurelius, we can appreciate how he imbibed the wisdom not only from the Stoics (along with Seneca and Epictetus, Marcus is considered one of the three major Roman Stoics), but he was also willing to learn from the schools of Epicurus, Plato and Aristotle. In the Greco-Roman world, being eclectic was perfectly acceptable; truth was valued over who said what.
We find several recurring themes in The Meditations:
1) develop self-discipline to gain control over judgments and desires;
2) overcoming a fear of death;
3) value an ability to retreat into a rich, interior mental life (one's inner citadel);
4) recognize the world as a manifestation of the divine;
5) live according to reason;
6) avoid luxury and opulence.
But generalizations will not approach the richness and wisdom nuggets a reader will find in Marcus's actual words. Thus I'll conclude with my personal observations coupled with quotes from Book One, wherein Marcus begins by expressing heartfelt thanks to his family and teachers for the many fine lessons he learned as a youth. Here are four of my favorites:
"Not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home" ---------- After my own nasty experience with the mindless competition and regimentation of public schools, I wish I had Marcus's good fortune of excellent home schooling.
"Not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander." ---------- I didn't need a teacher here; I recognized on my own at an early age that gossip is a colossal waste of time and energy, both listening to gossip and spreading gossip. I can't imagine a clearer indication of a base, coarse mind than someone inclined to gossip and slandering others.
"To read carefully, and not to be satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book." ---------- How true. Reading isn't a race to get to the last page; matter of fact, I agree with Jorge Luis Borges that focused, precise rereading is the key to opening oneself to the wisdom of a book.
"To be satisfied on all occasions, and be cheerful." ---------- I'm never in a hurry. Life is too beautiful to be in a hurry. For me, there is only one way to live each day: in joy and free from anxiety and worry. In a sense, along with the goal of virtue, all of the meditations of Marcus Aurelius amplify this simple view of life.
I've written this review as an encouragement to make Marcus Aurelius a part of your life. You might not agree with everything he has to say, but you have to admit, Marcus has a really cool beard and head of hair.
August 12, 2024
When I was a freshman in college, I lived in a dorm. My roommate was on the football team. He would write inspiring things on poster board and hang them in our room often on the ceiling above his bed to motivate himself. He favored straightforward sentiments like "never give up."
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius did not hang motivational posters for inspiration. Instead, he kept a journal in which he collected his thoughts about how to live well. MEDITATIONS is that book.
Most people have heard that Aurelius counsels to expect the worst and you will never be disappointed. While that is part of what he has to say, it is not the most interesting of what he has to say. At his most thoughtful, Aurelius calls on us to ask the best of ourselves and never mind the behavior of others. His MEDITATIONS is a work of motivational advice to inspire us in the ways of stoicism. It is a manual for being a complete, mature adult. It is a guide for living a dignified, thoughtful life.
Consider: "Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow 'or the day after'. Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn't kick up a fuss about which day it was - what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small." Book IV (Greg Hays trans., Modern Library)
Or: "Concentrate every minute like a Roman - like a man - on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from distractions. Yes, you can - if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that's all even the gods can ask of you." Book II
And: "If at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage - than a mind satisfied that it succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what is beyond its control - if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations - it must be an extraordinary thing indeed - and enjoy it to the full." Book III
That these thoughts came from the most powerful man in the world, a man whose personal power so vastly exceeded the personal power of any American president that we have difficulty comprehending it, makes it all the more impressive. Aurelius continually writes that strength comes from humility, self-restraint and good humor towards others. He teaches us to accept what we cannot control and to trust what we know.
Good advice, indeed.
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius did not hang motivational posters for inspiration. Instead, he kept a journal in which he collected his thoughts about how to live well. MEDITATIONS is that book.
Most people have heard that Aurelius counsels to expect the worst and you will never be disappointed. While that is part of what he has to say, it is not the most interesting of what he has to say. At his most thoughtful, Aurelius calls on us to ask the best of ourselves and never mind the behavior of others. His MEDITATIONS is a work of motivational advice to inspire us in the ways of stoicism. It is a manual for being a complete, mature adult. It is a guide for living a dignified, thoughtful life.
Consider: "Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow 'or the day after'. Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn't kick up a fuss about which day it was - what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small." Book IV (Greg Hays trans., Modern Library)
Or: "Concentrate every minute like a Roman - like a man - on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from distractions. Yes, you can - if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that's all even the gods can ask of you." Book II
And: "If at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage - than a mind satisfied that it succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what is beyond its control - if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations - it must be an extraordinary thing indeed - and enjoy it to the full." Book III
That these thoughts came from the most powerful man in the world, a man whose personal power so vastly exceeded the personal power of any American president that we have difficulty comprehending it, makes it all the more impressive. Aurelius continually writes that strength comes from humility, self-restraint and good humor towards others. He teaches us to accept what we cannot control and to trust what we know.
Good advice, indeed.
December 30, 2014
This basically consists of Marcus Aurelius repeating, "Get it together, Marcus" to himself over and over again over the course of 12 chapters.
SPOILER ALERT:
-The time during which you are alive is very very brief compared to the time during which you did not exist and will not exist.
-People who wrong you only do so from ignorance, and if you can correct them without being a jerk about it, you should do so.
-You are a little soul dragging around a corpse.
-Whether or not things injure you lies in your opinion about them, and you can control that opinion.
That's about it.
The fascinating thing about these philosophical ideas is that if they were expressed a single time, they might seem profound and solid and convincing. But repeated over and over like a rosary, you feel that Marcus is struggling against really serious grueling daily doubt -- that these are things that he wishes to be true, not things that he knows to be true, normative rather than descriptive statements. Which makes for a fascinating and subtext-y read, especially given his history.
SPOILER ALERT:
-The time during which you are alive is very very brief compared to the time during which you did not exist and will not exist.
-People who wrong you only do so from ignorance, and if you can correct them without being a jerk about it, you should do so.
-You are a little soul dragging around a corpse.
-Whether or not things injure you lies in your opinion about them, and you can control that opinion.
That's about it.
The fascinating thing about these philosophical ideas is that if they were expressed a single time, they might seem profound and solid and convincing. But repeated over and over like a rosary, you feel that Marcus is struggling against really serious grueling daily doubt -- that these are things that he wishes to be true, not things that he knows to be true, normative rather than descriptive statements. Which makes for a fascinating and subtext-y read, especially given his history.
September 27, 2020
Look within: do not allow the special quality or worth of anything to pass you by.
I love this quote and I love the wisdom that runs through this book. It鈥檚 such a simple idea and it is also a very true one. Make the most of everything and everyone, of every situation and chance that life throws your way because when they have passed, we may not get them again.
Marcus Aurelius is full of logic and revealing comments about life, death and the universe. His meditations are very open and very honest. And I found them quite touching. The history of his reign as Roman Emperor is impressive, but behind all his success was a very human person struggling and suffering with the same problems that plague all of us. He comes to terms with his mortality and his insignificance in the face of history and time. We are all of us only here a brief time, and we need to make the most of it.
All is ephemeral, both memory and the object of memory
The book moves into discussions over the temporary nature of things, of relationships and friendships and feelings. Everything changes given enough time, even memories and their ramifications. Aurelius soul searches. He writes these words during times of peace and war, during times of duty and heart ache, though his tone rarely changes. He remains detached and accepting of destiny and where it may take him. From this he ponders how to give life meaning and purpose.
Aurelius suggests that one of the ways we can do this is through work, real work and toil as we strive to meet our goals. He suggests that it is an edifying pursuit, to serve the development of humanity. It gives life meaning and purpose as we work and improve. He also argues for the creation of art and that in attaining it, it's one of the greatest pursuits we can follow because of how it benefits mankind. I agree with so many of the sentiments in here, and those that challenged my own beliefs got me thinking about the nature of life.
I love this quote and I love the wisdom that runs through this book. It鈥檚 such a simple idea and it is also a very true one. Make the most of everything and everyone, of every situation and chance that life throws your way because when they have passed, we may not get them again.
Marcus Aurelius is full of logic and revealing comments about life, death and the universe. His meditations are very open and very honest. And I found them quite touching. The history of his reign as Roman Emperor is impressive, but behind all his success was a very human person struggling and suffering with the same problems that plague all of us. He comes to terms with his mortality and his insignificance in the face of history and time. We are all of us only here a brief time, and we need to make the most of it.
All is ephemeral, both memory and the object of memory
The book moves into discussions over the temporary nature of things, of relationships and friendships and feelings. Everything changes given enough time, even memories and their ramifications. Aurelius soul searches. He writes these words during times of peace and war, during times of duty and heart ache, though his tone rarely changes. He remains detached and accepting of destiny and where it may take him. From this he ponders how to give life meaning and purpose.
Aurelius suggests that one of the ways we can do this is through work, real work and toil as we strive to meet our goals. He suggests that it is an edifying pursuit, to serve the development of humanity. It gives life meaning and purpose as we work and improve. He also argues for the creation of art and that in attaining it, it's one of the greatest pursuits we can follow because of how it benefits mankind. I agree with so many of the sentiments in here, and those that challenged my own beliefs got me thinking about the nature of life.
May 11, 2015
Marcus gives us wise advice about using the Internet, particularly social networking sites:
He shares his opinions on the worst types of modern professional. He does not approve of lobbyists and is rightly worried about their influence on the legislative process. We should heed his words:
He has harsh things to say about public relations executives;
He understands the modern office dynamic, reminding himself:
Marcus has advice for politicians, which it is clear from this book he thinks are untrustworthy, illogical and prone to anger. He condemns unreservedly all their faults and the problems with the modern electoral system:
鈥�...A desire for things best done behind closed doors鈥︹€� - Marcus is spot on in identifying a lack of democratic accountability, fostered by the CIA, NSA, GCHQ and the rest of the security paraphernalia, as being at the root of many of our current political problems.
In the UK there is a tradition for politicians, or at least for the posher type of politician, to study 鈥淧PE鈥� or 鈥淧olitics, Philosophy and Economics鈥� at either Oxford or Cambridge University.
But despite such an expensive education our political masters don't have half the grasp on the classics that Marcus has, which is remarkable considering he was home-schooled. I wish Marcus would consider a career in politics just to show up our current representatives for the intellectual pygmies that they really are.
Marcus also gives us advice on a more personal level. I don鈥檛 know much about his background but I can be sure he is the father of teenage children! Can he really keep his temper?
Unlike other self-help writers he doesn鈥檛 flinch at reminding us about our own mortality:
We should remember:
and also
How refreshing if more authors of self help books would confront squarely the central issue of our own mortality and our negative emotions of anger or frustration instead of forever hiding from these topics.
So to end with my favorite paragraph, from book 10 paragraph 5. One for physicists as well as philosophers to puzzle over:
I don鈥檛 normally read self help books. Often they seem full of cliches left over from the Victorian era. And in this book, which may have been modeled on the writings of Alain De Botton, Marcus mixes in a lot of philosophy and this just isn鈥檛 to everyone鈥檚 taste.
But with this short work Marcus, who is Italian, and his co-author Gregory Hays have brought the format right up to date by reflecting squarely on the types of issues that we all face today.
A great book by an author who - and this is no exaggeration - deserves a statue to be put up for him. I can only wish I could meet Marcus one day. In fact I鈥檒l be checking out if he has any book signings lined up. If he has a decent agent I鈥檓 sure he has.
鈥�...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鈥︹€�
He shares his opinions on the worst types of modern professional. He does not approve of lobbyists and is rightly worried about their influence on the legislative process. We should heed his words:
鈥�...so long as the law is safe, so is the city and the citizen鈥︹€�.
He has harsh things to say about public relations executives;
鈥�...to say what you don't think - the definition of absurdity鈥︹€�.
He understands the modern office dynamic, reminding himself:
鈥�...Not to be constantly telling people that I am too busy, unless I really am. Similarly, not to be always ducking my responsibilities to the people around me because of "pressing business"..."
Marcus has advice for politicians, which it is clear from this book he thinks are untrustworthy, illogical and prone to anger. He condemns unreservedly all their faults and the problems with the modern electoral system:
鈥�...it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame, or make you show hatred, suspicion, ill will, or hypocrisy, or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.
鈥�...A desire for things best done behind closed doors鈥︹€� - Marcus is spot on in identifying a lack of democratic accountability, fostered by the CIA, NSA, GCHQ and the rest of the security paraphernalia, as being at the root of many of our current political problems.
In the UK there is a tradition for politicians, or at least for the posher type of politician, to study 鈥淧PE鈥� or 鈥淧olitics, Philosophy and Economics鈥� at either Oxford or Cambridge University.
But despite such an expensive education our political masters don't have half the grasp on the classics that Marcus has, which is remarkable considering he was home-schooled. I wish Marcus would consider a career in politics just to show up our current representatives for the intellectual pygmies that they really are.
Marcus also gives us advice on a more personal level. I don鈥檛 know much about his background but I can be sure he is the father of teenage children! Can he really keep his temper?
鈥�...they are drawn toward what they think is good for them, but if it is not good for them then prove it to them instead of losing your temper鈥︹€�
Unlike other self-help writers he doesn鈥檛 flinch at reminding us about our own mortality:
鈥�...Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly鈥︹€�
We should remember:
鈥�...not to live as if you had endless years in front of you. Death overshadows you. While you're alive and able, be good鈥︹€�
and also
鈥�...how much more damage anger and grief do than the things that cause them鈥︹€�
How refreshing if more authors of self help books would confront squarely the central issue of our own mortality and our negative emotions of anger or frustration instead of forever hiding from these topics.
So to end with my favorite paragraph, from book 10 paragraph 5. One for physicists as well as philosophers to puzzle over:
鈥�...whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you. ..鈥�
I don鈥檛 normally read self help books. Often they seem full of cliches left over from the Victorian era. And in this book, which may have been modeled on the writings of Alain De Botton, Marcus mixes in a lot of philosophy and this just isn鈥檛 to everyone鈥檚 taste.
