Current Events > The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is a surprisingly uplifting book

(+) Yeah! (+)

Given how powerful he was, its rather remarkable how humble and respectful of the opinions of others he was. He took a polar opposite view of what it meant to be a leader, and placed a lot of value in having people disagree with him.

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I really enjoyed it. There is a mounted statue of him at my university.

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brestugo posted...

I really enjoyed it. There is a mounted statue of him at my university.

To me, it means a world of a difference that these were private writings he never intended to publish, and in fact as far as we know never intended for anyone else to read. Its like a window into the soul of a brilliant, but remarkably humble individual.

Keep this thought handy when you feel a bit of rage coming on--it isn't manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. A real person doesn't give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage, and endurance--unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.


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I like his writings a lot. Some of them are basically the ancient equivalent of "Live, Laugh, Love" and some of them absolutely knock me over with their profundity.

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Xavier_On_High posted...

I like his writings a lot. Some of them are basically the ancient equivalent of "Live, Laugh, Love" and some of them absolutely knock me over with their profundity.

Words that everyone once used are now obsolete, and so are the men whose names were once on everyone's lips: Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, Dentatus, and to a lesser degree Scipio and Cato, and yes, even Augustus, Hadrian, and Antoninus are less spoken of now than they were in their own days. For all things fade away, become the stuff of legend, and are soon buried in oblivion. Mind you, this is true only for those who blazed once like bright stars in the firmament, but for the rest, as soon as a few clods of earth cover their corpses, they are 'out of sight, out of mind.' In the end, what would you gain from everlasting remembrance? Absolutely nothing. So what is left worth living for? This alone: justice in thought, goodness in action, speech that cannot deceive, and a disposition glad of whatever comes, welcoming it as necessary, as familiar, as flowing from the same source and fountain as yourself.


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DarkRoast posted...

To me, it means a world of a difference that these were private writings he never intended to publish, and in fact as far as we know never intended for anyone else to read. Its like a window into the soul of a brilliant, but remarkably humble individual.

Keep this thought handy when you feel a bit of rage coming on--it isn't manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. A real person doesn't give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage, and endurance--unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.

To me it shows that Stoicism has its virtue (stoics may hate that characterization, which is kind of an inside joke).

And you know what? He was one of the greatest emperors Rome had (kind of a thing for me since I taught military strategy and did intelligence for a notorious 3 letter agency).


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Great, advice from the people who got to build on something that came earlier

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Be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continually pounds; it stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet. I hear you say, "How unlucky that this should happen to me!" Not at all! Say instead, "How lucky that I am not broken by what has happened and am not afraid of what is about to happen. The same blow might have struck anyone, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation or complaint.

All of the stoics are similar in style but Aurelius really brought something extra to the philosophy.

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Aurelius wasnt just a stoic; he also brought a truly genuine desire to be a good person and to treat others as equals. He took rationalism and added humanity in ways the other stoics didnt. That he did so while also being the most powerful man in the world really amazes me.

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Rome was never the same after he died.

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