Books
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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MPH, MSc
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Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was emperor of the Roman Empire and one of the leading exponents of Stoic philosophy. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius develops a pragmatic ethic centered on the individual. "Without falsehood, selfishness, or indifference to the dispositions of fate. You see how few principles you must possess for a prosperous life."
The faculties of observation and intelligence provide a person with security and prosperity, but the higher goods are justice, sincerity, and courage. Intelligence, Marcus Aurelius tells us, can exist among those who commit all kinds of infamies, and therefore it is not sufficient for virtue. "The prerogative of the virtuous man is to welcome with love and satisfaction whatever comes and is intertwined with life." The individual must always be upright, "without saying a word contrary to the truth, without doing anything contrary to the rights of justice." Neither the law, modesty, benevolence, nor truth need to be praised to be virtuous actions. "Everything that is honest is in some way honest in itself." Conduct must be "directed toward the common good." With regard to righteousness and justice, "justice is often sinned against by omission, and not only by action."
With regard to happiness, Marcus Aurelius warns that "happiness is nowhere to be found, neither in syllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in glory, nor in pleasure, nor anywhere else." Happiness consists "in doing what human nature demands." Good things and bad things happen to good people and bad people, therefore "they are neither true goods nor true evils."
On softness, Marcus Aurelius tells us of those who have pleasure as the guide of their soul: "How many pleasures have the wicked, the prostitutes, the parricides, the tyrants enjoyed!" For Marcus Aurelius, surrendering to impulses and sensual pleasures is characteristic of brutes: "Will you ever be satisfied, without needing anything, without desires, without coveting anything...?" The soul is particularly dishonored by lying and by trying to harm other people. "Do not waste the part of your life that remains in finding out about other people's lives." Regarding what is coveted, "the things that the common people consider to be goods" are not goods, says Marcus Aurelius. "Is it not surprising that ignorance and the desire to please are stronger than wisdom?"
The emperor invites us above all to take care of ourselves. "I do my duty; the rest does not concern me." He leaves some advice for the eternal adolescents of yesterday and today: "Do not dream of seeing Plato's republic established; rather, be content with making a little progress, considering that this small result is no small achievement." On letting oneself be carried away by a sense of self-importance, he warns, "How many men do not even know your name, how many will soon forget it, and how many who now praise you will soon revile you." Instead of devoting oneself to contemplation and discussing what a good man should be, "strive to be one." He tells us that we should help those in need according to their needs, but also according to their merit, "distributing to each one, inflexibly, according to his merit." Most of our words and daily actions are unnecessary, "if they were cut off, we would enjoy more freedom and tranquility," but Marcus Aurelius says that ideas are also unnecessary.
With regard to life, either the world is disorder, or it is providence. If the former is true and people are the result of the constant movement of the cosmos, why worry? And if the latter is true, "I revere, persist, and rest in the one who governs." The universe is movement, human things "are nothing but smoke and nothing," and they will not return. "Why not be content to end that little time decorously?" Instead of longing to prolong existence, what should be prolonged is the soul and the life we live each day, not prolonging a perception of time of a body that expires. "The world is a continuous mutation, life an imagination." For Marcus Aurelius, death is only an effect of nature. Death is not what causes us fear, but rather the fear produced by our imagination. Both the longest and the shortest lives have in common that they only exist in the present moment, therefore both are equal, both in the fact of living them and in what is lost when we die.
Marcus Aurelius seemed to be aware that school does not educate; it is the person who wants to be educated who educates themselves, and he expressed satisfaction at "having provided myself with good teachers at home, well convinced that in this particular matter it is necessary to spend assiduously."
"Penetrate your inner self. Within you is the source of good that can flow endlessly, if you always dig deep." Marcus Aurelius.
Cite as: Bordallo. A. Review of Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. ICNS. Available at https://www.icns.es/en/news/marco-aurelius-meditations
Copyright© ICNS Institute
The faculties of observation and intelligence provide a person with security and prosperity, but the higher goods are justice, sincerity, and courage. Intelligence, Marcus Aurelius tells us, can exist among those who commit all kinds of infamies, and therefore it is not sufficient for virtue. "The prerogative of the virtuous man is to welcome with love and satisfaction whatever comes and is intertwined with life." The individual must always be upright, "without saying a word contrary to the truth, without doing anything contrary to the rights of justice." Neither the law, modesty, benevolence, nor truth need to be praised to be virtuous actions. "Everything that is honest is in some way honest in itself." Conduct must be "directed toward the common good." With regard to righteousness and justice, "justice is often sinned against by omission, and not only by action."
With regard to happiness, Marcus Aurelius warns that "happiness is nowhere to be found, neither in syllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in glory, nor in pleasure, nor anywhere else." Happiness consists "in doing what human nature demands." Good things and bad things happen to good people and bad people, therefore "they are neither true goods nor true evils."
On softness, Marcus Aurelius tells us of those who have pleasure as the guide of their soul: "How many pleasures have the wicked, the prostitutes, the parricides, the tyrants enjoyed!" For Marcus Aurelius, surrendering to impulses and sensual pleasures is characteristic of brutes: "Will you ever be satisfied, without needing anything, without desires, without coveting anything...?" The soul is particularly dishonored by lying and by trying to harm other people. "Do not waste the part of your life that remains in finding out about other people's lives." Regarding what is coveted, "the things that the common people consider to be goods" are not goods, says Marcus Aurelius. "Is it not surprising that ignorance and the desire to please are stronger than wisdom?"
The emperor invites us above all to take care of ourselves. "I do my duty; the rest does not concern me." He leaves some advice for the eternal adolescents of yesterday and today: "Do not dream of seeing Plato's republic established; rather, be content with making a little progress, considering that this small result is no small achievement." On letting oneself be carried away by a sense of self-importance, he warns, "How many men do not even know your name, how many will soon forget it, and how many who now praise you will soon revile you." Instead of devoting oneself to contemplation and discussing what a good man should be, "strive to be one." He tells us that we should help those in need according to their needs, but also according to their merit, "distributing to each one, inflexibly, according to his merit." Most of our words and daily actions are unnecessary, "if they were cut off, we would enjoy more freedom and tranquility," but Marcus Aurelius says that ideas are also unnecessary.
With regard to life, either the world is disorder, or it is providence. If the former is true and people are the result of the constant movement of the cosmos, why worry? And if the latter is true, "I revere, persist, and rest in the one who governs." The universe is movement, human things "are nothing but smoke and nothing," and they will not return. "Why not be content to end that little time decorously?" Instead of longing to prolong existence, what should be prolonged is the soul and the life we live each day, not prolonging a perception of time of a body that expires. "The world is a continuous mutation, life an imagination." For Marcus Aurelius, death is only an effect of nature. Death is not what causes us fear, but rather the fear produced by our imagination. Both the longest and the shortest lives have in common that they only exist in the present moment, therefore both are equal, both in the fact of living them and in what is lost when we die.
Marcus Aurelius seemed to be aware that school does not educate; it is the person who wants to be educated who educates themselves, and he expressed satisfaction at "having provided myself with good teachers at home, well convinced that in this particular matter it is necessary to spend assiduously."
"Penetrate your inner self. Within you is the source of good that can flow endlessly, if you always dig deep." Marcus Aurelius.
Cite as: Bordallo. A. Review of Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. ICNS. Available at https://www.icns.es/en/news/marco-aurelius-meditations
Copyright© ICNS Institute
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