But with this short work Marcus, who is Italian, and his co-author Gregory Hays have brought the format right up to date by reflecting squarely on the types of issues that we all face today.
A great book by an author who - and this is no exaggeration - deserves a statue to be put up for him. I can only wish I could meet Marcus one day. In fact I鈥檒l be checking out if he has any book signings lined up. If he has a decent agent I鈥檓 sure he has.
July 2, 2024
鈥濴as膬 deoparte c膬r牛ile! Nu te mai chinui...鈥� (II: 2)
鈥灻巒l膬tur膬 setea de c膬r牛i, ca s膬 nu mori c卯rtind, ci cu adev膬rat senin 艧i recunosc膬tor din toat膬 inima zeilor鈥� (II: 3).
C卯nd Marcus Aurelius noteaz膬 acest 卯ndemn ciudat (cel pu葲in pentru cititorul de ast膬zi), el se g卯nde葯te, de fapt, la un singur om: la el 卯nsu葯i. 脦mp膬ratul nu a inten葲ionat niciodat膬 s膬 scrie o carte propriu-zis膬 葯i pentru un public larg, precum Seneca, precum prietenul Fronto. 葮i cu at卯t mai pu葲in s膬 o publice.
脦nsemn膬rile lui au avut din capul locului un singur destinatar. 葮i acest destinatar nu a fost altul dec卯t Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (121 - 180). N-a voit s膬 fie 卯nv膬葲膬torul altcuiva. N-a sf膬tuit pe nimeni. Nu a impus altora cum s膬-葯i tr膬iasc膬 via葲a. A scris pentru sine, a葯a cum arat膬 titlul medita葲iilor sale: Ta eis heauton [hypomnemata]: G卯nduri c膬tre sine 卯nsu葯i. De葯i titlul nu-i apar葲ine.
Scria noaptea, 卯n pu葲inul timp r膬mas liber, pe c卯mpul de lupt膬, 卯n cortul de osta葯, luminat precar, 卯n lungile 葯i obositoarele campanii purtate la grani葲ele imperiului, prin 鈥炄沘ra cvazilor, pe malul r卯ului Granua鈥� (adic膬 卯n Panonia de azi), cum precizeaz膬 卯ntr-un r卯nd (I: 17), prin 葲inuturile triburilor germane, 卯n Galia ori 卯n Asia Mic膬. Nu a avut deloc vanitate de autor. Vreme de mai bine de un mileniu, lucrarea lui a fost foarte pu葲in cunoscut膬. O men葲ioneaz膬 doar Arethas din Caesarea 卯n secolul X.
Observa葲iile 卯mp膬ratului, scrise 卯n limba greac膬 (葯i nu 卯n latin膬), 卯ntre anii 170 葯i 180, au fost tip膬rite abia 卯n 1558, dup膬 un manuscris azi pierdut.
Prin urmare, 卯ndemnul 鈥灻巒l膬tur膬 setea de c膬r葲i, ca s膬 nu mori c卯rtind!鈥� este adresat numai 葯i numai sie葯i. El poate fi interpretat, desigur, 卯n multe feluri.
Ar fi, m膬 g卯ndesc, strig膬tul de exasperare al unui cititor pragmatic, care 卯n葲elege dintr-o dat膬 pu葲inul folos adus de c膬r葲i. Ar reprezenta astfel un repro葯 adus omului care cite葯te 卯n loc s膬 ia parte la via葲a public膬. Repro葯ul este perfect stoic. Senin膬tatea, apatheia nu se ob葲in prin r膬sfoirea c膬r葲ilor, ci prin exerci葲iu spiritual, prin medita葲ie asidu膬 la destin, natur膬 葯i moarte. 脦n concluzie, convingerea lui Marcus Aurelius pare s膬 fi fost aceasta: c卯nd te confrun葲i cu b膬tr卯ne葲ea, cu fragilitatea fiin葲ei umane, cu moartea, c膬r葲ile (葯i lectura) s卯nt de pu葲in folos. Seneca a afirmat acela葯i lucru: e mult mai util s膬 meditezi la un scurt pasaj dec卯t s膬 r膬sfoie葯ti zilnic mormane de c膬r葲i. Ca filosof din stirpea stoicilor, 卯mp膬ratul Marcus Aurelius nu a iubit prea mult c膬r葲ile, dar nu cred c膬 a fost un bibliofob veritabil...
Adaug un singur citat despre nimicnicia tuturor lucrurilor pe care le pre葲uim f膬r膬 temei:
鈥濪up膬 cum ne form膬m reprezent膬ri despre felurile de m卯ncare, g卯ndind c膬 acesta este cadavrul unui pe艧te, acesta 鈥� al unei p膬s膬ri sau al unui porc, 艧i, de asemenea, c膬 vinul de Falern este sucul stors din struguri 艧i c膬 toga pretext膬 e l卯n膬 de oaie impregnat膬 cu s卯nge de scoic膬鈥�, tot a艧a trebuie s膬 proced膬m toat膬 via牛a 艧i, c卯nd ne reprezent膬m lucrurile ca prea demne de 卯ncredere, trebuie s膬 le dezgolim, s膬 le surprindem mica lor valoare 艧i s膬 卯nl膬tur膬m pretinsa credibilitate datorit膬 c膬reia erau considerate de valoare. Periculoas膬 am膬gire este trufia 艧i, c卯nd socote艧ti mai degrab膬 c膬 te ocupi de lucruri importante, atunci mai ales e艧ti victima iluziei鈥� (VI: 13).
P. S. De la stoici, probabil, a 卯nv膬葲at E. M. Cioran lec葲ia deprecierii lucrurilor sfinte: 鈥濻膬rutul nu e dec卯t amestecul a dou膬 salive鈥�.
February 14, 2020
Someone lent me this because they thought it might help me feel better/change my thinking. I was like sure I'll give it a chance but like sorry to say it did nothing. I feel as though many of the things in there that might be helpful are things I've already gotten elsewhere by this point or attitudes I already hold. Also I'm not sure but was this written at the end of his life because he just seems like he's mostly grappling with his impending mortality and what it means to be alive and how one can live in the right way. I personally couldn't care less about being dead so I'm not sure that's something I found resonated with me, it might for others though. Also just a lot of determinism and mind/body duality in there neither of which I personally believe to be true so that didn't endear me to it. What I'm trying to say is I can see why this might help other people in their own thinking/learning to cope with being alive but it just didn't do it for me. It wasn't terrible but like I never wouldve picked this up on my own honestly.
November 28, 2022
鈥淟ove only what falls your way and is fated to you. What could suit you more than that?鈥�
鈥淓ven if you were destined to live three thousand years, or ten times that long, nevertheless remember that no one loses any life other than the one he lives, or lives any life other than the one he loses鈥o one can lose either the past or the future 鈥� how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess?鈥t is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if indeed this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.鈥�
鈥淢en seek retreats for themselves 鈥� in the country, by the sea, in the hills 鈥� and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophic, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation then that into his own mind, especially if he can dip into thoughts there which put him at immediate and complete ease: and by ease I simply mean a well ordered life.鈥�
鈥淪o discard all else and secure these few things only. Remind yourself too that each of us lives only in the present moment, a mere fragment of time: the rest is life past or uncertain future. Sure, life is a small thing, and small the cranny of the earth in which we live it: small too even the longest fame thereafter, which is itself subject to a succession of a little men who will quickly die, and have no knowledge even of themselves, let alone of those long dead.鈥�
鈥淲hat a tiny part of the boundless abyss of time has been allotted to each of us 鈥� and this is soon vanished in eternity; what a tiny part of the universal substance and the universal soul; how tiny in the whole earth the mere clod on which you creep. Reflecting on all this, think nothing important other than active pursuit where your own nature leads and passive acceptance of what universal nature brings.鈥�
鈥淓ven if you were destined to live three thousand years, or ten times that long, nevertheless remember that no one loses any life other than the one he lives, or lives any life other than the one he loses鈥o one can lose either the past or the future 鈥� how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess?鈥t is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if indeed this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.鈥�
鈥淢en seek retreats for themselves 鈥� in the country, by the sea, in the hills 鈥� and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophic, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation then that into his own mind, especially if he can dip into thoughts there which put him at immediate and complete ease: and by ease I simply mean a well ordered life.鈥�
鈥淪o discard all else and secure these few things only. Remind yourself too that each of us lives only in the present moment, a mere fragment of time: the rest is life past or uncertain future. Sure, life is a small thing, and small the cranny of the earth in which we live it: small too even the longest fame thereafter, which is itself subject to a succession of a little men who will quickly die, and have no knowledge even of themselves, let alone of those long dead.鈥�
鈥淲hat a tiny part of the boundless abyss of time has been allotted to each of us 鈥� and this is soon vanished in eternity; what a tiny part of the universal substance and the universal soul; how tiny in the whole earth the mere clod on which you creep. Reflecting on all this, think nothing important other than active pursuit where your own nature leads and passive acceptance of what universal nature brings.鈥�
April 22, 2022
韦峤� 蔚峒跋� 峒懳毕呄勏屛� = Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.
The Meditations is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Aurelius' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, and perhaps reflecting Aurelius' Stoic perspective on the text.Aurelius advocates finding one's place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time.
Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as "Being a good man."
鬲丕乇蹖禺 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 禺賵丕賳卮 乇賵夭 賳賵夭丿賴賲 賲丕賴 爻倬鬲丕賲亘乇 爻丕賱2006賲蹖賱丕丿蹖
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毓賳賵丕賳: 鬲鈥嵷з呪€嵸勜ж€屫� 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴: 賲鈥嵷ж壁┾€嵸堌斥€� 丕賵乇賱鈥嵺屸€嵸堌斥€� 丕賲倬乇丕鬲賵乇 乇賵賲貨 賲鬲鈥嵷必€嵸呝囏�: 賲鈥嵸団€嵷屸€� 亘鈥嵷з傗€嵺屸€屫� 卮鈥嵺屸€嵷臂屸€嵸嗏€� 賲鈥嵷€嵷€嵷ж臂屸€嵷з嗏€屫� 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 賳卮乇 賳蹖貙 爻丕賱1384貨 丿乇159氐貨 卮丕亘讴9643127931貨 趩丕倬 丿賵賲 爻丕賱1386貨 卮丕亘讴9789643127930貨
毓賳賵丕賳: 鬲丕賲賱丕鬲貨 賲丕乇讴賵爻 丕乇賱蹖賵爻 (丕賵乇賱蹖賵爻)貨 賲鬲乇噩賲 亘丕亘讴 讴蹖丕賳貨 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 賲蹖賱讴丕賳貙 爻丕賱1398貨 丿乇184氐貨 卮丕亘讴 賳丿丕乇丿
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘丕 亘丕夭賳賵蹖爻蹖 芦丿賵賳丕賱丿 乇丕鬲爻賵賳禄 賵 亘丕 毓賳賵丕賳 芦趩诏賵賳賴 賲丕賳賳丿 蹖讴 丕賲倬乇丕鬲賵乇 亘蹖賳丿蹖卮蹖賲禄 賳蹖夭 趩丕倬 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲
賲丕乇讴賵爻 丌卅賵乇賱蹖賵爻 丌賳鬲賵賳蹖賵爻貙 蹖丕 芦賲丕乇讴 丕賵乇賱禄貙 丕夭 丕賲倬乇丕鬲賵乇丕賳 亘夭乇诏 芦乇賵賲禄 亘賵丿賴 丕賳丿貨 丕蹖卮丕賳 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 芦倬賳噩 丕賲倬乇丕鬲賵乇 禺賵亘禄貙 丕夭 丿賵丿賲丕賳 芦丌賳鬲賵賳蹖 賳乇賵丕蹖蹖禄貙 賵 蹖讴 賮蹖賱爻賵賮 乇賵丕賯蹖 (亘乇丕爻丕爻 丌賲賵夭賴 賴丕蹖 丕蹖賳 賮賱爻賮賴 丕賳爻丕賳 亘丕蹖丿 乇丕賴 乇爻蹖丿賳 亘賴 禺賵卮亘禺鬲蹖 乇丕 倬蹖丿丕 讴賳丿) 亘賵丿賳丿貨 讴賴 丿乇 乇賵夭 亘蹖爻鬲 賵 卮卮賲 丕夭 賲丕賴 丌賵乇蹖賱 爻丕賱121賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 夭丕丿賴鈥� 卮丿賳丿貙 賵 丿乇 乇賵夭 賴賮丿賲 丕夭 賲丕賴 賲丕乇爻 爻丕賱180賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 亘賴 亘蹖賲丕乇蹖 鬲蹖賮賵爻 丿乇诏匕卮鬲賳丿貨 丕蹖卮丕賳 賳賯卮 亘乇噩爻鬲賴鈥� 丕蹖 丿乇 丌禺乇蹖賳 丿賵乇賴 蹖 噩賳诏鈥屬囏й� 芦乇賲禄 毓賱蹖賴 芦丕卮讴丕賳蹖丕賳禄 丿丕卮鬲賳丿貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 亘蹖賳 爻丕賱鈥屬囏й�170賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 鬲丕 爻丕賱180賲蹖賱丕丿蹖貙 丿乇 丨丕賱蹖 讴賴 芦乇賵賲禄 丿乇 噩賳诏 亘賵丿貙 亘賳诏丕卮鬲賳丿貨 芦賲丕乇讴賵爻 丌卅賵乇賱蹖賵爻禄 賮乇賲丕賳乇賵丕蹖蹖 亘賵丿賳丿貙 讴賴 賮乇賲丕賳乇賵丕蹖蹖 乇丕 丿賵爻鬲 賳丿丕卮鬲賳丿貨 丕蹖卮丕賳 丕夭 讴賵丿讴蹖 賲蹖禺賵丕爻鬲賳丿 賮蹖賱爻賵賮 卮賵賳丿貙 丕賵 亘丕 禺賵丕賳卮 夭賳丿诏蹖 芦爻賯乇丕胤禄 亘賴 賵噩丿 賲蹖鈥屫①呚� 讴鬲丕亘 芦鬲兀賲賱丕鬲禄 丕孬乇蹖 卮丕賲賱 丿賵丕夭丿賴 讴鬲丕亘 丕爻鬲貨 讴賴 芦丌卅賵乇賱蹖賵爻禄 丕賳丿蹖卮賴鈥屬囏й� 禺賵丿 乇丕 丿乇 丌賳賴丕 亘蹖丕賳 讴乇丿賴鈥� 丕賳丿貨 丕蹖賳 丕孬乇 讴賴 卮丕賲賱 賲鬲賳鈥屬囏й� 讴賵鬲丕賴 賵 蹖丕丿丿丕卮鬲鈥屬囏ж池� 丿乇 丿賳蹖丕蹖 睾乇亘 亘爻蹖丕乇 賲賵乇丿 鬲賵噩賴 丕爻鬲貙 賵 亘丕乇賴丕 亘賴 夭亘丕賳鈥屬囏й� 丕乇賵倬丕蹖蹖 鬲乇噩賲賴 卮丿賴鈥� 丕爻鬲
賳賯賱 丕夭 賲鬲賳: (賲乇丕 亘乇丿丕乇 賵 賴乇 噩丕蹖 丕蹖賳 噩賴丕賳 讴賴 賲蹖鈥屫堌з囒� 亘蹖賳丿丕夭! 賴乇 噩丕 讴賴 亘丕卮賲貙 禺丿丕蹖 賯賱亘賲 乇丕 禺賵卮丨丕賱 賵 乇丕囟蹖 賳诏丕賴 賲蹖鈥屫ж必� 讴賴 丕蹖賳 賳鬲蹖噩賴 賵賯鬲蹖鈥屫池� 讴賴 讴乇丿丕乇 賵 乇賮鬲丕乇 賲丕貙 胤亘蹖毓鬲 丨賯蹖賯蹖 禺賵丿 乇丕 丿賳亘丕賱 讴賳賳丿鈥ω� 丌蹖丕 丌賳趩賴 讴賴 亘乇 賲賳 賲蹖鈥屭柏必� 丿賱蹖賱蹖 讴丕賮蹖 禺賵丕賴丿 亘賵丿 亘乇丕蹖 丕蹖賳讴賴 賲賳 亘蹖賲丕乇 賵 卮讴爻鬲賴貙 鬲丨賯蹖乇 卮丿賴 賵 诏乇爻賳賴貙 賵 丿乇 睾賱 賵 夭賳噩蹖乇 亘丕卮賲責 丌蹖丕 -賴蹖趩 噩丕- 丿賱蹖賱蹖 讴丕賮蹖 亘乇丕蹖 丕蹖賳鈥屭堎嗁� 夭蹖爻鬲賳 丿丕乇蹖責貨
丕蹖 賴爻鬲蹖! 賳馗賲 鬲賵 賳馗賲 丿乇賵賳蹖 賲賳 丕爻鬲: 賴蹖趩 趩蹖夭 丕诏乇 丿乇 夭賲丕賳 賲賳丕爻亘 鬲賵爻鬲貙 賳賴 亘乇 賲賳 夭賵丿 賵 賳賴 亘乇 賲賳 丿蹖乇 丕爻鬲貨 丕蹖 丨賯蹖賯鬲 賴爻鬲蹖! 賴乇趩賴 讴賴 賮氐賱鈥屬囏й屫� 亘丕乇 丌乇丿 亘乇 賲賳 賲蹖賵賴 (乇囟丕) 丕爻鬲: 讴賴 賴賲賴 趩蹖夭 丕夭 鬲賵 賲蹖鈥屫③屫� 賵 賴爻鬲蹖 賴賲賴 趩蹖夭 丿乇 鬲賵爻鬲 賵 亘賴 鬲賵 亘丕夭賲蹖鈥屭必€ω�
丕蹖賳 賮讴乇 乇丕 讴賴 芦賲賳 乇賳噩 讴卮蹖丿賴鈥屫з吢� 乇丕 亘蹖乇賵賳 讴賳 賵 乇賳噩貙 禺賵丿 亘蹖乇賵賳 禺賵丕賴丿 乇賮鬲
卮乇賲鈥屫①堌� 丕爻鬲 讴賴 毓賯賱貙 馗丕賴乇賲丕賳 乇丕 卮讴賱 賲蹖鈥屫囏� 丕賲丕 賯丕丿乇 亘賴 卮讴賱鈥屫ж� 禺賵丿 賳蹖爻鬲貨 亘丿蹖賴蹖 丕爻鬲 讴賴 賴蹖趩鈥屭з� 丿乇 夭賳丿诏蹖 卮乇丕蹖胤蹖 亘賴鬲乇 丕夭 丕蹖賳 亘乇丕蹖 賮乇丕诏蹖乇蹖 賮賱爻賮賴 賳禺賵丕賴蹖 丿丕卮鬲!貨
夭賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 乇賵夭 禺賵丿 乇丕 丌睾丕夭 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗃屫� 亘賴 丕蹖賳 賮讴乇 讴賳蹖丿 讴賴 趩賴 賲賵賴亘鬲 亘丕 丕乇夭卮蹖爻鬲 讴賴 夭賳丿賴 丕蹖丿 - 讴賴 賳賮爻 賲蹖鈥屭┴篡屫� 鬲賮讴乇 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗃屫� 賱匕鬲 賲蹖鈥屫ㄘ臂屫� 讴賴 毓卮賯 賲蹖鈥屬堌必槽屫�
卮丕丿蹖 夭賳丿诏蹖 卮賲丕 亘賴 讴蹖賮蹖鬲 丕賮讴丕乇鬲丕賳 亘爻鬲诏蹖 丿丕乇丿
亘賴 丿乇賵賳鬲 亘賳诏乇! 丿乇 丿乇賵賳鬲 趩卮賲賴 蹖 賯丿乇鬲蹖 賵噩賵丿 丿丕乇丿 讴賴 賴乇 賵賯鬲 亘禺賵丕賳蹖 丕卮貙 亘賴 鬲賵 蹖丕乇蹖 禺賵丕賴丿 讴乇丿
禺賵丿鬲 乇丕 丿乇 乇賵蹖丕賴丕蹖 丿丕卮鬲賳 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 賳丿丕乇蹖貙 睾乇賯 賳讴賳貙 丕賲丕 賲賵賴亘鬲鈥屬囏й屰� 讴賴 丿丕乇丕 賴爻鬲蹖 乇丕 亘卮賲丕乇貙 賵 卮讴乇诏夭丕乇丕賳賴 亘賴 禺丕胤乇 丿丕卮鬲賴 亘丕卮 讴賴 趩胤賵乇 乇丐蹖丕蹖 丿丕卮鬲賳卮丕賳 乇丕 丿乇 爻乇鬲 賲蹖鈥屬矩辟堌必з嗀� 丕诏乇 賳丿丕卮鬲蹖鈥屫簇з�
賴丿賮 夭賳丿诏蹖 丕蹖賳 賳蹖爻鬲 讴賴 亘丕 丕讴孬乇蹖鬲 賴賲乇丕賴 卮賵蹖貙 亘賱讴賴 丿乇 賳倬蹖賵爻鬲賳 亘賴 噩賲毓 亘蹖禺乇丿丕賳 丕爻鬲
丕氐賱蹖 讴賴 亘丕蹖爻鬲蹖 丿乇 丌蹖賳丿賴 亘賴 禺丕胤乇 亘爻倬丕乇蹖貙 賵賯鬲蹖 讴賴 乇賳噩鈥屬囏� 賲噩亘賵乇鬲 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁嗀� 讴賴 丕丨爻丕爻 鬲賱禺蹖 讴賳蹖貙 丕蹖賳 丕爻鬲: 讴賴 丕賮鬲丕丿賳 丕鬲賮丕賯 鬲賱禺 亘丿丕賯亘丕賱蹖 賳蹖爻鬲貙 讴賴 鬲丨賲賱 乇賳噩鈥屬囏� 亘丿賵賳 丕夭 丿爻鬲 丿丕丿賳 丕賲蹖丿 丕爻鬲貙 讴賴 禺賵卮鈥� 丕賯亘丕賱蹖 丕爻鬲)貨 倬丕蹖丕賳
鬲丕乇蹖禺 亘賴賳诏丕賲 乇爻丕賳蹖 28/06/1400賴噩乇蹖 禺賵乇卮蹖丿蹖貨 01/02/1401賴噩乇蹖 禺賵乇卮蹖丿蹖貨 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.
The Meditations is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Aurelius' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, and perhaps reflecting Aurelius' Stoic perspective on the text.Aurelius advocates finding one's place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time.
Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as "Being a good man."
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毓賳賵丕賳: 鬲丕賲賱丕鬲貨 賲丕乇讴賵爻 丕乇賱蹖賵爻 (丕賵乇賱蹖賵爻)貨 賲鬲乇噩賲 亘丕亘讴 讴蹖丕賳貨 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 賲蹖賱讴丕賳貙 爻丕賱1398貨 丿乇184氐貨 卮丕亘讴 賳丿丕乇丿
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘丕 亘丕夭賳賵蹖爻蹖 芦丿賵賳丕賱丿 乇丕鬲爻賵賳禄 賵 亘丕 毓賳賵丕賳 芦趩诏賵賳賴 賲丕賳賳丿 蹖讴 丕賲倬乇丕鬲賵乇 亘蹖賳丿蹖卮蹖賲禄 賳蹖夭 趩丕倬 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲
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賳賯賱 丕夭 賲鬲賳: (賲乇丕 亘乇丿丕乇 賵 賴乇 噩丕蹖 丕蹖賳 噩賴丕賳 讴賴 賲蹖鈥屫堌з囒� 亘蹖賳丿丕夭! 賴乇 噩丕 讴賴 亘丕卮賲貙 禺丿丕蹖 賯賱亘賲 乇丕 禺賵卮丨丕賱 賵 乇丕囟蹖 賳诏丕賴 賲蹖鈥屫ж必� 讴賴 丕蹖賳 賳鬲蹖噩賴 賵賯鬲蹖鈥屫池� 讴賴 讴乇丿丕乇 賵 乇賮鬲丕乇 賲丕貙 胤亘蹖毓鬲 丨賯蹖賯蹖 禺賵丿 乇丕 丿賳亘丕賱 讴賳賳丿鈥ω� 丌蹖丕 丌賳趩賴 讴賴 亘乇 賲賳 賲蹖鈥屭柏必� 丿賱蹖賱蹖 讴丕賮蹖 禺賵丕賴丿 亘賵丿 亘乇丕蹖 丕蹖賳讴賴 賲賳 亘蹖賲丕乇 賵 卮讴爻鬲賴貙 鬲丨賯蹖乇 卮丿賴 賵 诏乇爻賳賴貙 賵 丿乇 睾賱 賵 夭賳噩蹖乇 亘丕卮賲責 丌蹖丕 -賴蹖趩 噩丕- 丿賱蹖賱蹖 讴丕賮蹖 亘乇丕蹖 丕蹖賳鈥屭堎嗁� 夭蹖爻鬲賳 丿丕乇蹖責貨
丕蹖 賴爻鬲蹖! 賳馗賲 鬲賵 賳馗賲 丿乇賵賳蹖 賲賳 丕爻鬲: 賴蹖趩 趩蹖夭 丕诏乇 丿乇 夭賲丕賳 賲賳丕爻亘 鬲賵爻鬲貙 賳賴 亘乇 賲賳 夭賵丿 賵 賳賴 亘乇 賲賳 丿蹖乇 丕爻鬲貨 丕蹖 丨賯蹖賯鬲 賴爻鬲蹖! 賴乇趩賴 讴賴 賮氐賱鈥屬囏й屫� 亘丕乇 丌乇丿 亘乇 賲賳 賲蹖賵賴 (乇囟丕) 丕爻鬲: 讴賴 賴賲賴 趩蹖夭 丕夭 鬲賵 賲蹖鈥屫③屫� 賵 賴爻鬲蹖 賴賲賴 趩蹖夭 丿乇 鬲賵爻鬲 賵 亘賴 鬲賵 亘丕夭賲蹖鈥屭必€ω�
丕蹖賳 賮讴乇 乇丕 讴賴 芦賲賳 乇賳噩 讴卮蹖丿賴鈥屫з吢� 乇丕 亘蹖乇賵賳 讴賳 賵 乇賳噩貙 禺賵丿 亘蹖乇賵賳 禺賵丕賴丿 乇賮鬲
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夭賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 乇賵夭 禺賵丿 乇丕 丌睾丕夭 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗃屫� 亘賴 丕蹖賳 賮讴乇 讴賳蹖丿 讴賴 趩賴 賲賵賴亘鬲 亘丕 丕乇夭卮蹖爻鬲 讴賴 夭賳丿賴 丕蹖丿 - 讴賴 賳賮爻 賲蹖鈥屭┴篡屫� 鬲賮讴乇 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗃屫� 賱匕鬲 賲蹖鈥屫ㄘ臂屫� 讴賴 毓卮賯 賲蹖鈥屬堌必槽屫�
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賴丿賮 夭賳丿诏蹖 丕蹖賳 賳蹖爻鬲 讴賴 亘丕 丕讴孬乇蹖鬲 賴賲乇丕賴 卮賵蹖貙 亘賱讴賴 丿乇 賳倬蹖賵爻鬲賳 亘賴 噩賲毓 亘蹖禺乇丿丕賳 丕爻鬲
丕氐賱蹖 讴賴 亘丕蹖爻鬲蹖 丿乇 丌蹖賳丿賴 亘賴 禺丕胤乇 亘爻倬丕乇蹖貙 賵賯鬲蹖 讴賴 乇賳噩鈥屬囏� 賲噩亘賵乇鬲 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁嗀� 讴賴 丕丨爻丕爻 鬲賱禺蹖 讴賳蹖貙 丕蹖賳 丕爻鬲: 讴賴 丕賮鬲丕丿賳 丕鬲賮丕賯 鬲賱禺 亘丿丕賯亘丕賱蹖 賳蹖爻鬲貙 讴賴 鬲丨賲賱 乇賳噩鈥屬囏� 亘丿賵賳 丕夭 丿爻鬲 丿丕丿賳 丕賲蹖丿 丕爻鬲貙 讴賴 禺賵卮鈥� 丕賯亘丕賱蹖 丕爻鬲)貨 倬丕蹖丕賳
鬲丕乇蹖禺 亘賴賳诏丕賲 乇爻丕賳蹖 28/06/1400賴噩乇蹖 禺賵乇卮蹖丿蹖貨 01/02/1401賴噩乇蹖 禺賵乇卮蹖丿蹖貨 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
June 19, 2020
It's, of course, completely ridiculous to rate a nearly 2000 year old journal by a Roman emperor who never intended it to be read. As a book experience, the repetition of Aurelius's thoughts can be frustrating (the excellent introduction in this volume provides context for it, and for the concept of stoicism), but I found his challenges, his every-day worries remarkably human. When they're good, they're incredible:
"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into the world to do. Or is this what I was created for? T huddle under the blankets and stay warm?'
- But it's nicer here....
So you were born to feel 'nice?' Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don't you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you're not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren't you running to do what your nature demands?"
"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into the world to do. Or is this what I was created for? T huddle under the blankets and stay warm?'
- But it's nicer here....
So you were born to feel 'nice?' Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don't you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you're not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren't you running to do what your nature demands?"
March 1, 2024
鈥灻巒 textul lumii, nu fi un vers prost鈥� .
Mult膬 vreme, lucrarea lui Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 - 180) a r膬mas necunoscut膬. Observa葲iile 卯mp膬ratului, scrise 卯n limba greac膬 (葯i nu 卯n latin膬), a葯a era moda printre nobili (Atena cucerise deja Roma), 卯ntre anii 170 葯i 180, au fost tip膬rite abia 卯n 1558, dup膬 un manuscris azi pierdut. 脦mp膬ratul consemna sugestii, vorbea cu sine, reflecta, veghea. Nu a avut deloc vanitate de autor.
A葯 men葲iona c膬 Marcus Aurelius a scris mereu 葯i mereu pentru un singur destinatar: pentru sine, a葯a cum arat膬 卯nsu葯i titlul medita葲iilor sale: Ta eis heauton, C膬tre mine 卯nsumi. Nu se g卯ndea la un cititor str膬in, la viitor 葯i postumitate, caietul lui de 卯nsemn膬ri 卯l 卯nso葲ea pretutindeni, 卯n tabere 卯ndeosebi, prin 鈥炄沘ra quazilor, aproape de r卯ul Granua鈥� (adic膬 卯n Panonia de azi), cum precizeaz膬 卯ntr-un fragment (II: incipit, p.83), prin 葲inuturile triburilor germane, 卯n Galia ori 卯n Asia Mic膬. 脦mp膬ratul controla riguros legiunile, taberele, castrele de pe grani葲a imperiului, doar noaptea avea timp s膬 noteze, 卯ntr-un cort de soldat, la lumina precar膬 a unui lucubrum, 卯n pu葲inul timp liber.
Marcus Aurelius a fost un g卯nditor stoic dublat de un cinic. Prefera franche葲ea cea mai brutal膬. 脦ntr-o not膬, afirm膬 netulburat: 鈥濱ubirea se reduce la frecarea a dou膬 epiderme, la un spasm, la o secre葲ie v卯scoas膬鈥� (VI: 13, p.177).
脦n alt膬 parte, 卯mp膬ratul scrie: 鈥灻巒l膬tur膬 setea de c膬r葲i, ca s膬 nu mori c卯rtind, ci dimpotriv膬, cu adev膬rat mul牛umit, senin 艧i recunosc膬tor din toat膬 inima zeilor!鈥� (II: 3, p.85). Adaug膬 imediat: 鈥濴as膬 deoparte c膬r牛ile! Nu te mai chinui! Nu 卯牛i este dat...鈥�. Nimic mai enigmatic dec卯t aceste enun葲uri lapidare. Moartea se cuvine 卯nt卯mpinat膬 卯n lini葯te.
脦n opinia filosofului, am impresia, c膬r葲ile reprezint膬 doar un prilej de a murmura 卯mpotriva autorilor 葯i a g卯ndurilor exprimate de ei, 卯mpotriva mor葲ii binef膬c膬toare. Este preferabil, 卯n consecin葲膬, s膬 prime葯ti sf卯r葯itul cu deplin膬 smerenie, cu sufletul 卯mp膬cat. C膬r葲ile nu dau un exemplu bun. 脦n tragediile grece葯ti, 卯n Antigona, s膬 zicem, nu g膬sim dec卯t lamenta葲ii, 卯mpotrivire, lips膬 de m膬sur膬, o frenezie zadarnic膬.
脦n concluzie, renun葲膬 la c膬r葲i, scap膬 de acest neajuns! 脦n pofida prestigiosului 卯ndemn, nu voi renun葲a s膬 recitesc medita葲iile celui mai onest dintre 卯mp膬ra葲ii romani.
P. S. 脦n istoria sa, Edward Gibbon ironizeaz膬 naivitatea lui Marcus Aurelius. Chiar la 卯nceputul 卯nsemn膬rilor, 卯mp膬ratul mul葲ume葯te zeilor c膬 a avut parte de 鈥瀘 so牛ie [Annia Galeria Faustina] at卯t de ascult膬toare, de afectuoas膬, de simpl膬鈥� (I: 17, p.81). Istoricul spune c膬, dac膬 ar fi citit acest pasaj, mul葲i cet膬葲eni din Roma 葯i-ar fi r卯s 卯n barb膬...
October 26, 2022
"People find pleasure in different ways. I find it in keeping my mind clear."
"a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can鈥檛 lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don鈥檛 have?"
If you read this book patiently, giving it enough time for the lightly mentioned yet very deeply meant to absorb thoroughly, you will find this to be one of the most enlightening experiences one will ever have. How Marcus Aurelius had thought of all this such a long time ago is unbelievable. I promise you, you will find wanting to highlight so many of it, if not everything.
"Human life.
Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying"
One problem I had with this book is to find the 'correct' edition (or translation). I originally purchased the one translated by George W. Chrystal, which seemed a bit complicated. Then after doing a bit of searching, I found there are some popular ones out there. So I found the one by Gregory Hays, which was much clearer. However, now that I'm gone through the entire thing, I will hopefully find the time to read the Chrystal's version some other time.
"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious."
"we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."
"a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can鈥檛 lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don鈥檛 have?"
If you read this book patiently, giving it enough time for the lightly mentioned yet very deeply meant to absorb thoroughly, you will find this to be one of the most enlightening experiences one will ever have. How Marcus Aurelius had thought of all this such a long time ago is unbelievable. I promise you, you will find wanting to highlight so many of it, if not everything.
"Human life.
Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying"
One problem I had with this book is to find the 'correct' edition (or translation). I originally purchased the one translated by George W. Chrystal, which seemed a bit complicated. Then after doing a bit of searching, I found there are some popular ones out there. So I found the one by Gregory Hays, which was much clearer. However, now that I'm gone through the entire thing, I will hopefully find the time to read the Chrystal's version some other time.
"You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious."
"we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."
January 18, 2014
Marcus Aurelius must have been a prolific reader. He sure was a prolific note-taker, for these meditations are surely his study-notes(?- after all he was a 'philosopher' from age 12). I don't know of the publishing system at the time but where are the detailed footnotes and references? Marcus Aurelius is quite a wise man or at least he read enough wise men. He sure nailed it as far as boring a reader is concerned. No better way to establish your book's wisdom quotient.
I am being needlessly caustic of course(do note my rating above). The book is quotable in almost every page and is good to dip in to now and then, you might well find an aphorism that fits the mood just right every time. And that is why the book is a classic and so well-loved.
Don't read it as a scholar, you will end up like this reviewer. As I said earlier - He is like the wisdom of ages. Aargh :) Not that it is all bad - it is like reading an old uncles's notes after he has been preaching to you all your life.
Good that I am a stoic too. All ills are imaginary. Yes.
[ Or perhaps it was easier to be a Stoic while stoned: The emperor was a notorious opium user, starting each day, even while on military campaigns, by downing a nubbin of the stuff dissolved in his morning cup of wine. ]
August 28, 2007
By today's standards, a bog-standard blog.
The only reason that this was preserved in the first place is that the author happened to be a Roman emperor. (That, and that ancient Rome didn't have LiveJournal.)
The only reason that Meditations is still being published today is that once a book gets labeled "classic," hardly anyone who reads it has the grapes to admit that it just wasn't that good. Well...the emperor has no clothes.
The only reason that this was preserved in the first place is that the author happened to be a Roman emperor. (That, and that ancient Rome didn't have LiveJournal.)
The only reason that Meditations is still being published today is that once a book gets labeled "classic," hardly anyone who reads it has the grapes to admit that it just wasn't that good. Well...the emperor has no clothes.
October 2, 2023
鈥淭he soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.鈥� After reading this book I realized that there was a wealth of wisdom from some of the greatest minds in history; all I had to do was take the time to meet them through books. Excellent first book for those wanting to become acquainted with the Stoics.
July 25, 2018
噩丿丕賶 丕夭 噩賲賱丕鬲 賮乇丕賵丕賳賶 卮 賰賴 亘賴 賮賰乇賲 賮乇賵 亘乇丿 - 賵 噩賲賱丕鬲 賮乇丕賵丕賳賶 賰賴 丨賵氐賱賴 賲 乇賵 爻乇 亘乇丿 - 賷賴 禺丕胤乇賴 賶 賵賷跇賴 賴賲 亘丕 丕賷賳 賰鬲丕亘 丿丕乇賲貙 賰賴 亘賷卮鬲乇 亘乇丕賶 賷丕丿丌賵乇賶 卮禺氐賶 孬亘鬲卮 賲賶 賰賳賲.
賷賰 乇賵夭 丿丕卮鬲賲 賰鬲丕亘 乇賵 鬲賵賶 卮賱賵睾賶 丕鬲賵亘賵爻 賲賶 禺賵賳丿賲. 賵 亘賴 丕賷賳 賮乇丕夭賴丕卮 乇爻賷丿賴 亘賵丿賲 賰賴:
賵 丕蹖賳 賯丿乇 亘賴 丕蹖賳 賳賴蹖亘 賴丕 丕丿丕賲賴 丿丕丿 讴賴 丨丕賱 賵 賴賵丕賶 乇賵夭賴丕賷賶 賰賴 鬲賵賶 賯亘乇爻鬲丕賳 賯丿賲 賲賶 夭丿賲 賵 賳賵卮鬲賴 賴丕賶 爻賳诏 賯亘乇賴丕 乇賵 賲賶 禺賵賳丿賲 賵 亘賴 賲丨鬲賵賷丕鬲 賮毓賱賶 卮賵賳 賮賰乇 賲賶 賰乇丿賲貙 鬲賵賶 爻乇賲 夭賳丿賴 卮丿. 賷賴賵 丕賷賳 賮賰乇 亘賴 爻乇賲 丕賮鬲丕丿 賰賴 丕賷賳 賴賲賴 丌丿賲 賰賴 丿賵乇 賲賳 乇丕賴 賲賷乇賳 賵 丨乇賮 賲賷夭賳賳 賵 毓乇賯乇蹖夭丕賳 丿賳亘丕賱 夭賳丿诏蹖 卮賵賳賳貙 賴乇 賰丕乇賶 賴賲 亘賰賳賳 賴乇 趩賶 賴賲 亘卮賴貙 氐丿 爻丕賱 丿賷诏賴 賲丨鬲賵賷丕鬲 賯亘乇爻鬲丕賳 賴丕 乇賵 鬲卮賰賷賱 賲賷丿賳貙 賵 禺賵丿 賲賳 賴賲 賲孬賱 賴賲賴. 丕夭 丕鬲賵亘賵爻 倬賷丕丿賴 卮丿賲貙 鬲賵賶 倬賷丕丿賴 賶 乇賵賶 卮賱賵睾 乇丕賴 乇賮鬲賲 賵 賮賰乇 賰乇丿賲: 賲賳 丿丕乇賲 亘賷賳 夭丕賲亘賶 賴丕 丨乇賰鬲 賲賶 賰賳賲貙 亘賷賳 賲乇丿賴 賴丕賶 賲鬲丨乇賰貙 賵 賮賯胤 賷賴 賮賰乇 賳亘賵丿貙 蹖賴 丕丨爻丕爻 夭賳丿賴 賵 卮賮丕賮 亘賵丿. 賲丕乇賰賵爻 丕賵乇賱賷賵爻 亘乇丕賶 賷賴 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 卮 亘毓丿 丕夭 丿賵 賴夭丕乇 爻丕賱 賷賴 卮賴賵丿 鬲乇鬲賷亘 丿丕丿賴 亘賵丿.
丕賷賳 丨丕賱 卮賴賵丿-賲丕賳賳丿 亘賴 賲丿鬲 爻賴 趩賴丕乇 丿賯賷賯賴 丕丿丕賲賴 丿丕卮鬲貙 鬲丕 丕賷賳 賰賴 亘賴 賲賯氐丿賲 乇爻賷丿賲 賵 丕夭 亘賷賳 噩賲毓賷鬲 倬賷丕丿賴 乇賵 亘賷乇賵賳 乇賮鬲賲貙 賵 丕賵賳 丨丕賱 賴賲 丕夭 亘賷賳 乇賮鬲.
賷賰 乇賵夭 丿丕卮鬲賲 賰鬲丕亘 乇賵 鬲賵賶 卮賱賵睾賶 丕鬲賵亘賵爻 賲賶 禺賵賳丿賲. 賵 亘賴 丕賷賳 賮乇丕夭賴丕卮 乇爻賷丿賴 亘賵丿賲 賰賴:
賱賵爻賷賱丕貙 賵乇賵爻 乇丕 亘賴 禺丕賰 爻倬乇丿貙 爻倬爻 賳賵亘鬲 禺賵丿卮 賮乇丕 乇爻賷丿. 爻賰賵賳丿丕貙 賲丕賰爻賷賲賵爻 乇丕 丿賮賳 賰乇丿 賵 丌賳 诏丕賴 賳賵亘鬲 禺賵丿卮 卮丿. 丕倬賷鬲賷賳賰丕賳賵爻貙 丿賷賵鬲賷賲賵爻 乇丕 鬲丕 丿賲 賲乇诏 賲卮丕賷毓鬲 賰乇丿 賵 亘毓丿 丕夭 趩賳丿賶 禺賵丿 賳賷夭 噩丕賳 爻倬乇丿... 賰噩丕賷賳丿 丌賳 賲乇丿丕賳 賴賵卮賲賳丿貙 丌賳 賲乇丿丕賳 亘氐賷乇貙 丌賳 賲乇丿丕賳 倬乇卮賰賵賴責 賴賲诏賶 賲丿鬲 賴丕爻鬲 賰賴 丕夭 丿賳賷丕 乇賮鬲賴 丕賳丿... 亘賴 爻賳诏 賳亘卮鬲賴 賴丕賶 诏賵乇賴丕 亘賷賳丿賷卮: 芦丌禺乇賷賳 賮乇丿 禺丕賳丿丕賳卮禄. 丕噩丿丕丿卮 趩賴 乇賳噩 賴丕賷賶 乇丕 亘乇 禺賵丿 賴賲賵丕乇 賰乇丿賴 亘賵丿賳丿 鬲丕 賵丕乇孬賶 丿丕卮鬲賴 亘丕卮賳丿貙 賵賱賶 爻乇 丕賳噩丕賲 賰爻賶 亘丕賷丿 丌禺乇賷賳 賳賮乇 賲賶 亘賵丿 賵 亘丕 賲乇诏 丕賵 禺丕賳丿丕賳賶 丕夭 賲賷丕賳 乇賮鬲賴 丕爻鬲.
賵 丕蹖賳 賯丿乇 亘賴 丕蹖賳 賳賴蹖亘 賴丕 丕丿丕賲賴 丿丕丿 讴賴 丨丕賱 賵 賴賵丕賶 乇賵夭賴丕賷賶 賰賴 鬲賵賶 賯亘乇爻鬲丕賳 賯丿賲 賲賶 夭丿賲 賵 賳賵卮鬲賴 賴丕賶 爻賳诏 賯亘乇賴丕 乇賵 賲賶 禺賵賳丿賲 賵 亘賴 賲丨鬲賵賷丕鬲 賮毓賱賶 卮賵賳 賮賰乇 賲賶 賰乇丿賲貙 鬲賵賶 爻乇賲 夭賳丿賴 卮丿. 賷賴賵 丕賷賳 賮賰乇 亘賴 爻乇賲 丕賮鬲丕丿 賰賴 丕賷賳 賴賲賴 丌丿賲 賰賴 丿賵乇 賲賳 乇丕賴 賲賷乇賳 賵 丨乇賮 賲賷夭賳賳 賵 毓乇賯乇蹖夭丕賳 丿賳亘丕賱 夭賳丿诏蹖 卮賵賳賳貙 賴乇 賰丕乇賶 賴賲 亘賰賳賳 賴乇 趩賶 賴賲 亘卮賴貙 氐丿 爻丕賱 丿賷诏賴 賲丨鬲賵賷丕鬲 賯亘乇爻鬲丕賳 賴丕 乇賵 鬲卮賰賷賱 賲賷丿賳貙 賵 禺賵丿 賲賳 賴賲 賲孬賱 賴賲賴. 丕夭 丕鬲賵亘賵爻 倬賷丕丿賴 卮丿賲貙 鬲賵賶 倬賷丕丿賴 賶 乇賵賶 卮賱賵睾 乇丕賴 乇賮鬲賲 賵 賮賰乇 賰乇丿賲: 賲賳 丿丕乇賲 亘賷賳 夭丕賲亘賶 賴丕 丨乇賰鬲 賲賶 賰賳賲貙 亘賷賳 賲乇丿賴 賴丕賶 賲鬲丨乇賰貙 賵 賮賯胤 賷賴 賮賰乇 賳亘賵丿貙 蹖賴 丕丨爻丕爻 夭賳丿賴 賵 卮賮丕賮 亘賵丿. 賲丕乇賰賵爻 丕賵乇賱賷賵爻 亘乇丕賶 賷賴 禺賵丕賳賳丿賴 卮 亘毓丿 丕夭 丿賵 賴夭丕乇 爻丕賱 賷賴 卮賴賵丿 鬲乇鬲賷亘 丿丕丿賴 亘賵丿.
丕賷賳 丨丕賱 卮賴賵丿-賲丕賳賳丿 亘賴 賲丿鬲 爻賴 趩賴丕乇 丿賯賷賯賴 丕丿丕賲賴 丿丕卮鬲貙 鬲丕 丕賷賳 賰賴 亘賴 賲賯氐丿賲 乇爻賷丿賲 賵 丕夭 亘賷賳 噩賲毓賷鬲 倬賷丕丿賴 乇賵 亘賷乇賵賳 乇賮鬲賲貙 賵 丕賵賳 丨丕賱 賴賲 丕夭 亘賷賳 乇賮鬲.
August 20, 2024
鈥淔irst thing every morning tell yourself: today I am going to meet a busybody, an ingrate, a bully, a liar, a schemer, and a boor.鈥�
In 165-180 AD, while he was a Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations, a collection of sayings based on Stoic philosophy.
This is a perfect book if you enjoy quotes.
At times, it seems that Aurelius is trying to convince himself of these sayings: that dying is OK, losing your child is OK, and don鈥檛 worry what others think.
Aurelius frequently talks about not complaining, but that鈥檚 rich because he has power, money, and position as emperor.
The best advice in the book is about intentionality, apt advice in the world of endless TikTok videos and Netflix binges.
Here are some additional quotes:
鈥淸鈥 to put up with the inevitable grumbling that will follow from those who want something for nothing.鈥�
鈥淢y tutor taught me not to take sides in circus contests.鈥�
鈥淚njustice results as often from not doing as from doing.鈥�
鈥淭he best revenge is not to do as they do.鈥�
*Thanks, Scribner and Simon Books, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent:
Physical Softcover 鈥� Free provided by publisher
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
In 165-180 AD, while he was a Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations, a collection of sayings based on Stoic philosophy.
This is a perfect book if you enjoy quotes.
At times, it seems that Aurelius is trying to convince himself of these sayings: that dying is OK, losing your child is OK, and don鈥檛 worry what others think.
Aurelius frequently talks about not complaining, but that鈥檚 rich because he has power, money, and position as emperor.
The best advice in the book is about intentionality, apt advice in the world of endless TikTok videos and Netflix binges.
Here are some additional quotes:
鈥淸鈥 to put up with the inevitable grumbling that will follow from those who want something for nothing.鈥�
鈥淢y tutor taught me not to take sides in circus contests.鈥�
鈥淚njustice results as often from not doing as from doing.鈥�
鈥淭he best revenge is not to do as they do.鈥�
*Thanks, Scribner and Simon Books, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent:
Physical Softcover 鈥� Free provided by publisher
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
April 24, 2024
Marcus Aurelius the wise Roman Emperor some said the greatest to ever reign, from A.D. 161 to 180, his ideas seemed baffling in an era that was noted for glorifying the soldier, their frequent triumphal marches through the huge capital sparked frenzy, enthusiastic joyous response from the public...
honoring the vicious warrior conquering the barbarians , a strange mixture this human to be sure who felt the purpose of living is to help your fellow traveler find their destiny with the influence of stoicism the ancient Greek philosophy, Marcus Aurelius the man believed in it but others didn't the Roman Empire was full of violence wasn't noted for being a gentle society. You can imagine the difficulties which transpired, people accepted pain and suffering without complaint, the land of the strong endured disasters and continued. The unnatural way is quite strange as people want to breathe fire in hell, not be lambs heading to the slaughterhouse without putting on a good fight against such a notion, history has shown this propensity. The good Emperor to show the Romans how to serve the world, not rule for selfish reasons was the only proper thing though the concept would be almost impossible to realize then and for modern people failure to engulf this a puzzlement, quite understandable still, for nature is painful. . Yet few believed, greed and ambition the ultimate climb to raw power has a magical temptation not able to be tamed by an old philosophy thousands of years old which the people today will neglect, truth like a sinking useless ship which is empty of valuables slowly turns over and falls to the sparse bottom never to arise again...No one cares the ultimate knowledge each will try to discover for themselves by opening a door, the truth may be inside the hall or not , set you free, or bring destruction, maybe a clue to what you seek....however only time the judge of wisdom prevails . The puzzlement of life is what gives flavor to the mystery and those striving to solve the enigma. A well thought peek, still unclear view of the fuzzy future which could arise, nevertheless a guess will ultimately...be just that a guess and this will always be the truth. No system is perfect for the simple reason the human race doesn't function in an error free state, mistakes continue the sad results cause immense destruction, millions perish we look but can not stop the evil. In my thoughts the odd universe while a wondrous place to live and many secrets unknown need to be explored however it is too gigantic for total discovery.
honoring the vicious warrior conquering the barbarians , a strange mixture this human to be sure who felt the purpose of living is to help your fellow traveler find their destiny with the influence of stoicism the ancient Greek philosophy, Marcus Aurelius the man believed in it but others didn't the Roman Empire was full of violence wasn't noted for being a gentle society. You can imagine the difficulties which transpired, people accepted pain and suffering without complaint, the land of the strong endured disasters and continued. The unnatural way is quite strange as people want to breathe fire in hell, not be lambs heading to the slaughterhouse without putting on a good fight against such a notion, history has shown this propensity. The good Emperor to show the Romans how to serve the world, not rule for selfish reasons was the only proper thing though the concept would be almost impossible to realize then and for modern people failure to engulf this a puzzlement, quite understandable still, for nature is painful. . Yet few believed, greed and ambition the ultimate climb to raw power has a magical temptation not able to be tamed by an old philosophy thousands of years old which the people today will neglect, truth like a sinking useless ship which is empty of valuables slowly turns over and falls to the sparse bottom never to arise again...No one cares the ultimate knowledge each will try to discover for themselves by opening a door, the truth may be inside the hall or not , set you free, or bring destruction, maybe a clue to what you seek....however only time the judge of wisdom prevails . The puzzlement of life is what gives flavor to the mystery and those striving to solve the enigma. A well thought peek, still unclear view of the fuzzy future which could arise, nevertheless a guess will ultimately...be just that a guess and this will always be the truth. No system is perfect for the simple reason the human race doesn't function in an error free state, mistakes continue the sad results cause immense destruction, millions perish we look but can not stop the evil. In my thoughts the odd universe while a wondrous place to live and many secrets unknown need to be explored however it is too gigantic for total discovery.
July 15, 2022
Meditations were written by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius either for himself or for his son and were not addressed to the wider public. His work, however, has become one of the most important texts representing Stoic philosophy. The ancient book is divided into twelve chapters. They embark on exploring such eternal themes as life and death, aspirations and fears, a place of an individual in society, personal priorities, and ways of achieving peace of mind. As to the last point, the crowned philosopher gives some practical recommendations that could be incorporated into our modern lives.
For example, Marcus Aurelius suggests that we concentrate on our inner lives while being open and well-disposed to the world. One should respect those who surround them but not connect their self-esteem and mental health with what others say.
It seems very relevant today when most of us are connected with so many different people via social media. Becoming dependent on the number of likes on our posts is relatively easy, is it not? However, we had better avoid this and should never measure our success only by such external factors.
Meditations deal extensively with the concept of death. Marcus Aurelius explains why one must not be afraid of inevitable demise.
Everything in this world is transient. All our accomplishments will sooner or later fade into oblivion. Our difficulties, no matter how cruel they seem to us, are not original. People in the past have already gone through similar ordeals, and the future will bring the same problems.
All the great people of the past (caesars, writers, sculptors) perished, as did ordinary people. The end is the same for everyone. Therefore, in a wider sense, it does not matter whether or not you have lived a long and prosperous life. I think the author expands on this topic because he wants to provide himself or his invisible reader with some sort of consolation. Life is not always fair. Sh*t happens even to virtuous people. We must accept things that we are not able to change and improve those that can be rectified. Whatever happens, we can choose how to respond to it. These reflections represent one of the tenets of Stoicism.
The man in charge of the great empire does not attach weight to the posthumous fame or slander that may haunt famous people both during their lifetime and after. Praise and calumny are equally considered vanities.
Instead, the author believes in public duty and the necessity of doing the right things and being decent under any circumstances. One should do what he or she thinks right to do without expecting gratitude in response. Kindness to others and worthy deeds give a sense of fulfillment, which means that they are more than enough to make us happy. He also warns against being judgmental toward others. How can we judge others if we are not perfect ourselves?
All these and many other ideas are discussed in the book in a much more subtle way. I have just tried to translate them into the modern language.
The key ideas get repetitive throughout the book. Some would probably prefer to read it with breaks. You can start reading it from any chapter. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it almost in a single sitting. The writing style is accessible. The book makes us reflect on ourselves and the world around us.
In conclusion, I will let the author speak for himself so you may judge for yourself.
"The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite."
鈥淐onfine yourself to the present.鈥�
"Consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another
hide the former sands, so in life the events which go before are soon covered by those which come after."
"Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse."
"Now it is true that these [obstacles] may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road."
For example, Marcus Aurelius suggests that we concentrate on our inner lives while being open and well-disposed to the world. One should respect those who surround them but not connect their self-esteem and mental health with what others say.
It seems very relevant today when most of us are connected with so many different people via social media. Becoming dependent on the number of likes on our posts is relatively easy, is it not? However, we had better avoid this and should never measure our success only by such external factors.
It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
Meditations deal extensively with the concept of death. Marcus Aurelius explains why one must not be afraid of inevitable demise.
Everything in this world is transient. All our accomplishments will sooner or later fade into oblivion. Our difficulties, no matter how cruel they seem to us, are not original. People in the past have already gone through similar ordeals, and the future will bring the same problems.
All the great people of the past (caesars, writers, sculptors) perished, as did ordinary people. The end is the same for everyone. Therefore, in a wider sense, it does not matter whether or not you have lived a long and prosperous life. I think the author expands on this topic because he wants to provide himself or his invisible reader with some sort of consolation. Life is not always fair. Sh*t happens even to virtuous people. We must accept things that we are not able to change and improve those that can be rectified. Whatever happens, we can choose how to respond to it. These reflections represent one of the tenets of Stoicism.
The man in charge of the great empire does not attach weight to the posthumous fame or slander that may haunt famous people both during their lifetime and after. Praise and calumny are equally considered vanities.
Instead, the author believes in public duty and the necessity of doing the right things and being decent under any circumstances. One should do what he or she thinks right to do without expecting gratitude in response. Kindness to others and worthy deeds give a sense of fulfillment, which means that they are more than enough to make us happy. He also warns against being judgmental toward others. How can we judge others if we are not perfect ourselves?
All these and many other ideas are discussed in the book in a much more subtle way. I have just tried to translate them into the modern language.
The key ideas get repetitive throughout the book. Some would probably prefer to read it with breaks. You can start reading it from any chapter. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it almost in a single sitting. The writing style is accessible. The book makes us reflect on ourselves and the world around us.
In conclusion, I will let the author speak for himself so you may judge for yourself.
"The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite."
鈥淐onfine yourself to the present.鈥�
"Consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another
hide the former sands, so in life the events which go before are soon covered by those which come after."
"Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse."
"Now it is true that these [obstacles] may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road."
March 25, 2025
Of course, this is not the most delicate philosophy. However, I still enjoyed taking my time to soak up some thoughts before moving on to others more quickly.
I recommend reading only the Epitectus manual from which Marcus Aurelius' thoughts were drawn. In any case (since it seems that we should remember it), the study of Marcus Aurelius is nothing innovative; it is a question of integrated stoicism implemented by an individual with an extraordinary destiny.
However, we must not neglect the benefactor side of this philosophy and its "reference" side. Whether you subscribe to it, you must know it to go further in philosophy and life.
This work is classic and straightforward and opens the doors to great thoughts.
I recommend reading only the Epitectus manual from which Marcus Aurelius' thoughts were drawn. In any case (since it seems that we should remember it), the study of Marcus Aurelius is nothing innovative; it is a question of integrated stoicism implemented by an individual with an extraordinary destiny.
However, we must not neglect the benefactor side of this philosophy and its "reference" side. Whether you subscribe to it, you must know it to go further in philosophy and life.
This work is classic and straightforward and opens the doors to great thoughts.
November 27, 2022
Marcus Aurelius (121 鈥� 180 CE) was the last in line of the five good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus).
Fun Fact 1: funny thing is, they were all adopted by their predecessor. The next Emperor after Marcus was Commodus, he was a son of Marcus and was a complete Muppet, nasty too 鈥� hence the start of a period of volatility after his death. An argument against hereditary ascension to a throne to be sure. This is not the only instance of hereditary ascension being a complete disaster in the Roman Empire.
Marcus Aurelius 鈥� didn鈥檛 he look curious?
Now Marcus was not only the guy in charge of the Roman Empire he was a Stoic Philosopher. I am a tad conflicted about an Emperor being a Stoic. In my mind a Stoic, is calm, happy with his or her lot, does not want for much, but on the other hand an Emperor is grab, grab, grab and kill, kill, kill. When he wrote this 鈥� he was on the frontline of the war with the Germanic Tribes in 170-180 CE. So that does not lie straight with me 鈥� however, he did not live lavishly.....apparently. But to be fair, he was part of a machine, and in charge of it 鈥� he could very well have been (and I believe it to be so) a decent, intelligent man.
Either way Meditations is a piece of work that endures to this day. Imagine that it still holds up. Meditations was first printed in 1559 CE; Marcus originally wrote this work in Greek 鈥� the language of the intelligentsia of the time. It is also believed; these writings were not intended to be published. He wrote these for himself. Yes, just he 鈥� and we have been gorking at these writings for centuries 鈥� academics and lay people alike 鈥� it is respected, it has stood up.
Don鈥檛 you think that is amazing?
You cannot finish a book like this 鈥� it needs to be kept on one鈥檚 bedside table, to be referred to every now and then, maybe scribble your own notes (while listening to Enya) and reflect. This is what I do with my favourite Stoic work by one of my heroes 鈥� Seneca 鈥� his work On the Shortness of Life is my favourite. My review of this classic can be found here /book/show/9.... So, Seneca鈥檚 and Marcus鈥� books are in my Man Bag. Stick them in yours too!!!!! Or handbag of you are a lady 馃槉
Fun Fact 2: Seneca tutored young Nero, yeah yeah - he stuffed up there, but let's be stoic about this and lay it to one side.
Now the edition of Meditations I have in my possession, and totally recommend, is the Penguin Classics edition, translated with notes by Martin Hammond. The notes take up half of this publication and explain each of Marcus鈥� meditations. Yes, each one. What was happening, where he was and what he may have been thinking. Here is an example:
Book 6 (there are 10 鈥� they are like chapters)
All that exists will soon change. Either it will be turned into vapour, if all matter is a unity, or it will be scattered in atoms.
Note 6.4 鈥� 鈥楾urned into vapour鈥� reflects the Stoic conflagration of the universe (see notes 2.14.2 and 5.13). 鈥楽cattered into atoms鈥� is the Epicurean view
Now, with this type of format 鈥� you (if you read it) will be flipping back and forth, checking this and that, googling, researching getting bogged down and learning heaps. Or one can just read it and think.
There is so much here, written by a true GIANT of antiquity. I loved it and I love Marcus and Seneca.
5 Stars
Fun Fact 1: funny thing is, they were all adopted by their predecessor. The next Emperor after Marcus was Commodus, he was a son of Marcus and was a complete Muppet, nasty too 鈥� hence the start of a period of volatility after his death. An argument against hereditary ascension to a throne to be sure. This is not the only instance of hereditary ascension being a complete disaster in the Roman Empire.
Marcus Aurelius 鈥� didn鈥檛 he look curious?
Now Marcus was not only the guy in charge of the Roman Empire he was a Stoic Philosopher. I am a tad conflicted about an Emperor being a Stoic. In my mind a Stoic, is calm, happy with his or her lot, does not want for much, but on the other hand an Emperor is grab, grab, grab and kill, kill, kill. When he wrote this 鈥� he was on the frontline of the war with the Germanic Tribes in 170-180 CE. So that does not lie straight with me 鈥� however, he did not live lavishly.....apparently. But to be fair, he was part of a machine, and in charge of it 鈥� he could very well have been (and I believe it to be so) a decent, intelligent man.
Either way Meditations is a piece of work that endures to this day. Imagine that it still holds up. Meditations was first printed in 1559 CE; Marcus originally wrote this work in Greek 鈥� the language of the intelligentsia of the time. It is also believed; these writings were not intended to be published. He wrote these for himself. Yes, just he 鈥� and we have been gorking at these writings for centuries 鈥� academics and lay people alike 鈥� it is respected, it has stood up.
Don鈥檛 you think that is amazing?
You cannot finish a book like this 鈥� it needs to be kept on one鈥檚 bedside table, to be referred to every now and then, maybe scribble your own notes (while listening to Enya) and reflect. This is what I do with my favourite Stoic work by one of my heroes 鈥� Seneca 鈥� his work On the Shortness of Life is my favourite. My review of this classic can be found here /book/show/9.... So, Seneca鈥檚 and Marcus鈥� books are in my Man Bag. Stick them in yours too!!!!! Or handbag of you are a lady 馃槉
Fun Fact 2: Seneca tutored young Nero, yeah yeah - he stuffed up there, but let's be stoic about this and lay it to one side.
Now the edition of Meditations I have in my possession, and totally recommend, is the Penguin Classics edition, translated with notes by Martin Hammond. The notes take up half of this publication and explain each of Marcus鈥� meditations. Yes, each one. What was happening, where he was and what he may have been thinking. Here is an example:
Book 6 (there are 10 鈥� they are like chapters)
All that exists will soon change. Either it will be turned into vapour, if all matter is a unity, or it will be scattered in atoms.
Note 6.4 鈥� 鈥楾urned into vapour鈥� reflects the Stoic conflagration of the universe (see notes 2.14.2 and 5.13). 鈥楽cattered into atoms鈥� is the Epicurean view
Now, with this type of format 鈥� you (if you read it) will be flipping back and forth, checking this and that, googling, researching getting bogged down and learning heaps. Or one can just read it and think.
There is so much here, written by a true GIANT of antiquity. I loved it and I love Marcus and Seneca.
5 Stars
September 18, 2022
This book was written by Marcus Aurelius reigned as Roman emperor from 161 to 180 CE and is best known as the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome (following Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius)
I like this quote:
"Don't waste the rest of the time here worrying about other people unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful."
This is one of the books that is recommended to reread when you are free or every few years.
We learn more about our bodies, souls, and minds and how to deal with emotions like anger, anxiety, grief, and so on.
What are we thinking now? Do we need to react to all the things we think now?
A classic physiology book that teaches us how to live happily and purposely in this world.
I recommend you to read it if you want to discover more secrets to enjoy your life better.
I like this quote:
"Don't waste the rest of the time here worrying about other people unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful."
This is one of the books that is recommended to reread when you are free or every few years.
We learn more about our bodies, souls, and minds and how to deal with emotions like anger, anxiety, grief, and so on.
What are we thinking now? Do we need to react to all the things we think now?
A classic physiology book that teaches us how to live happily and purposely in this world.
I recommend you to read it if you want to discover more secrets to enjoy your life better.
March 27, 2025
At long last I have managed to read Marcus Aurelius' renowned opus Meditations! I purposefully chose to pace myself when reading this book. Typically I would read 1 or 2 'books' (i.e., chapters) per day, followed by a period of reflection. So in this way it took me just over ten days to finish Meditations. I would recommend using a similar approach if you are interested in extracting deeper insights from the experience of reading this book.
I most enjoyed the poetry in Aurelius' writing, which distilled so precisely the wisdom that he imparts. He frequently employs very compelling pithy aphorisms to drive home his wise points. A few gems that stood out to me for their finesse and profoundness are:
"All is ephemeral, both memory and the object of memory" (Book 4, para. 37)
"There is a river of creation, and time is the violent stream..."(Book 4, para. 43)
"Observe the movement of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other." (Book 7, para. 47)
"You should leave another's wrong where it lies" (Book 9, para. 20)
"Nature gives all and takes back all." (Book 10, para. 14)
"'No nature is inferior to art': in fact the arts imitate the variety of natures." (Book 11, para. 10)
In truth I could easily spend hours meditating on a single line of Meditations. In fact, what is most remarkable is that the advice contained in this book is still applicable to our modern way of life, after almost 2 millennia.
My only minor quibble with Meditations is that at times I found it repetitive (hence the 4 猸� rating). Although this was explained in the Introduction as a way in which Aurelius sought to reinforce and ingrain the principles that he was expounding.
Meditations is certainly a book that I will revisit in the future and I will definitely recommend it to anyone seeking inspiration and direction in their life.
I most enjoyed the poetry in Aurelius' writing, which distilled so precisely the wisdom that he imparts. He frequently employs very compelling pithy aphorisms to drive home his wise points. A few gems that stood out to me for their finesse and profoundness are:
"All is ephemeral, both memory and the object of memory" (Book 4, para. 37)
"There is a river of creation, and time is the violent stream..."(Book 4, para. 43)
"Observe the movement of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other." (Book 7, para. 47)
"You should leave another's wrong where it lies" (Book 9, para. 20)
"Nature gives all and takes back all." (Book 10, para. 14)
"'No nature is inferior to art': in fact the arts imitate the variety of natures." (Book 11, para. 10)
In truth I could easily spend hours meditating on a single line of Meditations. In fact, what is most remarkable is that the advice contained in this book is still applicable to our modern way of life, after almost 2 millennia.
My only minor quibble with Meditations is that at times I found it repetitive (hence the 4 猸� rating). Although this was explained in the Introduction as a way in which Aurelius sought to reinforce and ingrain the principles that he was expounding.
Meditations is certainly a book that I will revisit in the future and I will definitely recommend it to anyone seeking inspiration and direction in their life.
December 19, 2015
THINK ABOUT IT!
Never before have I given a five star rating to a book of which I had only read 9%. However, this book is special in many ways, and if the beginning is any indication of the author's thoughts and reflections, it merits this rating. I eagerly await my future readings of this splendid work.
Like the Bible, it can be opened to any page, and the passage will resonate with most people at various times in their life. Each passage stands by itself and is not dependent upon what had preceded it. Therefore, although I am in the midst of reading two other books, I pick this one up sporadically, read a few passages, and am not confused about plot and characters. Although the book was written in a manner easy to understand, it is anything but simplistic; it is profound and replete with wisdom. Further, it should be read slowly so that the reader may absorb the words and delight in the meditations of Aurelius. I have done much highlighting in order to remember certain passages, and I know I will reread them throughout the years.
Once again, my friend Steve Sckenda has recommended quality literature to his GR friends for which I thank him most sincerely.
Phyllis Eisenstadt
Never before have I given a five star rating to a book of which I had only read 9%. However, this book is special in many ways, and if the beginning is any indication of the author's thoughts and reflections, it merits this rating. I eagerly await my future readings of this splendid work.
Like the Bible, it can be opened to any page, and the passage will resonate with most people at various times in their life. Each passage stands by itself and is not dependent upon what had preceded it. Therefore, although I am in the midst of reading two other books, I pick this one up sporadically, read a few passages, and am not confused about plot and characters. Although the book was written in a manner easy to understand, it is anything but simplistic; it is profound and replete with wisdom. Further, it should be read slowly so that the reader may absorb the words and delight in the meditations of Aurelius. I have done much highlighting in order to remember certain passages, and I know I will reread them throughout the years.
Once again, my friend Steve Sckenda has recommended quality literature to his GR friends for which I thank him most sincerely.
Phyllis Eisenstadt
Read
September 26, 2021Ah I had a far better review in my mind, but it has, like morning mist, cleared out from my mind leaving a jumble of words and impressions, so you will have to endure that, or skip to another GR update instead :)
The weaknesses of Marcus Aurelius's jottings and musings, his inconsistencies, vaguenesses, intellectual messiness, the lack of exploration of any particular idea in detail are it's strengths. There is a Marcus Aurelius for everyone, or perhaps for everyday of the year () (and I suspect there are Marcus Aurelius day by day calendars). I wondered if at some point the real Marcus Aurelius would stand up, and of course he does, just like Spartacus at the end of the Stanley Kubrik .
The work known variously as Meditations or the Golden Book was originally written in Greek and entitled 'To Himself', it is divided into twelve 'books' each perhaps fifteen or so printed pages in length. The first book is a listing of to whom and for what Marcus Aurelius is grateful - for things like his upbringing and character rather than that people pay their taxes and, by and large, obey the laws. The other eleven books don't have any thematic unity. At the end of the first book he writes: 'Among the Quadi, on the river Gran' this is the only indication of time and place in the entire work which is good from the point of view of approachability, Yes, you too, and me, have direct access to the personal musing of a Roman Emperor you can read his blogging, indeed in places almost his tweets, there is no barrier you can approach him with out prior knowledge - people have approached him with out prior knowledge for almost 2,000 years, so much so that I fear there is little novel here: be grateful, practise serenity, be kind to others, appreciate the order and structure of life, do your duty (like a Roman). The downside is you don't learn much about Marcus Aurelius, it is somehow so personal, private and interior that it has become indistinct and universal, suitable for fridge magnets or motivational posters anywhere.
I believe that formally Marcus was a a stoic, if his reflections in his book represent cutting edge stoic philosophy or the ponderings of a well educated individual of his day I don't know. In book eleven particularly he quotes Homer, Sophocles, Euripides and Plato, but he never mentions the famous Roman stoic Seneca. Perhaps Seneca was already forgotten by Aurelius' time or perhaps the issue of how to behave under the rule of an emperor was a bit too close to the bone for the Emperor.
As I mentioned in updates it reminded me in its stress on duty of what I have heard of the Bhagadvad Gita and I felt that Aurelius' : Worldnature, nature, world reason, cosmic purpose, gods, universal nature,mind of the universe, god... (a sample of the terms he seems to use for some kind of ordering principle in the universe) could all have been expressed as, or were reaching towards ideas of Dharma or Dao. Since this is a philosophical work, of sorts, or perhaps a religious one, I wondered if the translation was unhelpful - perhaps all these terms might have been rendered by one expression in the original, perhaps Logos (most famous now from the opening of the Gospel of Saint John), yet I think I read in the introduction that Marcus did use all these different terms even though, contextually they all appear to mean something similar if not identical.
Given this and the , I would have imagined that the Tao Te Ching was the one written by a canny Emperor, Marcus somehow often manages to sound like a harassed corporate drone forced to share a workbench with people who don't brush their teeth and who wash and change their clothes regularly - meaning once every nine weeks - (5:28) I could imagine it as the basis for a new US Sit-Com, maybe Aurelius: the customer service years, a slight change from his previous appearances in the films The Fall of the Roman Empire and Gladiator both of which downplay quite how odd Marcus' son the Emperor was .
Marcus says that he thinks praying for three hours a day is sufficient, but it was unclear to me quite what he would be praying to, his universe otherwise seems fairly deterministic and the gods a part of that as much as the fig trees, horses and people, perhaps his prayer was more his spiritual practise to encourage the serenity, kindness, and indifference to death that he speaks of rather than requests to the gods.
Walking wet pavements observing (stoically of course) the flashes of lightening over the sky, I wondered if death and being forgotten (everybody who ever knew you also dying) was such a constant preoccupation in these writing because it was a prospect that he really feared, as it has happened this has preserved his memory fairly effectively.
Everything he says is created for some duty (8:19) even if we accept that this is so and easily definable for his examples of a horse and a vine, the question that he does not address is what about an Emperor? Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero were all emperors and all acted as though they had different conceptions of duty. But Marcus while exposing his innermost thoughts does not want to reveal what he thought his own duty as an Emperor was. For me it was not a case of but Marcus Aurelius was on the dusty shelf, picked up for two GBP I don't recall when, probably in disreputable company.
At the same time I can not be completely comfortable with him. Mine [my concern], to be in friendship and charity with all men (11:13) he writes while fighting wars against the Marcomanni, Quadi and Samatians, so friendship and charity with not quite all men, I flicked through the relevant pages of and saw that war began because they asked if they could enter the empire and had been refused, perhaps I am missing something here, also this was a period when punishments for crimes became harsher for those of lower social status, his self cultivation and personal serenity did not come into conflict with a conception of imperial duty that seems in practise to have been heavy handed (kindness is irresistible but he is partial to the decapitation of his enemies), perhaps for him there was no contradiction, he was no Ashokha (he says somewhere that you either have to improve people or put up with them, he does not seem to have tried improving them, that was not his duty). But his writings don't clarify his approach to authority and rule to me .
I see here Marcus Aurelius for business: this from the man who wrote (5:33) "all that men set their hearts on in this life is vanity, corruption and trash..."
The weaknesses of Marcus Aurelius's jottings and musings, his inconsistencies, vaguenesses, intellectual messiness, the lack of exploration of any particular idea in detail are it's strengths. There is a Marcus Aurelius for everyone, or perhaps for everyday of the year () (and I suspect there are Marcus Aurelius day by day calendars). I wondered if at some point the real Marcus Aurelius would stand up, and of course he does, just like Spartacus at the end of the Stanley Kubrik .
The work known variously as Meditations or the Golden Book was originally written in Greek and entitled 'To Himself', it is divided into twelve 'books' each perhaps fifteen or so printed pages in length. The first book is a listing of to whom and for what Marcus Aurelius is grateful - for things like his upbringing and character rather than that people pay their taxes and, by and large, obey the laws. The other eleven books don't have any thematic unity. At the end of the first book he writes: 'Among the Quadi, on the river Gran' this is the only indication of time and place in the entire work which is good from the point of view of approachability, Yes, you too, and me, have direct access to the personal musing of a Roman Emperor you can read his blogging, indeed in places almost his tweets, there is no barrier you can approach him with out prior knowledge - people have approached him with out prior knowledge for almost 2,000 years, so much so that I fear there is little novel here: be grateful, practise serenity, be kind to others, appreciate the order and structure of life, do your duty (like a Roman). The downside is you don't learn much about Marcus Aurelius, it is somehow so personal, private and interior that it has become indistinct and universal, suitable for fridge magnets or motivational posters anywhere.
I believe that formally Marcus was a a stoic, if his reflections in his book represent cutting edge stoic philosophy or the ponderings of a well educated individual of his day I don't know. In book eleven particularly he quotes Homer, Sophocles, Euripides and Plato, but he never mentions the famous Roman stoic Seneca. Perhaps Seneca was already forgotten by Aurelius' time or perhaps the issue of how to behave under the rule of an emperor was a bit too close to the bone for the Emperor.
As I mentioned in updates it reminded me in its stress on duty of what I have heard of the Bhagadvad Gita and I felt that Aurelius' : Worldnature, nature, world reason, cosmic purpose, gods, universal nature,mind of the universe, god... (a sample of the terms he seems to use for some kind of ordering principle in the universe) could all have been expressed as, or were reaching towards ideas of Dharma or Dao. Since this is a philosophical work, of sorts, or perhaps a religious one, I wondered if the translation was unhelpful - perhaps all these terms might have been rendered by one expression in the original, perhaps Logos (most famous now from the opening of the Gospel of Saint John), yet I think I read in the introduction that Marcus did use all these different terms even though, contextually they all appear to mean something similar if not identical.
Given this and the , I would have imagined that the Tao Te Ching was the one written by a canny Emperor, Marcus somehow often manages to sound like a harassed corporate drone forced to share a workbench with people who don't brush their teeth and who wash and change their clothes regularly - meaning once every nine weeks - (5:28) I could imagine it as the basis for a new US Sit-Com, maybe Aurelius: the customer service years, a slight change from his previous appearances in the films The Fall of the Roman Empire and Gladiator both of which downplay quite how odd Marcus' son the Emperor was .
Marcus says that he thinks praying for three hours a day is sufficient, but it was unclear to me quite what he would be praying to, his universe otherwise seems fairly deterministic and the gods a part of that as much as the fig trees, horses and people, perhaps his prayer was more his spiritual practise to encourage the serenity, kindness, and indifference to death that he speaks of rather than requests to the gods.
Walking wet pavements observing (stoically of course) the flashes of lightening over the sky, I wondered if death and being forgotten (everybody who ever knew you also dying) was such a constant preoccupation in these writing because it was a prospect that he really feared, as it has happened this has preserved his memory fairly effectively.
Everything he says is created for some duty (8:19) even if we accept that this is so and easily definable for his examples of a horse and a vine, the question that he does not address is what about an Emperor? Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero were all emperors and all acted as though they had different conceptions of duty. But Marcus while exposing his innermost thoughts does not want to reveal what he thought his own duty as an Emperor was. For me it was not a case of but Marcus Aurelius was on the dusty shelf, picked up for two GBP I don't recall when, probably in disreputable company.
At the same time I can not be completely comfortable with him. Mine [my concern], to be in friendship and charity with all men (11:13) he writes while fighting wars against the Marcomanni, Quadi and Samatians, so friendship and charity with not quite all men, I flicked through the relevant pages of and saw that war began because they asked if they could enter the empire and had been refused, perhaps I am missing something here, also this was a period when punishments for crimes became harsher for those of lower social status, his self cultivation and personal serenity did not come into conflict with a conception of imperial duty that seems in practise to have been heavy handed (kindness is irresistible but he is partial to the decapitation of his enemies), perhaps for him there was no contradiction, he was no Ashokha (he says somewhere that you either have to improve people or put up with them, he does not seem to have tried improving them, that was not his duty). But his writings don't clarify his approach to authority and rule to me .
I see here Marcus Aurelius for business: this from the man who wrote (5:33) "all that men set their hearts on in this life is vanity, corruption and trash..."
March 26, 2023
Why do I always posit bizarre questions at the beginning of every review? Well, have you ever, after many talks with a chemist and micro-dosing guru, finally persuaded yourself that you鈥檇 be just peachy with pin-balling some spirit molecules around in your brain casket? Only to later profane against your prior optimism by leaping up, cleaving the coffee table with the blunted knife of your shins, all while struggling to quell the erratic gestures which are presently animating your limbs? Why? Well, if every time you hold your hands out, your fingers ejaculate pyrotechnic jets of DMT, the only sensible course of action is to shield your loved ones from harm by convulsing as if gripped by an invisible straight jacket and roil your way towards the balcony with the conspicuous golden thread. Why? Because it鈥檚 obviously Ariadne鈥檚 thread, you philistine! Your soul is attached to it, and your buoyant spirit, while great at making friends, is navigationally challenged and will breach the atmosphere to explode soundlessly in the vacuum of deep space if not for the cement shoes of your corporeality. At a time like this, a powerful aphorism could save you.
The following apocryphal tale is how the last emperor of the Pax Romana riveted my stray quintessence back to my pineal gland using the pithy wisdom of The Meditations as adhesive. Giving me the incredible strength required to consume an entire box of grape popsicles, which in turn, carried me away from the jaws of psychosis on high fructose wings.
Below the balcony. Street level. A man of anachronistic manner and dress watches my futile attempt to collapse a probabilistic cloud of electrons back into the wave function of its sebaceous prison.
Me: 鈥淭hink of the menstrual cramps you鈥檒l miss!鈥�
Soul: 鈥�....鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淵ou are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.鈥�
Me: 鈥淲ait, are y-鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淗ow ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.鈥�
Me: 鈥淵ou have to admit that some things are difficult to prepare for, and the shock of their oblique assault causes one to writhe as if restrained in the manner of Houdini and seek to rescue their soul from an eternity spent conversing with molecular hydrogen. Can鈥檛 you help me?! You seem so nonplussed. So.. stoic!鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淗ow much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.鈥�
Me: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e right. What would my personal hero (Dr. Hannibal Lecter) do at a time like this? If he can bite the faces off rude corrections officers without his pulse rising above normal, surely I can manage this trivial ordeal.鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淩egain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up.鈥�
Me: *Deep centering breath*
Stranger: 鈥淣ow that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 鈥榬eality鈥� as you view your dreams.鈥�
Me: 鈥淵es. Like the one with Dita von Teese and the Shibari Rope Bondage based on the quantum weirdness of spinnorial matter. If I spin her just so, she will arrive back at her original configuration only have 720-degrees of rotation!鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淒o not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.鈥�
Me: 鈥淒amnit.鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淐onsider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events that go before are soon covered by those that come after.鈥�
And that鈥檚 how I met Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. What a guy.
This is another very important book to me. It鈥檚 message, contrary to conflations of stoicism with pure apathy, is this: The narrow band of experience, which comprises the entire trajectory of your life, is bracketed by voids of unknown dimensions. So in every sense, what you do here, in this blip of astronomical time, matters. Possessing this knowledge, how should we behave in the face of life鈥檚 travails? Despair and give ourselves to the comforting cowardice of nihilism? Or bear, with dignity, our one and only experiential opportunity in this absurd system?
This book contains the rumination鈥檚 of an emperor, a philosopher, and, most pertinent to our collective struggles, a fellow mortal, aware of their paltry chronological endowment. Trying to live well and love fully. Seeking to define goodness and hone the pursuit of it as earnestly as possible. Espousing the virtues of self reliance, of facing hardship with equanimity, of treating others with respect and compassion. Stressing the importance of habituating your thoughts in ways that are productive, rather than adopting fatalistic narratives. It鈥檚 a panacea against carping and catastrophizing. A set of conceptual triangulations to steady you in times when you feel unmoored. Succor in menacing shadow of life鈥檚 impermanence.
It is fashionable to consider all works of philosophy to be stodgy and concerned with matters so esoteric that little practical value can be derived them. But this book chiefly concerns (by heavy dent of the Roman preoccupation with pragmatism, one imagines) the concrete ways in which a life of the mind can provide a bulwark against turmoil and tragedy. I encourage you to give it a chance, you might find yourself surprised by the power of ideas, and the fortitude of a life well lived.
The following apocryphal tale is how the last emperor of the Pax Romana riveted my stray quintessence back to my pineal gland using the pithy wisdom of The Meditations as adhesive. Giving me the incredible strength required to consume an entire box of grape popsicles, which in turn, carried me away from the jaws of psychosis on high fructose wings.
Below the balcony. Street level. A man of anachronistic manner and dress watches my futile attempt to collapse a probabilistic cloud of electrons back into the wave function of its sebaceous prison.
Me: 鈥淭hink of the menstrual cramps you鈥檒l miss!鈥�
Soul: 鈥�....鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淵ou are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.鈥�
Me: 鈥淲ait, are y-鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淗ow ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.鈥�
Me: 鈥淵ou have to admit that some things are difficult to prepare for, and the shock of their oblique assault causes one to writhe as if restrained in the manner of Houdini and seek to rescue their soul from an eternity spent conversing with molecular hydrogen. Can鈥檛 you help me?! You seem so nonplussed. So.. stoic!鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淗ow much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.鈥�
Me: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e right. What would my personal hero (Dr. Hannibal Lecter) do at a time like this? If he can bite the faces off rude corrections officers without his pulse rising above normal, surely I can manage this trivial ordeal.鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淩egain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up.鈥�
Me: *Deep centering breath*
Stranger: 鈥淣ow that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 鈥榬eality鈥� as you view your dreams.鈥�
Me: 鈥淵es. Like the one with Dita von Teese and the Shibari Rope Bondage based on the quantum weirdness of spinnorial matter. If I spin her just so, she will arrive back at her original configuration only have 720-degrees of rotation!鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淒o not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.鈥�
Me: 鈥淒amnit.鈥�
Stranger: 鈥淐onsider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events that go before are soon covered by those that come after.鈥�
And that鈥檚 how I met Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. What a guy.
This is another very important book to me. It鈥檚 message, contrary to conflations of stoicism with pure apathy, is this: The narrow band of experience, which comprises the entire trajectory of your life, is bracketed by voids of unknown dimensions. So in every sense, what you do here, in this blip of astronomical time, matters. Possessing this knowledge, how should we behave in the face of life鈥檚 travails? Despair and give ourselves to the comforting cowardice of nihilism? Or bear, with dignity, our one and only experiential opportunity in this absurd system?
This book contains the rumination鈥檚 of an emperor, a philosopher, and, most pertinent to our collective struggles, a fellow mortal, aware of their paltry chronological endowment. Trying to live well and love fully. Seeking to define goodness and hone the pursuit of it as earnestly as possible. Espousing the virtues of self reliance, of facing hardship with equanimity, of treating others with respect and compassion. Stressing the importance of habituating your thoughts in ways that are productive, rather than adopting fatalistic narratives. It鈥檚 a panacea against carping and catastrophizing. A set of conceptual triangulations to steady you in times when you feel unmoored. Succor in menacing shadow of life鈥檚 impermanence.
It is fashionable to consider all works of philosophy to be stodgy and concerned with matters so esoteric that little practical value can be derived them. But this book chiefly concerns (by heavy dent of the Roman preoccupation with pragmatism, one imagines) the concrete ways in which a life of the mind can provide a bulwark against turmoil and tragedy. I encourage you to give it a chance, you might find yourself surprised by the power of ideas, and the fortitude of a life well lived.
January 7, 2020
Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic, a philosophy that is all about accepting the present moment as it is, and not letting the struggle to get away from pain and to acquire pleasure dictate our lives. This philosophy has always appealed to me, and obviously there are many similarities with Zen Buddhism to be found in Stoicism. This little book is the equivalent of a little diary one would keep on their nightstand, where they would scribble thoughts that they want to remind themselves of, and as the title implies, insight gained from looking deep into oneself.
While it can get a bit repetitive sometimes, and can, at times, feel like ideas we鈥檝e heard a million times before, there is something profoundly soothing and inspiring in Marcus Aurelius鈥� little maxims: they are a refreshing reminder that leading a life of simplicity and compassion can be a much more rewarding life than one based on greed and superficial, fleeting satisfactions. If it feels oddly familiar, it鈥檚 probably because people have been quoting Marcus Aurelius for hundreds of years!
He wrote most of these late in his life, and there are plenty of reflections on death in these pages: that is certainly explained in part by how old he was when he took up the pen, but it was also an important part of Stoic philosophy, to be aware that life is finite, and that we should therefore learn to be satisfied with how it is right now, as it could be gone tomorrow.
When you consider the tone of the thoughts collected in 鈥淢editations鈥�, it can be surprising to remember that they were written down by the most powerful man of the Western world. Would powerful men today write so earnestly about dignity, thoughtfulness, modesty and honesty? Would they encourage people to truly look at themselves and give up caring about the things that are outside of our control? I don鈥檛 know. But Marcus was very aware of his humanity, and therefore, that even if he was the Emperor, he was fundamentally not all that different from other people.
Just like when I read Cicero last year (/review/show...), I finished this book wishing this was still a mandatory text: it's not perfect, but there is some important wisdom in here, and I wish more people were exposed to this kind of writing. And it is still incredibly relevant, and applicable to many daily life situations.
A very good book to start the new year (and decade!) with.
"If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance."
"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense."
While it can get a bit repetitive sometimes, and can, at times, feel like ideas we鈥檝e heard a million times before, there is something profoundly soothing and inspiring in Marcus Aurelius鈥� little maxims: they are a refreshing reminder that leading a life of simplicity and compassion can be a much more rewarding life than one based on greed and superficial, fleeting satisfactions. If it feels oddly familiar, it鈥檚 probably because people have been quoting Marcus Aurelius for hundreds of years!
He wrote most of these late in his life, and there are plenty of reflections on death in these pages: that is certainly explained in part by how old he was when he took up the pen, but it was also an important part of Stoic philosophy, to be aware that life is finite, and that we should therefore learn to be satisfied with how it is right now, as it could be gone tomorrow.
When you consider the tone of the thoughts collected in 鈥淢editations鈥�, it can be surprising to remember that they were written down by the most powerful man of the Western world. Would powerful men today write so earnestly about dignity, thoughtfulness, modesty and honesty? Would they encourage people to truly look at themselves and give up caring about the things that are outside of our control? I don鈥檛 know. But Marcus was very aware of his humanity, and therefore, that even if he was the Emperor, he was fundamentally not all that different from other people.
Just like when I read Cicero last year (/review/show...), I finished this book wishing this was still a mandatory text: it's not perfect, but there is some important wisdom in here, and I wish more people were exposed to this kind of writing. And it is still incredibly relevant, and applicable to many daily life situations.
A very good book to start the new year (and decade!) with.
"If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance."
"Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense."
December 4, 2007
Another great influence in my life; this was the personal philosophical diary of the last "good emperor" of the Roman Empire. In this work Marcus Aurelius draws a picture Stoicism as a philosophy that I call "Buddhism with balls". It is a harsh self discipline that trains its practitioners to be champions (of a sort). Champions of what? Mastery of the self.
The heart of the book is that in order to make oneself free, they must train themselves to become indifferent to externals. The externals are those elements in life of which we have no or little control: our ethnicity, sex appeal, intelligence, lifespan, the opinions of others, etc. We must also become very aware of the one thing which we do have control over: our perceptions. Through harsh self analysis, training of the reason and self discipline, we can learn to take control of our perceptions, and in this way become impervious to all misfortune/suffering. Through this practice one cuts the puppet strings by which most people are jerked through life: pleasing others, seeking fame, sexual dominance, material goods, etc., and in the process also is freed of the suffering that stems from not having these false goals met.
This is a book that is extremely empowering. Even if some of the ideals and aims might be utterly impossible (but for a handful of great sages), they are worthy and worth striving towards.
Another aspect that I found interesting, was that here we are able to open a window into the life of a great and noble soul who was struggling to come to terms with the universe. We read the personal thoughts of the master of the civilized world, a man utterly alone and free of peers, who is grappling with the need to find meaning in life. His efforts and obvious agonies are touching. This is a deeply humane work. In many sections he has to repeatedly remind himself of the nature of death (that it is an essential and good part of nature), and often repeated are metaphors relating to the death of a child. These reminders are made very poignant when you understand that several of the Emperor's children (who he apparently loved very much) were taken by disease. This was the one understanding that he seemed to have the hardest time coming to terms with or accepting.
The heart of the book is that in order to make oneself free, they must train themselves to become indifferent to externals. The externals are those elements in life of which we have no or little control: our ethnicity, sex appeal, intelligence, lifespan, the opinions of others, etc. We must also become very aware of the one thing which we do have control over: our perceptions. Through harsh self analysis, training of the reason and self discipline, we can learn to take control of our perceptions, and in this way become impervious to all misfortune/suffering. Through this practice one cuts the puppet strings by which most people are jerked through life: pleasing others, seeking fame, sexual dominance, material goods, etc., and in the process also is freed of the suffering that stems from not having these false goals met.
This is a book that is extremely empowering. Even if some of the ideals and aims might be utterly impossible (but for a handful of great sages), they are worthy and worth striving towards.
Another aspect that I found interesting, was that here we are able to open a window into the life of a great and noble soul who was struggling to come to terms with the universe. We read the personal thoughts of the master of the civilized world, a man utterly alone and free of peers, who is grappling with the need to find meaning in life. His efforts and obvious agonies are touching. This is a deeply humane work. In many sections he has to repeatedly remind himself of the nature of death (that it is an essential and good part of nature), and often repeated are metaphors relating to the death of a child. These reminders are made very poignant when you understand that several of the Emperor's children (who he apparently loved very much) were taken by disease. This was the one understanding that he seemed to have the hardest time coming to terms with or accepting.
October 7, 2020
"If you want to gain control of pain,
open up this blessed book
and enter deep within it.
Its wealth of philosophy will bring you
to see with ease all the future,
the present, and the past,
and you will see that joy and distress
have no more power than smoke." - One of Marcus' Greek readers.
February 11, 2020
Written between the years 170 and 180 while on campaign, Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations is one of the most enduring works of philosophy ever penned by man. I read this book very slowly, in an attempt to absorb the wisdom and instruction within its pages, but it will take more than one reading to do that, for every word has meaning and impact. Why is this not required reading in our schools? It could easily teach our children everything they will ever need to know to navigate life well and live in happiness and peace.
Just a few of the more poignant and meaningful quotations from this work (although I could have abandoned these and selected ten others which were just as good):
1. Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
2.The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
3.Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
4. Dwell upon the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.
5. If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
6. Our life is what our thoughts make it.
7. It is not death a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
8. If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
9. How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
10. How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.
That Marcus Aurelius was one of the 鈥渇ive good emperors鈥� does not surprise me. I had never thought that I would have found any joy in being a stoic, but I believe living your life according to the precepts he puts forward would bring both joy and peace. I will be re-reading The Meditations over the course of this year, one panel a night before going to bed seems like a good practice, to remind myself, as Marcus Aurelius was reminding himself, that a good life is found internally, not externally.
Just a few of the more poignant and meaningful quotations from this work (although I could have abandoned these and selected ten others which were just as good):
1. Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
2.The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
3.Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
4. Dwell upon the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.
5. If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
6. Our life is what our thoughts make it.
7. It is not death a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
8. If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
9. How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
10. How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life.
That Marcus Aurelius was one of the 鈥渇ive good emperors鈥� does not surprise me. I had never thought that I would have found any joy in being a stoic, but I believe living your life according to the precepts he puts forward would bring both joy and peace. I will be re-reading The Meditations over the course of this year, one panel a night before going to bed seems like a good practice, to remind myself, as Marcus Aurelius was reminding himself, that a good life is found internally, not externally.
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